Interview with B-Boy / DJ Bosco Rock
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| B-Boy / DJ Bosco Rock |
conducted by Sir Norin Rad (The Intruders / Germany)
SIR NORIN RAD:"Where exactly in the Bronx did you live at when you started going to Kool DJ Herc's parties?"
BOSCO ROCK:"I lived on Morris Avenue between 170th & 169th Street in the Bronx."
SIR NORIN RAD:"That's right by Taft High School, correct?"
BOSCO ROCK:"Yes, Taft High School is right up the block. It's in walking distance, you can see it. I attended Taft High School during that time when I was going to Kool Herc's parties."
SIR NORIN RAD:"Which year were you born in?"
BOSCO ROCK:"56. 1956. My brother Wallace Dee (legendary B-Boy from Herc's parties ) was two years younger than I. He was born in 1958."
SIR NORIN RAD:"Please describe how you met Herc and what made you go to his parties!"
BOSCO ROCK:"Well, at the time we used to play a lot of basketball. All over, you know? There was a park....Harlem State Park....it's now called Roberto Clemente State Park. Kool Herc has a sister named Cindy. Me and my brother we used to talk to her 'cause you know it was one of those places where everybody could go to and hang out. This was a beautiful place....Harlem State Park. We would be over there and she mentioned something about her birthday coming up. She told us that they would have a "Back to school" party and so I was like, "Really?" So my brother said that we would go there. 'Cause we were always together, there wasn't a time where we wasn't together. So we decided that we was gonna go to this first first party (August 11th, 1973), right? We did not know that it was gonna be so jam-packed and that the music was gonna be the way it's gonna be. It was crowded on the inside and it was crowded on the outside at the center! It was beautiful!! Kool Herc started off different though...He started off playing Jamaican music at first. I remember he didn't get a big response from that, then he went to something else and when he went to something else....I think the first song that I heard him play that got a response was by The New Birth "I Can Understand It", okay? So when he played that he got a response from people, people started dancing. That first party my brother Wallace Dee and I danced, right? But we didn't dance with the level of B-Boy as we did at the Herc parties after that. We kept it simple."
SIR NORIN RAD:"What do you mean by that?"
BOSCO ROCK:"See it wasn't excactly roomy roomy in the center. It was so crowded, you know? And it wasn't a battle at that point....at the first first party. What it was was people getting to know each other through dancing and we did that because it was mostly about seeing who is gonna show up, you know? See what type of persons is gonna be there. What type of people. Those type of things."
SIR NORIN RAD:"Was there also a large number of females at that very first Kool DJ Herc party?"
BOSCO ROCK:"Oh, it was!!!! (excited) It was some of the most beautiful women from all around the Bronx. They came there from all different parts. You had a large numer of females 'cause women would be mainly travelling in packs, you know? There would be a lot of them. You had different groups.....nicely dressed...things like that. We was young, we were all teenagers. It was always about dressing nice and impressing the people. Stuff like that. One of those things. Me and my brother had a history of dressing real nice, so this was no surprise to us. It was one of those things.......we were always dressing nice! This was just a step up for us."
SIR NORIN RAD:"Who inspired you to start dancing when you were still a young kid?"
BOSCO ROCK:"Well, my family is big, okay? Cousins and everything....so I had a aunt.....aunt Nell... she used to give a little party here and there and we used to go to her house.....and you know...in her living room...we used to dance over there and we used to see who danced the best. It was like, "Watch such and such dance!" or "Watch this person dance!". But it was always about, "Watch Bosco dance! Watch Wallace dance! They can dance!" So it was one of those things, we would dance at those little things. It was just us doing that. But the person that I was impressed by was James Brown......the way he danced, the way he moved. Then in the late 1960s, 1970 I started to notice how Michael Jackson danced....the way he would dance to certain beats. So I started paying attention to music and the way it made me feel. I literally have to feel the music completely in my whole entire body in order to move the way I move and because of that it gave me the rhythm that I needed to become the dancer that I became and I used that."
