Interview with B-Boy / DJ Afrika Zambu (The Zulu Masters)


                                                                  

Afrika Zambu (The Zulu Masters)

                                 conducted by Sir Norin Rad (The Intruders / Germany) 


NORIN RAD:"Where did you live at when you first witnessed Breaking and when was that?"

AFRIKA ZAMBU:"Well, let me see...I used to live in 1609 East 174th Street in the Bronx, Bronx River Projects. I started out when I was young, you know how you are dancing for your relatives and they're throwing money at you? That's how I really started."

NORIN RAD:"Okay, and how did Breaking come to Bronx River? Was it brought to your neighbourhood by cats who had been to Kool Herc's parties? When did you see it for the first time?"

AFRIKA ZAMBU:"Yeah, it started with Kool Herc and their crew. They had that spinning on the floor...I don't recall their names though. You're asking me the first time that I seen it?"

NORIN RAD:"Yes, the first time that you saw it."

AFRIKA ZAMBU:"It had to be a Kool Herc party...it wasn't Mario and it wasn't nobody else that I know that was with us. It had to come from Herc...it had to come from Herc and their crew. I believe I went to one of his block parties and I seen it there. I had seen it at a block party."

NORIN RAD:"So what made you pick up Breaking? I mean you are known as one of the Original 5 Zulu Kings..."

AFRIKA ZAMBU: "Oh I enjoyed the beats and the way they made me move 'cause I was already into the dancing stage of breaking (the Uprocking) but it was more or less that I didn't know how to do it on the floor...but I did a couple of moves on the floor and the rest of the guys from my area, in the projects.. they kinda liked it and so I put a little bit more into it but I didn't really know what I was doing at that time. So I created my own style."

NORIN RAD:"Okay, now what caused the creation of the Zulu Kings?"

AFRIKA ZAMBU:"What happened is that since we were all touching base with the breakdancing..'cause like I said it was already out....so what I did is...being that first it was just the Zulus..I believe first it was just the Zulus... then it developed into the Zulu Nation and then after the Zulu Nation I broke off and we made the Zulu Kings which really was the Zulu Masters!!!!"

NORIN RAD:"That's interesting! So The Zulu Masters was the first name of the B-Boys of the Zulu Nation?"

AFRIKA ZAMBU:"Yeah, that was the name! It was the Zulu Masters first and then it became the Zulu Kings. Cause see I named the group Masters cause we were the masters of that particular dance in our area! Nobody else was doing that! We was doing it! So we became the masters of that! The kings of breakdancing in our hood!"

NORIN RAD:"Thank you very much! What was the hierarchy like within the Zulu Masters? Was there a leader? Shaka was the leader of that group, right?"

AFRIKA ZAMBU:"No, Shaka was not the leader of the group, I was the leader of the group. I allowed the other four people that was with me to create their own dance and I was mostly like the supervisor over their dance."

NORIN RAD:"So you are the creator and original leader of the Zulu Masters. Did Afrika Bambaataa give you his blessings to start that group?"

AFRIKA ZAMBU:"Yeah, he did."

NORIN RAD:"Alright, and who gave you that name Zambu? I guess that was Bambaataa, right?"

AFRIKA ZAMBU:"Bambaataa gave that to me. We had a book that he was looking in...it was from Africa. He had collected money from the people in the projects to make a journey or trip to Africa. He used our money to do this. So he had a book when he came back and we picked names out of that book. Everybody picked their own names. So Zambu means "Holy Prince"!!"

NORIN RAD:"Would the Zulu Masters have like specific Crew Colors? Like vests or T-Shirts back then with your names on them?"

AFRIKA ZAMBU:"No. We may have a shirt with a name... something like that. I don't know about Zulu Kings but I know about Zulu Masters on the back of a T-Shirt but we don't wear those shirts like that to clubs. We wear regular clothes and we really didn't stay together like that..like all of five of us went to the club together. We would meet up."

NORIN RAD:"Where would you meet up? In the middle of Bronx River Projects?"

AFRIKA ZAMBU:"Everywhere! Wherever we would congregate. If one of us would want to battle somebody then I would have his back...you know cleaning it up.....or challenging the next guy...I'm the next in line like if somebody beat Squirpy (Shaka) or Ahmed then he has to face me, then I gotta go in but I'm also looking in and see how smooth my opponent is so I can know how to attack him and what move I wanna use on this particular individual."

NORIN RAD:"So who were like your toughest competitors back then?"

