On the latest episode of Ebro In The Morning, Jon Carmanica and Joe Coscarelli from the New York Times sat down to discuss their latest news story on hip-hop’s 50th anniversary. Both Jon and Joe have interviewed 50 rappers for this story to honor the genre. As the interview begins, the two delve into the artist interviews that stood out the most and describe how extraordinary the conversations were.
The first artist that came into discussion was Pitbull’s interview. Jon discusses how Pitbull was one of the first rappers to mix Spanish and English rapping. “What stood out was he “really bridged crunk into reggaeton.” Additionally, he “moved on to make Spanish language records. He made hip-house records. He was doing all kinds of stuff in the 2000s and 2010s.”
During mid-interview, Joe discloses, “We wanted each person on the list to represent either a genre, a sub-genre, an era, a region, or a specific idea that wasn’t going to overlap with the other folks.”
Thenceforth, Joe now joins the discussion and mentions why Too $hort and Uncle Luke are considered revolutionaries for hip-hop and the culture. He explains how he “understood really early in his career, and we’re talking like 86–91, the type of music that was making needs historically, sexual funk nightclub music, or disco, or nightclub music of the 70s. They understood that they were part of a long lineage, and so Luke takes that to Supreme Court because he understands that all of hip-hop would get roasted for decades to come.” Without the perseverance of Too $hort and Uncle Luke, hip-hop wouldn’t be where it is today.
Towards the end of the interview, Joe finishes by praising Kool Moe Dee for his impact on hip-hop. He said Dee “was looking and said, ‘How can I be that?’ but in this context, now that this new content of hip-hop has arrived, ‘How do I become that person?’ and using hip-hop as his platform to become essentially a political and social spokesperson.” As the discussion ended, other prominent artists were discussed, such as DJ Hollywood, Eminem, Azealia Banks, Busta Rhymes, Ice Spice, and many more amazing acts. Be sure to tune in to Ebro In The Morning for more content and check out New York Times articles written by Jon Caramanica and Joe Coscarelli.