SIR NORIN RAD:"Where would you see James Brown dance at?"
BOSCO ROCK:"It would be on like the Ed Sullivan Show.....you know, these types of shows on television 'cause that's the only way you could see somebody like that. But I'mma tell you something. There's another person that used to emulate James Brown so well and his name was Stoney. He was a older guy, right? He used to emulate James Brown and it was pretty good 'cause he was a good dancer and I seen that. My mother and father used to say,"Oh, he dances just like James Brown!" I said, "Reallly?!" 'cause I had already seen James Brown on TV and that's where my first inspiration came from. So what I did was...I seen Stoney outside.....just dancing, just fooling around......no music, no nothing...just dancing. So I said, "Oh! Now that's something!" Dance without the music and see what happens and then when the music comes and you're able to feel the music....you know body and soul.....you're basically unstoppable because you're losing no beat at all. I mean every piece of the record you gotta move for it. You don't get stuck. You know some people they get stuck but you don't get stuck because you're listening constantly."
SIR NORIN RAD:"Let's turn back to Herc's first party. You're saying he was playing Jamaican music at first and then started to put on the B-Boy joints?"
BOSCO ROCK:"He played some good reggae music, right? But you know it's not B-Boy music it was just regular reggae music, you know? People was dancing. The reaction I'm talking about is the reaction that when people started to show what type of dance style they had. That was starting to come, that was starting to show up 'cause people that were standing outside started coming inside. Then you would see all of that...the B-Boy dancing and all of that. His music was great, it was great from the beginning."
SIR NORIN RAD:"What were some of the B-Boy joints that Kool DJ Herc played at his very early parties in 1973/74 besides "I Can Understand It" by The New Birth?"
BOSCO ROCK:"Okay, he played a series of songs. What I'm gonna do is I'm gonna break down some of the songs that I liked and everybody else liked for that matter. Okay, let's start off with...you want fast or slow (songs)?"
SIR NORIN RAD:"Please start with the B-Boy songs!"
BOSCO ROCK:"Alright, let's go with the B-Boy songs! Let's go with my all-time-favourite..."Give It Up Or Turn It Loose" by James Brown...the live version! My brother's (Wallace Dee) favourite...."Listen To Me" by Baby Huey. The Jackson Five....."Hum Along And Dance". "Scorpio" by Dennis Coffey. "Bongo Rock" and "Apache" by The Incredible Bongo Band. "
SIR NORIN RAD:"Is it true that Herc also played "Get Ready" by The Rare Earth?"
BOSCO ROCK:"Yeah, he played "Get Ready". That's one of the songs he would play. He would also play "Ride Sally Ride" by Dennis Coffey and "It's Just Begun" by The Jimmy Castor Bunch. Then you had "The Mexican" by Babe Ruth. That was right at the top of the list! He would play "The Mexican" right after "Listen To Me" most of the times. Also he had songs like "Yellow Sunshine" by Yelllow Sunshine, "Get Into Something" by The Isley Brothers, "Think" by Lyn Collins. He would also play "E-Man Boogie" by The Jimmy Castor Bunch and "Rock Steady" by Aretha Franklin. One of Coke's (Coke La Rock) favourites was "Put The Music Where Your Mouth Is" by The Olympic Runners. It's an instrumental. That was one record right there! I really liked that record! Let me also mention that song "Skin Tight" by The Ohio Players. That was one of the favourites over there at The Hevalo."
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| "Hum Along And Dance" by The Jackson Five (Album: "Get It Together" 1973) |
SIR NORIN RAD:"What about the slow songs that Kool DJ Herc and Coke La Rock would play at their early parties?"
BOSCO ROCK:"Okay, let me run down the slow songs for you. You're ready?"
SIR NORIN RAD:"Yesssss!"