AFRIKA ZAMBU:"The only ones that I remember...I had a few that I don't remember who they were. Were they from Soundview? I had two particular ones in Bronxdale. Yeah, Bronxdale was definetely a force to be reckoned with. There were two particular guys. One is still living. One was named Winston they called him Curly and one was named Black."   

NORIN RAD:"So did you battle them?"

AFRIKA ZAMBU:"Yes. In the back of Bronx River."

NORIN RAD:"And who won that battle? Did you burn them or did they take you out?"

AFRIKA ZAMBU:"Aaaaah, that's kind of a tough one. I think I wanna say it was kinda like a draw! (laughs) I wanna say it was like a draw cause we both were nice with our moves. The crowd really dictates who wins."

NORIN RAD:"Who out of the first five Zulu Masters was the best B-Boy to you?"

AFRIKA ZAMBU:"From my perspective? It was between Ahmed and really Artie J. Aziz.. that was his African name."

Ahmed (The Zulu Masters)

NORIN RAD:"So Aziz was a bad B-Boy as well?"

AFRIKA ZAMBU:"Yes, yes!!! He had crazy legs! He would move with his legs...his body movement..he would explain what he was doing with his body. The rest of them didn't have that much explaining as in how they moved. If they flip, you know they flip. If they spin, you know they spin."

NORIN RAD:"So Aziz would shock you when he was battling somebody because you never knew what he would throw in next, right?"

AFRIKA ZAMBU:"Yes! Yes!"

NORIN RAD:"Later down the line other B-Boys would join your ranks and you had established a special procedure to test if a B-Boy was really worthy to become one of you, right?"

AFRIKA ZAMBU:"Yeah, sure. You had to break against one of us in the group. It wasn't just all about me..you had to beat at least on of us in the group to be a Zulu Nation B-Boy but not a Zulu Master. You can't be a Zulu Master because we started it. We started it, so we were the original five."

NORIN RAD:"Oh, so reserved that name Zulu Masters for yourself because you were the ones that started it?"

AFRIKA ZAMBU:"Yes, cause see the Zulu Kings I don't really know where that came in at. It must have come in when I had left the group. They changed it to Zulu Kings. I don't remember being a Zulu King 'cause since we had the Zulu Nation and what we represented in (with regards to) Africa it would not be wise to be called a king, you understand what I'm talking about?"

NORIN RAD:"Yes. From what I have heard there is this one guy from Bronx River, a Puerto Rican B-Boy named Peter who called himself Little Zambu. Did you bless him with that name?"



AFRIKA ZAMBU:"Yeah, that's my son! That's my son,  Little Zambu! He was a Puerto Rican and he had come to me and we was talking, we had a good conversation. He said,"Would it be alright to be Little Zambu?" He asked me about that  'cause I didn't know. I didn't name him Little Zambu. He kinda asked me for permission because he respected me so much. Being that I was outdoing so many people breakdancing I was the man!"



NORIN RAD:"I see. How did you feel when Wade aka Shyheim established another Zulu B-Boy crew called The Shaka Zulus? He told me that he once tried for the Zulu Kings but was denied membership because you, the original five or the Zulu Masters as you said, did not consider him to be good enough. Hence he created The Shaka Zulus with Bambaataa's special permission. How did you look at the Shaka Zulus back then?"

AFRIKA ZAMBU:"Yeah, right. The Shaka Zulus..I don't know really who came up with the name, the term but they wanted to be compared to us and the way I looked at it...I kinda took it personal as a kind of an offence...First of all it was an initiation...you had to prove yourself worthy if you wanted to be accepted by us and obviously for him it didn't work out. As I said I don't remember who started that but they wasn't nowhere compared to what we was trying to establish."

Green Eyed Wade (Founder of the Shaka Zulus)

NORIN RAD:"Did you have a specific signature move?"

AFRIKA ZAMBU:"No, not that I can remember. It's almost like a Michael Jordan. If I'm up in the air I will know what I need to do."

NORIN RAD:"So you were a well rounded B-Boy?"

AFRIKA ZAMBU:"Well rounded...yes!"
 
NORIN RAD:"Okay, from your perspective...why was Bronx River such a feared place among B-Boys from other parts of the Bronx that only few dared to go there? It was a rather tough place to be at for strangers, right?"