BOSCO ROCK:"He played "Dedicated To The One I Love" by The Temprees. He would play New Birth "Wildflower". He played New Birth "Stop, Look, Listen To Your Heart". You gotta hear that one! Then "It's Been Such A Long Time" by The New Birth, that's pretty good, too! There's a song by The O'Jays called "Sunshine" from the album that's also nice. And then The Originals "Baby I'm For Real!" You got "Distant Lover" by Marvin Gaye, "Tell Me This Is A Dream" by The Delfonics. You also got "For The Love I Gave To You" and "Hey Love" by The Delfonics. "Seven Days" and "The Lovely Way She Loves" by The Moments. Those are all beautiful songs man! "The Love We Had Stays On My Mind" by The Dells, "I Wanna Know Your Name" by The Intruders. "Hypnotized" by Linda Jones...those kinda songs."
SIR NORIN RAD:"Amazing!!! Thank you! Did they play these songs at the end of their parties?"
BOSCO ROCK:"No, not necessarily. Sometimes it would be to give dancers a break, you know what I mean? 'Cause you know, nobody can dance constantly for hours without rest periods, so you know you gotta have a little rest period here and there. So he might mix it in there. You know, he might be playing fast music for maybe an hour or two...something like that. Then he might go into a couple of slow songs...back and forth. That's what he was doing and those were the things that were pretty decent about his parties 'cause he knew how to blend in the music here and there. But these are the early parties when we were still going to the center. He had a few block parties but we were still going to the center. When we was going to the center and everything nobody knew who was on the microphone to tell you that honestly. Nobody knew who was on the microphone. We would hear the person on the microphone but we wouldn't see the person on the microphone 'cause Kool Herc was high up and you couldn't see behind him to see who was there. You wouldn't pay a lot attention to that 'cause the music was so good and the MC was good. You know, stuff like that. Then...I guess it was maybe after five or six parties....around there he came out and said, "Coke La Rock!"And everybody smiled and said, "That's Coke!" 'Cause you know he had so many different names before he was Coke La Rock. So when he stuck on that one, that one stuck and the people kinda liked it and they gravitated towards it, you know? This guy (Coke La Rock) he was the DJ and he was the MC and he was the person that would rock the party for real!!!! When Coke got on the turntables you knew it was time to dance! That's for sure! And they both had their roles but them two together.....outstanding!!!!! Both of them!!! That was a perfect match, man! Perfect match! He couldn't have a better friend to work on the music that he had. "
SIR NORIN RAD:"Where did those early Kool Herc block parties take place?"
BOSCO ROCK:"The block parties was right there on Sedgwick Avenue. We had these really long stairs that a person would come down if you didn't drive and ended up on Sedgwick by driving but your shortcut was going down the stairs. These really long stairs that you would hear the music way before you even got to the party. That's how powerful Herc's system had gotten after a while. We got there and you know it would be so crowded and we would be like, "Oh man! Look at this! This is beautiful!" People were dancing and moving around until Coke La Rock would announce a dance contest. Everybody would come together and form this huge circle and then we waited for the challenges! Whatever challenge that may be. Later on Herc would do block parties in Echo Park, Arthur Park, Cedar Park......these were the popular spots."
SIR NORIN RAD:"Coke La Rock was also the person that added "Rock" to your name, right?"
BOSCO ROCK:"Yes, he was. One day he was like, "Wallace Dee...." and the beat kept going on and on and then he said, "and Bosco Rock!!!!" Then everytime I walked into the party he would do that. He would say my name this way. Everytime I walked into the party it would be me and Wallace Dee at first and then later on Tex would walk in with us. Tex joined us later down the line after we had started going to the clubs. That's where that came from."
SIR NORIN RAD:"Where did you get the name Bosco from?"
BOSCO ROCK:"Okay, that came from my mother. My mother gave me that. We lived on 141st Street & Cypress Avenue. I was just a kid in public school during that time. One day I guess she just said it and then it just kinda stuck and I kept that name. She was also the first person that taught me how to speak Spanish. That's another thing. So that's where the second language comes from."
SIR NORIN RAD:"Had you already developed a style of dancing which included burning opponents by the time you began attending Herc's parties?"
BOSCO ROCK:"What I did was I added on what I already did as a dancer 'cause we was already dancing but now we found a home base for the music that we really liked. That would allow us to elevate our style and that's what me and my brother did. The better the music, the more we danced to it. So what we had to do was we had to literally buy the records so we could listen to them in our house and practice and dance and stay up late nights and just perfect what we had in mind. That's where it came from. It was mostly Herc extending the beat of each song, right? Because you see the break didn't last long, you really had to know what you was doing in order to keep it going and he knew what he was doing so he extended it. That allowed you to put more moves into the dance that you wanted to do. So since you knew he was probably gonna extend the breakbeat you prepared yourself to add a little bit more craft to that movement."
SIR NORIN RAD:"How would B-Boy battles go down at Kool DJ Herc's early parties? Is it true that back then you and your opponent were dancing at the same time exchanging moves?"
BOSCO ROCK:"Yes, we were and people would look and see who was doing the better moves because you were dancing against a person, he's right there in front of you,you know? He's doing what he's doing and you're doing what you're doing. You had to make it work. That was key right there!"
SIR NORIN RAD:"I see. Please describe what went through your mind when you were battling another B-Boy in the circle!"
BOSCO ROCK:" I would think about which move I would do for each tune. I wouldn't think about my opponent, okay? Because I knew he was doing whatever he was doing and I had to do whatever I had in mind already 'cause I practiced this so much, so long. So I'm doing things like the split... I'm spinning around in one spot, dropping down coming back up. Freezing....all of these different things, all these different moves, these tactics. These tactics me and my brother Wallace Dee would practice all the time and this is what worked for us."
SIR NORIN RAD:"Did you and your brother also do routines together?"
BOSCO ROCK:"Yes, we had some of the best routines that we could come up with. I'm talking about routines that made us say, "This is gonna be something that's gonna shock the crowd! This is what we gotta do!" My brother, you know, he would freeze, stop and he would fall back like as if he's gonna fall on the floor but I'm right there to catch him and I'd catch him by his shoulders. He would come all the way down and then I'd push him all the way back up. When I pushed him all the way up, he would jump up, go down on the ground and then he would spin around come back up and that was it and the crowd would just go crazy! Or I would jump over and stoop down and he would jump right over me and then just start dancing. Then we just had our routine down pat 'cause this is something that we really, really practiced!"
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| From left to right: Wallace Dee, his mother and his brother Bosco Rock |
SIR NORIN RAD:"Would you do these routines to specific songs?"
BOSCO ROCK:"Yeah, because see he had his favourite songs and I could dance to his favourite songs. I had my favourite songs and he could dance to my favourite songs. So a lot of times Coke La Rock would say, "What you wanna hear?" So Wallace might say,"Listen To Me!". I might say, "Give It Up Or Turn It Loose". It could be a whole slew of things."
SIR NORIN RAD:"Who were the most outstanding B-Boys at Kool DJ Herc's early parties?"
BOSCO ROCK:"Alright....you had Trixie... which is my cousin. You had Dancin' Doug.....Dancin' Doug was very good..and it was another with him that also came from Harlem (he is referring to Teenie Rock). But these are the type of people that did stand out but you gotta remember it wasn't a whole lot of us that were top notch B-Boy dancers at the time. You had a lot of people that was training to become good dancers and eventually they did become good dancers but that was later on. So at the early on parties you mainly came to the party to see my brother Wallace, I, Trixie, Dancin' Doug. You came to see people like us each time you came to a Kool Herc party, you know? That was a highlight! That was a highlight of a lot of peoples' evening 'cause you wanted to see these people battle, these people dance and the thing about it is we as inviduals were all friends! We'd just do this because we loved to dance! That's what it is! Keith and Kevin (The Ni**er Twins) used to watch us all the time and they was good friends of ours, too!"
SIR NORIN RAD:"What do you remember about all those legendary early clubs that Kool DJ Herc and Coke La Rock used to rock at? Like the Twilight Zone, the Hevalo and the Executive Playhouse?"