AFRIKA ZAMBU:"Yeah, sure it was. It was tough because....first of all you gotta be invited. You can't walk into the projects and challenge one of us Zulu Masters without having a sort of an appointment or knowing someone in the group.....and it's gotta be announced or set up. You can't walk in there and battle one of us and maybe at the time winning and nothing would be said about it. You know it was rough back then. And it wouldn't be me...it would be one of the guys in the group and it would almost be out of my control. I can't really stop them because
you know it's a organization group that is well respected within and you  kinda defend what they got going on."

NORIN RAD:"And you Zulus were always strong in numbers, right?"

AFRIKA ZAMBU:"Yes, we were. We would always walk in a pack when we went to other projects."

NORIN RAD:"Many cats out here have this strange notion that a B-Boy really dances to every kind of music but back then you only got down to a specific type of beats, right? What kind of music did you B-Boy to back then and how did it make you feel?"

AFRIKA ZAMBU:"Alright, the first one that I can tell you that kinda really started me was"Bongo Rock"....that's just the bongos..by the Incredible Bongo Band. That's the first record that they came out with. And "Bongo Rock" with the bongos to me ...it made me move a certain way..I don't know...the bongos really got it for me. The bongos and the drums got it for me. So it was the Incredible Bongo Band and "It's Just Begun" by The Jimmy Castor Bunch..and then there was another one with Earth, Wind & Fire..."Africano"!!!!! That got it for me, too."

NORIN RAD:"What about "Listen To Me" by Baby Huey?"

AFRIKA ZAMBU:"Oh, that's Kool Herc!! That's Kool Herc stuff. Also "The Mexian" by Babe Ruth....Kool Herc played stuff like that but it was a more slower tempo with Kool Herc. With us Zulus it was fast, it was uptempo and to the point.......like the James Brown to the point...the beat, screaming and we did do our thing on the dance floor."

NORIN RAD:"So how would you the Zulu Masters dress up back then?"

AFRIKA ZAMBU:"We would wear the Pro-Keds, Lee Jeans...we kinda dressed casual because if we're  going to break....sometimes you don't know....if we're going to a club, to a party.. especially like a block party.......I changed three times a day!!! You know why? Because I get sweaty and I might scar up my sneakers. I still do that today."

NORIN RAD:"So all this dressing up extremely splivvy with the Cortefiels, the Mocknecks, the Italian Knits, the Playboys  and all that which was done by some of the early B-Boys like Trixie, Dancing Doug or Wallace Dee at Kool Herc's parties did not apply to Bronx River?"

AFRIKA ZAMBU:"Well, actually that's a Kool Herc type of thing....between Kool DJ Herc and Grandmaster Flash... They would come with the London Fog Coats and they would come with the Cortefiels and they would come with the mocknecks and they might have a hat on...that short thing which Run -D.M.C wear. See we were on the floor heavily so that didn't apply to us."

NORIN RAD:"How would you and your crew prepare for an upcoming jam back then?"




AFRIKA ZAMBU:"The way I feel before a jam happens is I would have to prepare myself physically so that means I would be in Bronx River Gym working out....breakdancing...coming up with some new moves. See I'd be working...the rest of them they don't do that but I do cause since I kinda held that position I had to perfect what I did....thinking, "How can I make this better?" So I'd be ready when the party starts just in case somebody might call out one of the guys with us, the Zulu Masters. I gotta be ready cause if he beats him then that means that I gotta step in some kind of way. See when you go down the line you gotta face me."



NORIN RAD:"Last question which will lead into the second part of our interview..What made you quit Breaking and pick up DJing instead?"




AFRIKA ZAMBU:"Well, since I was more or less into the music part of it..which is another story that we will get to later..  I know how the guys breakdance so when I get on the set and play the breakbeat music... cause I know what they wanna hear...it kinda took away from me breakdancing because I would have to go to another jam and hear another DJ play the music and then I would get on the floor but I coudn't do both of it at the same time. I would try my best.. I would really do....I would try to get it in ..Bambaataa would play maybe one or two breakbeats and that would be it... so he wouldn't follow through with nothing else so I was very limited in that area and I kinda lost track with that."

March 1978 - Bronx River Center: Afrika Zambu rocking the Wheels of Steel with Bambaataa

 



                                                   END OF PART ONE







   

                                     Interview with the Almighty KG (The Cold Crush Four)




                                                                   

The Almighty KG 

                                           conducted by Sir Norin Rad (The Intruders / Germany)


NORIN RAD:"Most people probably know you for your great contributions to the Hiphop element of MCing as a legendary member of the Cold Crush Four MCees but as you told me you were once also a B-Boy. So when and where did you witness Breaking for the very first time?"

ALMIGHTY KG:"Well, I first witnessed Breaking in about 1971 at a DJ Smokey & The Master Plan Bunch party on Grant Avenue. I saw this guy named Crip and the original Mr. Freeze breakdancing and that's kinda like when I caught the bug right there....breakdancing. "

NORIN RAD:"Do you recall what made you go to this particular party."

ALMIGHTY KG:"Yeah, they lived right around the corner from me and I heard the music (chuckles) so I went around the corner to see what it was 'cause at this time nobody was doing block parties that I knew of, you know? It was 1971 so I didn't know what all this noise was about...so I went around the corner to see what it was and when I walked up to it..  it was an outside block party jam."

NORIN RAD:"I see...but that Mr. Freeze which you saw breaking at that block party on Grant Ave back then wasn't the same guy that would later be a B-Boy for the Rock Steady Crew, right?"

ALMIGHTY KG:"No. Totally different person."

NORIN RAD:"Since you've said that you lived right around the corner from Grant Avenue where exactly did you live at during that time?"

ALMIGHTY KG:"I lived on 170th street & Morris Avenue which is right around the corner from 169th & Grant (where DJ Smoke(y) used to live and throw parties at)."

NORIN RAD:"So I guess after this event you would continue to go to DJ Smoke(y)'s parties, right?"

ALMIGHTY KG:"Every now and then...I went to about three or four of them before I moved..and then I moved to 172nd Street & Selwyn Avenue which is just a of couple blocks away... yeah, I moved a couple of blocks away and I attended several DJ Smokey parties."

NORIN RAD:"Most people today have a certain image of what Breaking looks like in their mind but could you elaborate please on how the dance looked like when you first saw it?"

ALMIGHTY KG:"When I first saw it was more Uprock than it was like spinning on your back and stuff like that. That actually came a little later. It was more Uprocking....it was more about expressions and things like that, you know what I'm saying? When I saw these guys breakdancing which was The Smoke-A-Trons and The Luke-A-Trons.......but you know The Smoke-A-Trons they would do something I had  never seen before and that I have never seen since. They were all like gymnastics and they would do somersaults and Arabian Nights..those are like flips you see in the olympics... and go down on the floor and all that. I never passed that test to do the flipping....because I wasn't a gymnast but these guys were like street gymnasts and they were like really good...You know how you see like sometimes B-Boys they do a B-Boy move and then they go down on the ground...these guys were doing that with flips and stuff like that!! It was incredible....it was so incredible so that's what I wanted to do 'cause I was too young to buy equipment (for DJing)  and Graffiti... I knew that I couldn't do that because you know I didn't want to get caught and my moms and my pops have to come to get me from jail or court.  So you know I couldn't do the vandalizing and I was too young to even do the vandalizing thing but the only thing that I really could do was breakdancing.... that was free and I didn't bother nobody or harm nobody or anything like that, you know?"

NORIN RAD:"Did you have a specific B-Boy partner or maybe even a crew that would accompany you to the various jams that you went to?"

ALMIGHTY KG:"I was a solo B-Boy. I just went around...I breakdanced against people...I battled...I battled like crazy....I was always battling..I used to battle other B-Boys on Webster Avenue......Anywhere there was a jam I was battling! And then I wind up becoming friends with this kid named Charlie Rock and me and him....he was from Tremont Avenue over by Echo Park and he lived over there and we became friends and we used to go around and battle people and stuff. I was a solo dude, you know what I'm saying?"

NORIN RAD:"You've just mentioned that you used to go to parties on Webster Avenue so I wonder whether you would also attend DJ Smokey's parties over there in a spot called The Cave?"

ALMIGHTY KG:"Yeah, yeah it was called The Cave  and then he used to DJ in the recreation rooms on Webster Avenue, too. They had little rooms there where they used to do functions in , you know?"

ALMIGHTY KG & DJ SMOKE(Y)

NORIN RAD:"What were some of the other places that you and that kid Charlie Rock used to go in order to breakdance there?"