BOSCO ROCK:"Okay, at the Twilight Zone, right? I think at the Twilight Zone was one of the first big dance contests. That's when Coke would get on the microphone and he would give out all these different shoutouts to everybody and he was just talking and he would say,"We gonna have a dance contest!" and, "The dancers from Sedgwick Avenue!!" You know, he was letting the people know that we was from there. So we would come up and we was ready. He said we would be dancing and he said the winner would get a little bit of money...50 $ to the winner....you know, stuff like that. That was the first big dance contest and we started doing that. We was going to the Twilight Zone for a minute. By the time we got to the Hevalo it was more about the giant crowds and when the song came on you started dancing but it was so crowded! People had to make room!! The Hevalo was really really a nice club. It was crowded all over the place. There you couldn't even wear sneakers! So you had to have shoes on that you was able to dance in. That was the key to have shoes that you can dance in if your record came up and you was gonna dance. we started doing that there."
SIR NORIN RAD:"What kind of shoes are you referring to? Playboys?"
BOSCO ROCK:"It was different types of shoes. I mean the Playboys and all that...that was good because they had the gummy bottoms and they gave you the ability to bounce and move around and they was comfortable. That was just one set of shoes but it was different types of shoes. Now let me tell you a little secret...at times we would wear sneakers and we would put black socks over the sneakers and it would look like shoes!!! Like you had shoes on!! You know, you're coming in and the light is not as clear and we would walk in and stuff like that and that's how we got in...so we already had our sneaker on to dance, see what I mean?? That was at the Hevalo. We only did that at the Hevalo because they were strict on you gotta wear shoes....those kinda things. Now by the time we got to the Executive Playhouse that's when it really turned up! That's when you got all these other people that wanted to be dancers and stuff like that! We had all this room and we would walk into there and everybody would like almost cheer that was there 'cause Coke La Rock would be on the microphone or Herc would get on the microphone and say our names and he would use the reverb and it would echo throughout the club. It was beautiful!!!! It was something just to see...the atmosphere and the vibe was so great that, you know, you felt comfortable. If you ever went to a Kool Herc party you did not want that party to end!!!! You would wish it was more hours in the night!!!"
SIR NORIN RAD:"Damn!!!! How long did such a party last?"
BOSCO ROCK:"9....10 o'clock....it lasted till four in the morning."
SIR NORIN RAD:"Did you also get involved with the Hustle Dance at Herc's parties like Chip or Eldorado Mike?"
BOSCO ROCK:"I really did like the Hustle. There was a song by B.T. Express called "Express".."
SIR NORIN RAD:"With the train sound in the beginning of it....."
BOSCO ROCK:"Right! With the train sound.....Herc used to play that and that was my cue to dance with the person that I danced with. Cookie was basically the one that was my dance partner....that I did the Hustle with..stuff like that. She was a really good dancer. She was at all the parties. She would meet me at the parties, dance and everything like that. It was real kool, we was good friends."
SIR NORIN RAD:"Where was she from?"
BOSCO ROCK:"She was from Lafayette Projects on Story Avenue. That's where she's from."
SIR NORIN RAD:"How many times did your brother Wallace Dee go against Trixie?"
BOSCO ROCK:"Numerous times! Numerous times! This was constant because it appeared that everybody always wanted to see them dance. It was just fun to watch them two dance, you know when they was battling each other. 'Cause you know their style was just something."
SIR NORIN RAD:"Were you there at the Twilight Zone when Sasa defeated your cousin Trixie and thus took the number one spot from him? What do you remember about this legendary battle? I was told that Trixie tried to clown Sasa by putting a plastic penis in his face but Sasa repelled that attack by acting like he took out scissors and cutting that dildo."