ALMIGTY KG:"We used battle like at school events...we would go on the side and battle.You know real B-Boys....we battled whenenver it came down to it. A lot of times it was people having a boombox  and they would bring the boombox and you know you would battle in the parks. You would battle wherever there was music...real B-Boys they battled anywhere! A lot battles did not take place at jams. That was just one place where it took place. Sometimes they would battle in a building, sometimes they...you know wherever you could battle at!!! It wasn't like there was just one place to battle. As long as you had something like a boombox or a radio where you could play like the breakbeats on a tape. You battled wherever you was at! Everywhere...school..cutting class. Battling was not like something that you planned....though sometimes it was planned battles cause you know people thought that this guy was better than that guy and they kind of set it up but for the most part it was just being at a certain place where other B-Boys were and one guy thought of breakdancing and then the other guy thought of breakdancing and then they looked at each other as rivals and then you know a battle started." 

NORIN RAD:"Did you also have a specific B-Boy name back then? Did you already go by the name of Almighty KG?"

ALMIGHTY KG:"No. At that time I used to go by Kendu. From 71...I started around '73, '74 and I was breakdancing all the way to 1977. "

NORIN RAD:"So you must have also witnessed that whole evolution process from Breaking being a dance done mainly on top to being a floormove based dance." 

ALMIGHTY KG:"Right. Right. It was more Uprock than it was spinning on the floor and all that. I mean you had spinning moves between your legs and all that but then it elevated to like spinning on your back and doing freeze moves. That really didn't start until about 74, 75ish, you know what I'm saying? That's when people started spinning on their back and doing freeze moves. Things that you still see people do today. That didn't start til 1974, 1975! But it's always been Uprock and they used to call it footwork....they used to call it footwork and then you went down...'cause it was all about expression. They might take your hat off and then put your hat back on your head... so it was like clowning somebody first and then go down, you know? It was more that."

NORIN RAD:"People also did characters, right? Like Smokey told me he would tell his Smoke-A-Trons to do the Frankenstein and things like that."

ALMIGHTY KG:"All that! All that! The Robot, The Frankenstein...they used to mimic certain things and it was Uprock but it was more like a stare down. Like who can make who look bad and things like that. It was more of a stare down. It was a combination of a few things...intimidating your opponent. And then it also involved skills and movement....how you can move. Like I said breakdancing is a very athletic dance...you have to be really in very good shape! Like me in my age today I couldn't even think about doing the things that I used to do. All that twisting and turning is really athletic." 


NORIN RAD:"How much time would you spend practicing your moves back then?" 

ALMIGHTY KG:"For me it was spontaneous. It wasn't really about practicing as much. I mean I practiced when I danced. It was like a combination of both like when you do a spectacular move you go,"Oooh Shit! That was dope! And I don't even know how I did that!" And then you remember it..So it was like practicing while you were actually breakdancing and then sometimes you would practice you know but it wasn't like you practiced all the time because breakdancing was about...it was spontaneous! It was really spontaneous because at the same time while I was breakdancing I was also learning. Like I was creating moves and new things, you know what I'm saying?! And other people would look at me and would be inspired to do new moves! You know people pratice today because it has developed into different things but in the earliest stages you practiced but it was more spontaneous....Like a lot of times the music took control of you.....like you couldn't even control yourself! For the music come on and you just go, "Oh man!"

NORIN RAD:"Looking at many so-called B-Boys today it seems to me as if many of them are so focused on just executing a certain set of moves that they often totally forget about the music that is being played by the DJ. Back in your era the music was the key to everything, right?" 

ALMIGHTY KG:"Oh yeah, as I said the music took control of you. As soon as the music came on you just couldn't control yourself! Just like for example I'm working on my new CD and I got a track that's for B-Boys. There's no rapping on it, it's just music and it is dedicated to B-Boys cause  when I started in Hiphop I started as a B-Boy. Matter of fact Rap wasn't even invented when I started B-Boying. That came later down the line....at least three, four years later. So it's a few thing to me that are the heart of Hiphop...the heart of Hiphop is DJing, Breaking and Graffiti. Those are the heart of Hiphop and then you know MCing and Beatboxing and all those other things come in afterwards. But those three things right there are the heart of Hiphop..DJing, Breakdancing and Graffiti. Without those three things you wouldn't have what we call Hiphop."

NORIN RAD:"What was your most memorable moment in Breaking back then? Like which battle or which jam really stood out?"

ALMIGHTY KG:"You know what? I would go as far as saying every jam I ever went to and every battle I have ever done was at the highest level of everything!"

NORIN RAD:"Wooooow!"