BOSCO ROCK:"Yeah, I don't think Trixie was too happy about this one. You know what I think? I can't be positive but it appeared that Sasa brung a lot of people from his neighbourhood that was there. He was very a good dancer so he was already well-known in his area and he had become well-known in Kool Herc's parties as well. So when the crowd gotta vote for you, the crowd gotta vote for you. But I mean Sasa won. I mean certain times you might do one move that allows you to win that particular battle and that's all it takes.....that one move.That's what Sasa did. Sasa came up with a move that they hadn't seen before and that's all you needed to do. Come up with something that they're not familiar with. So that's where that's at. I think Sasa was more in the age bracket of Keith and Kevin. He was a few years younger than us. You know, when you got up-and-coming dancers they always bring something new to the table."
SIR NORIN RAD:"Which I guess helps to elevate the dance......"
BOSCO ROCK:"It sure does."
SIR NORIN RAD:"What did you call the dance back then? Did you call it Rocking?"
BOSCO ROCK:"No, I never called it that. Me and my brother we always used to look at it like, "Let's go off!" I didn't consider it as Burning either 'cause I always thought that burning somebody was.....I don't know...a bit disrespectful, something like that. Our dance was always a friendly dance because we was always gonna be friends no matter what. Even after we finished dancing, no matter who won. We had a lot of respect for people. So we used to just go off and it was not so much goin' off on a person, it was goin' off because you heard the record. That's what it was all about. You heard the record, you heard the sound, you heard the music and so you went off to dance on that. So it wasn't the individual because a lot of times like I said I used to focus on just dancing and the music. If my opponent was in front of me I would dance to the music,not to him or her, you see?"
SIR NORIN RAD:"Please tell me about the night in which you battled One Eyed Andre from Lambert!"
BOSCO ROCK:"Now this is the thing...I had heard about Andre, but I hadn't seen him. Then one night we went to Chuck Center in Harlem. We was there, we was all there and stuff like that and then they said, "That's that dude Andre over there!" I said, "Really?" So Wallace is talking to me...we was in a discussion, "I wonder who is to battle him?" Then Wallace said, "You should battle him!" He said, "Even if it's not a battle per se. You could dance and he can see your style and you can see his style." And that's what we did. It wasn't like the DJ there was doing a battle contest or anything like that. We would just dance but it so happened that we danced to that song "Soul Makossa" by Manu Dibango. I think that was one of his favourite songs 'cause the DJs there already knew him. That was me and Wallace first time going to that club right there but they already knew him so I guess he was already famous in that spot but I was coming down there to show my respect and to dance and to let them see where I'm at."
SIR NORIN RAD:"So who won that battle?"
BOSCO ROCK:"Remember I said it wasn't a battle per se. Everybody liked that record when it came out and everybody liked to dance it. The crowd....it consisted of the crowd that was around him and of the crowd that was around me. So you didn't have one big crowd around two people, you had two big crowds around two different people. If you're to say, "Well, who had the bigger crowd?" That's kinda hard to determine. I was the new guy in that center. I guess he had been going there 'cause everybody knew him, more than they knew me. But there was a lot of people from Kool Herc's parties that did know me and they knew my brother. So it was like, "We gotta watch these two dance!" So I can't really determine if we would have went one on one who would have won but I can say he had some pretty good, fancy footwork! That's for sure! One thing about us dancers, we can definetely emulate anybody else's footwork which you normally don't wanna do that. If you do that, you have to add to it. You have to add your own spin on it, no matter what!!"
SIR NORIN RAD:"Now besides being one of the original B-Boys at Kool Herc's parties along with your late brother Wallace Dee you were also DJ Mario's first DJ partner. Please describe how you met Mario."
BOSCO ROCK:"Oh, I met Mario when I was in 7th grade. Somewhere around there.....I was going to Junior High School Herman Ridder......98. It was on Boston Road & 172nd Street. That's where that was at. Mario lived across the bridge, he lived in Bronxdale. I kinda met him and Afrika Bambaataa around the same time. Bambaataa lived in Bronx River during that time. I lived on Bryant Avenue & 174th Street during that time and that's how I met them. We was just kool and everything like that. They were into a lot of group stuff (Black Spades)....regular people...there was no music or nuttin' like that at that time 'cause we was young. But then years later...you know, I kinda kept close contact with him...more so in passing or I would see him 'cause he was kool with me, we was friends. So one day I'm going down Rosedale (Avenue) and this is in summertime and I hear music, right? So I asked, "Who is playing over here?" They said,"It's Mario playing music." I said, "He's playing music? Really?" This was in Bronxdale. So I hear the music and everything like that and so I go over there and talk to him. So he's telling me that he's a DJ now, that he's playing music and stuff like that I started telling him that I had mainly all the songs from back in the days.....the beats and everything 'cause during that time I had already been playing music at parties. Small parties....you know like birthday parties, graduation parties. I was doing little small stuff like that here and there. Nothing major, but that's what I was doing 'cause I had all the songs. And so he said, "Bring your records!" So I brought my milkcrates with the records in them and stuff like that and said,"This is what I got. This is what I can do." He said,"Okay, so let's play music together!" So then we started playing music together. It was us...him and I...and the Chuck City Crew which would kinda like put the equipment together if we would go some place to play and they would dance! These guys could dance! They could dance really well, too!"
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| DJ Mario (The Chuck City Crew) |
SIR NORIN RAD:"When exactly did you join DJ Mario?"
BOSCO ROCK:"That was 1975. 1975 we got together, 1976 is when we really took off!,you know? Yeah, that's when things really got good. "
SIR NORIN RAD:"Okay, so all that took place after you had already been to Kool DJ Herc's parties?"
BOSCO ROCK:"You know what? That's the thing....I didn't see Mario at Kool Herc's parties but somehow he became a DJ. This was later on. Still and all Kool Herc influenced a lot of people to do a lot of stuff. What he did, it spread so fast. They began to know what he was able to do....him and Coke La Rock."
SIR NORIN RAD:"I guess you're talking about his Merry-Go-Round technique?"
BOSCO ROCK:"He is the one that invented the Merry-Go-Round 100 percent!! He started playing the beat again and extending it. Nobody had done that before him. He's the only one that had done that and you would think that he had a test pressing or a copy of something that had the extended beat on it....no it was him doing that, extending the beat just like that."
SIR NORIN RAD:"What kind of person was Mario?"
BOSCO ROCK:"I'm telling you that's a good-hearted person right there! He already had the equipment, all he needed me to do was play the music and I played the music!"
SIR NORIN RAD:"What were your main spots to play music at back then?"
BOSCO ROCK:"100 Park, JHS 123....we could draw some huge crowds in these places! Some huge crowds 'cause see you gotta remember this a tremendous area and you got thousands of people that live all around and it's thick! So everybody is coming...they hear the music and see what's going on and stuff like that. I mean we had everybody coming from everywhere. If it wasn't us doing something it was Afrika Bambaataa doing something in Bronx River. But the Soundview area and all of that, that was all us."
SIR NORIN RAD:"I see. Let's talk about the other DJs that were down with the Chuck City Crew in the mid-1970ies. When did Tex DJ Hollywood join your ranks? I heard he was one of the first Puerto Rican DJs in Hiphop....."
BOSCO ROCK:"Oh yeah, Tex DJ Hollywood........(laughs) Yeah, that was one of our DJs right there. He came into effect close to 1977. I think it was still 1976, towards the end of that year he came around and stuff like that. That was another Chuck City DJ....he was alright. There was a couple of people that was down with Chuck City. There was one person that put together the soundsytem and stuff like that. He was in the Black Spades also, his name was Sinbad."
SIR NORIN RAD:"Sinbad joined Afrika Bambaataa later on......"
BOSCO ROCK:"Yeah, that's right! That's right! But he's the one that would tweak up the soundsytem.... like he would make the kickers louder......and more bass. He was the one who did that 'cause he was really good with mechanics. His name was Sinbad, I remember how he used to do stuff. Ronnie Ron was also in there."
SIR NORIN RAD:"What about DJ Nicky Dee? I think you told me that he took your spot when you left the Chuck City Crew in 1977. Did he come up under you?"