ALMIGHTY KG:"Cause when you breakdance and when you have a breakdance battle...the emotions are running crazy through your body! It's like almost like you are possessed! You're in a trance! You are breakdancing..you see the crowd around you and everybody is yelling your name and clapping and you're in a trance! You are like  in this little circle and everybody is around you and the moment you finish breakdancing and you stand up or whatever you gonna do after you finished breakdancing is when you actually see the crowd cheering for you..but you're in a trance!! So I would go as far as saying every time I breakdanced whether I was in the crowd or dancing on my own I was always in that trance because that music it just takes you. Listening to James Brown, "Brother Green", "Yellow Sunshine", Baby Huey.....those musics, man...they just take you away. It's like breathtaking. It's like sometimes you see footage of Africans and when they are dancing and the drums is going and they're just going....it's like a trance you're in when you breakdance."


NORIN RAD:"This actually reminds me of what the late Lovebug Starski stated in that book "Yes Yes Y'All!". He said that just as some people are catching the Holy Spirit at church it was a similar vibe for many of you back then when you entered a park jam and you heard all these awesome beats through the huge speakers of the soundsystems which the DJs used to have."




ALMIGHTY KG:"Yeah!!! I would agree to the great Lovebug Starski 'cause that's how it felt  !!!! Like a trance...it just takes control of you..you can't conrol yourself, man!  Even today  when I perform with the Cold Crush and all that and we're on stage...we're in a trance! We be in sync with each other...there  is this electric wave that we share with each other and it just takes us, man! I asume it happens to DJs when they are cutting up beats....It happens to MCees when they're rhyming, it happens to Graffiti Writers when they are putting up their names...and it definetely happens to B-Boys. These are all elements of this trance that happens."


NORIN RAD:"I told you that Mr. Wiggles (Rock Steady Crew) said to me that him and I think it was Ken Swift were on a tour with you one day and you showed them a particular Uprock move called The Truck...."

ALMIGHTY KG:"It's called The Truck, yeah! I learnt that from Mr. Freeze and Crip. They used to do this Uprock move called The Truck and it looked like they were steering a truck, they held their hands like they were driving a truck and I showed that move to them (Mr. Wiggles & Ken Swift). There's no question about that. That was one of my favourite moves.  When I first saw it I was like, "What the heck is that?" And they explained it to me. It always stayed with me and that was one of the moves I used to use on other B-Boys and they never knew what it was and I was like, "Let me hit'em with The Truck now" 'cause they done seen everything else but they ain't seen this." 

NORIN RAD:"So you enhanced this move in such a way that it became your own personal signature move?"

ALMIGHTY KG:"Yeah! It definetely became a signature move of mine and I was inventing other signature moves as well! You know breakdancing was evolving like crazy.....and then it was also  many extraordinary people like this dude Charlie Rock that I told you about. He was double-jointed.  He was able to do certain things with his body that were like crazy! I was like, "How do you do stuff like that?!" So every now and then you would come across a guy that was double-jointed, that could do some incredible moves with his legs and all that. So that was a move I got from Crip and Mr. Freeze and I was mastering the unique and skillful way of making it look good. When I came into breakdancing I was mastering the moves and the Uprock and the facial expressions and things like that, you know what I'm saying? I look at myself as how Michael Jordan came into basketball. He didn't invent it but he just made it look so damn good..so when I came into breakdancing that was my thing, you know? To look really good doing it and to look real sharp. When I hit the floor I go down real nice and neat and pristine, you know what I'm saying?! And my moves were stabbing and sticking real hard, you know? I had the bob and the weave that men respect like that so i was more like that. Even when I started rapping I never wanted to be the best MC...I NEVER wanted to be the best MC...there were some MCees that were real good like my man Grandmaster Caz...I still think he is the best MC..better than any MC I have ever heard but for me I didn't want to be the best MC i just wanted to sound the best.  See I wanted to sound the best. You know 'cause I take anybody's rhyme I don't care who he is...you name 'em...I take their rhyme and make it sound better than they could say it any day.  My goal was to sound the best and with breakdancing I never wanted to be the best B-Boy...I just wanted to look the best. So I took a different approach, you know?"


NORIN RAD:"You have just mentioned something that I find very interesting namely facial expressions. So having your facial expressions matching your style of dancing was also part of that whole B-Boy thing back then, right?"

ALMIGHTY KG:"Oh yeah! Oh yeah! The facial expressions were very important because they told a story , you know what I'm saying. So when you are breakdancing and you are doing your Uprock at times you look you mean, at times you look like you are laughing at 'em, at times you look like you are enjoying yourself. So the expressions on your face were crucial!"

NORIN RAD:"Okay, now I would like to ask you how strong was B-Boying in the Bronx back in the 1970ies? I'm asking this since there is this narrative that B-Boying never really was a relevant movement like the Rock Dance in Brooklyn as only very few cats allegedly did it."

ALMIGHTY KG:"It was an epidemic!!!!! It was everywhere! In the 1970ies....just like you saw Graffiti everywhere......it was an epidemic...it was like everywhere. There were places where B-Boys were not even allowed to go into the parties because we wore jeans, T-shirts and sneakers. That was our style! So certain clubs..we were not even permitted to go in  clubs. See we had to do our stuff at block parties and wherever...like I said in buildings..wherever you would go at...because we were not allowed to go in places because of our dresscode."


NORIN RAD:"At one point in the late 1970ies B-Boying started to fade out and the MCees took the stage in the Bronx. What was it that made you quit B-Boying and start MCing?"


ALMIGHTY KG:"Well, it all came from...for me ..it came from growing up a little bit and I got older. So as I got older I started to like girls more. I started rhyming in '73/ '74 but I didn't take it serious...like real hardcore serious until about '77/'78 before the first MC convention. So I started rhyming because I got older...stuff like that. For me I was getting older and I wanted to elevate my game in the culture of Hiphop. So at the time this thing called MCing started to take off on a bigger note so I grabbed on to that and I started rocking with that and then this led me to rocking with the Cold Crush and the rest is history."

March 8th, 1980: DJ Charlie Chase & The Cold Crush Four are rocking at the Ectasy Garage

NORIN RAD:"But before joining the Cold Crush Brothers as a MC you were rocking the mic for the Cheeba Crew, right?"


ALMIGHTY KG:"Yeah, the Cheeba Crew! Yup! I started with the Cheeba Crew and then I got down with the Cold Crush."


NORIN RAD:"But that crew had nothing to do with that famous Disco DJ Eddie Cheeba, right?"


ALMIGHTY KG:"No, no!! Eddie Cheeba was one of the best Disco DJs that I have ever heard. There was a few of 'em, you know!?  A lot of them came from Queens and Brooklyn...some of the best Disco DJs.....like Grandmaster Flowers."

NORIN RAD:"I see and who were the other members of the Cheeba Crew besides you?"

ALMIGHTY KG:"The main DJ..his name was Mister Ace. It was DJ Mister Ace, DJ Steve La Rock and DJ Ed Green."

NORIN RAD:"Was that a Hiphop or a Disco Crew?"

ALMIGHTY KG:"Hiphop."

NORIN RAD:"Where were they from?"

ALMIGHTY KG:"They were from Webster Avenue & 170th street in the Bronx."

NORIN RAD:"So what was MCing like in these early stages before you joined the Cold Crush Brothers? Wasn't it more like chanting? Having the people dancing and all that? I mean there were no elaborate rhyming patterns or even crew routines in the mid 1970ies, right?"

ALMIGHTY KG:"It was chanting but it also was some rhymes...nursery rhymes and stuff like that. Melle Mel was the guy that really had a lot of influence on MCing because he was like the first person that I heard that put himself in a rhyme. Instead of, "Jack and Jill went up the hil..." You know, they used to say stuff like that. And then Mel was the first one I  heard that said, "I'm Melle Mel and I rock so well. From the world trade to the depths of hell.. " He was the first one to put himself in rhymes and doing it in that way. Then there were groups like The 3 MCs (that later became the Furious 4 and then ultimately the Furious 5 ) that used to do routines and stuff like that. Then there was the Funky 4 later on that was doing routines, too. They was doing routines around the same time actually...it was close, real close, you know what I'm saying?"

NORIN RAD:"So what is really the difference between a Disco MC and a Hiphop MC? From your perspective?"

ALMIGHTY KG:"Well, a Disco MC was more like Jocko (famous radio DJ). They did like more funny lyrics. It was different, you know? Whereas a Hiphop MC was talking about their environment, they was talking about showboating, they were talking about, "I'm better than you!" You know it was more battling...a more battle oriented style. Disco MCees were like (changes his voice),"Jocko, Jocko!!! Where you been? Back around the world and back again!" It was like different. It was like really really different. There was a difference between street MCing and Disco MCing. It was almost like night and day."

NORIN RAD:"Listening to that legendary battle of your crew, the Cold Crush Brothers, against Grandwizard Theodore & The Fantastic Five which took place at Harlem World on July 3rd, 1981 it seems to me as if back then threatening each other and verbally abusing your opponent's mother or girlfriend like it is being done today really wasn't part of MC battles but that instead it was all about showmanship and skills. What is your take on that? Is there a difference between the way you battled each other on the mic back then and how it is done today?"

ALMIGHTY KG:"There is a big difference! The difference is back then it was more skill-based. See anybody can say the F-Word or the S-Word but it takes more skills to write words to express the same thing you wanna say. so what happened was as time went on...skilfullness has been watered down. We rapped about how good we were and also how much better we were than other MCs but in a tasteful way....and we showed skills!!!!!!!!!  We got on stage and showed showmanship, we dressed up, we had nice clothes on and it was all unified, you know?  WE DIDN'T JUST GO ON STAGE AND RAPPED, YOU KNOW?! We didn't get on stage with a backpack on...we came on stage with suits and sometimes we didn't have suits we just had jeans, T-Shirts and sneakers but we were always unified. You know we looked like a team, we looked like a group and we performed as a group. We would practice like real hard and we made sure that we got on that stage and we was gonna dominate that stage. Now the skill level was based on what you would do. Almost like when you go see a Broadway play... it's like really planned out....everybody knows what they got to do to perform and make the show work and that's exactly what we did in the early days of Hiphop. We made sure the show was phenomenal. Some people don't even know you can rhyme that way and do routines and shows. The uniqueness and the original style of MCing has been watered down over the years."

NORIN RAD:"So the art of performing live was really the essence of MCing back then?"

ALMIGHTY KG:"Yes! Yes! Cause we wanted to be the best at what we did. It was thousands of MCees and thousands of groups out there. You know you had your top tier, then you had your second tier, your third tier and then you had a host of other people trying to get to the third, second and first tier! I remember after the battle with the Fantastic Five...we had lost that battle... we felt we won...but we lost and we was shocked so that year we practiced..we determined we never gonna lose another battle ever. We practiced one year from twelve in the afternoon to like twelve in the morning. Like a whole year, like everyday and we practiced hard (laughs)....we practiced at Caz's house and we never lost another battle."

March 20th, 81: The Cold Crush 4 perform at the legendary T-Connection

NORIN RAD:"You know I first noticed the difference between studio rappers and true MCees 21 years ago when I saw your man Grandmaster Caz and Rahiem perform on stage at the Groove With The Jingle Bells Jam in Berlin. They got on after several other European rappers had performed their album material and just murdered them. You could see that both Caz and Rahiem were in their natural domain whereas all the other rappers looked as if they felt rather uncomfortable on stage. Four years later at the Rock Steady Anniversary in NYC the same thing happened again. I was there with a couple of European B-Boys from Switzerland (shout outs to Crazy CFC ) and Italy that day and could not wait to see various famous underground rappers perform there. Again I was very disappointed by what I saw there because none of these rappers was as nice on stage as they appeared to be on their albums. Then when Grandmaster Caz entered the stage it was over. His presence, his energy and his effortless way of flowing and controlling the crowd at the same was something I will never forget in my life..."
 
ALMIGHTY KG:"Total difference....Let me tell you what you experienced. When you hear a rapper today or yesterday that had a hit record out...they just had a hit record! It was a studio project. What you witnessed with Grandmaster Caz and then Rahiem... that was organic! This is different! Like this is what we do! Like to this day I'm still one of the best MCees in this world! (Almighty KG then proceeds to kick a vicious Freestyle) See it's organic! You understand what I'm saying?! WE CREATED IT, IT'S IN OUR SOUL!!!! Other rappers feel super uncomfortable around us when we're on stage. The only one that is super organic that I love to see perform...it is two, well it's a few of them but the one I put above all of them...."


NORIN RAD:"KRS-One, right?"

ALMIGHTY KG:"(laughs) You're fucking right!!!! That kid KRS-One he is really organic. He is so organic that I really enjoy watching him. He is like the Cold Crush Four in one body. It's amazing to watch him. You know he is really that good. He has what is called 'it'. I mean I could put Rakim in there and I could put Big Daddy Kane in there but KRS-One is something different. And then If had to put one person next to him...it would be Supernatural.  " 

NORIN RAD:"The Freestyle King..."

ALMIGHTY KG:"Yeah, the Freestyle King. He's another one...he is so organic it's ridiculous. Those are the top two on my list because they can't do a bad live show. They're like the Cold Crush...we can't do whack shows."