BOSCO ROCK:"Yeah! (laughs) He was from the Soundview area and he was already doing his thing a little bit. He was still young and when you're at that age you practice a lot and you're getting good. He also watched me and studied what kind of music I would play and how I played. That's what kinda elevated everything for him also because it's not easy to step into my shoes but he paid attention and he was a smart guy so that was good. I was pretty proud of him."
SIR NORIN RAD:"Would you say that having been to all those Kool DJ Herc parties and thus having learnt about all those original beats was something that you benefitted from when you started DJing with Mario?"
BOSCO ROCK:"Being involved in the original birthplace of Hiphop allowed me to have a little bit of advantage 'cause I kinda knew the blueprint Kool Herc was going by and I followed that. I would educate a lot of people, I would show them....Mario benefitted from that 'cause I had songs that he never heard of. I had beats that nobody knew what the name of it was 'cause I didn't tell nobody and I would black out the label. I had a store that I used to go to, that I used to buy a lot of my records from. They kept it real private and they gave me all of their best things. These people were real professionals when it came to music. They knew music as well. It was a record store called Downstairs Records. It's on 32nd Street & 7th Avenue...across the street from Madison Square Garden. You had to go down the stairs, it was in the train station. They had everything!!"
SIR NORIN RAD:"Did you still attend Kool DJ Herc's parties after you had begun DJing with Mario?"
BOSCO ROCK:"Yes, I was attending his parties 'cause I was still dancing. I was DJing and I was dancing. You gotta remember...at that time...not a lot of people played the B-Boy music that I wanted them to play for me to dance to. And then I don't think that me and my brother ever really missed a Kool Herc party."
SIR NORIN RAD:"In 1976 Grandmaster Flash came up with a technique which enabled him to extend the break seamlessly. How long did it take you to adapt this technique?"
BOSCO ROCK:"I would go back as far as 1975 when you would try to cue in on the exact beat...what they call catch up the beat......The dark grooves of the record that's where you would find the beat part, so I would put a little small light on the record so I knew exactly where that part was at. I was using that as my guide. It was basically a little night light. That's what I was doing, right? Then in 1976 Flash started doing things a little bit different. He started going to Herc's parties first. Just like myself he was influenced by the DJ thing that Herc was doing. Me I was more of a dancer than a DJ so when I would play the music of the records it was to that extent. So I used.....as far as dancing is concerned....the breakbeats that I had because I couldn't play the record and dance at the same time. So I would play the record and practice and just that little beat part I had to find a way of, "Okay, if I do this and this in my dance I would have to extend my dance if the DJ extends the record!" And that DJ would be Coke La Rock or Kool Herc. Now Flash like I said was a little bit different. He had advanced a little bit. It's like when a person just grows in a beautiful direction and that's what he did. For me to adapt what he did that was too difficult for me. Plus I had already been studying the grooves of the records and that was a beautiful thing when I found out how to extend the beat in my own way. Just like Kool Herc Flash started playing in parks and he did really well."
SIR NORIN RAD:"Your late brother Wallace Dee told me that he moved from Morris Avenue to Bronx River along with your mother and that they lived in building 1609. If I'm not mistaken some of the original five Zulu Kings (in the beginning they referred to themselves as Zulu Masters) lived there, too......"
BOSCO ROCK:"I know who you're talking about. You're talking about Zambu. He also lived in 1609 as did Kusa and Ahmed. Kusa.......he was a friend of mine. I knew all of them........Shaka. I used to hang out in Bronx River, visiting my mother, going there back and forth....things like that. I played basketball in Bronx River and I got a lot of friends in Bronx River. The Zulu Kings would come to our parties all the time!!! All the time!!! See, one person would give a party...whether it was Bam or us...me and Mario.....and they was coming! Everybody was coming. You know, you had people from all over. From Castle Hill, Lafayette, Monroe......you got Bronxdale, you got Bronx River....you got all these different places where everybody is coming from everywhere. You got people coming from different avenues....from Boynton Avenue, from Watson Avenue, you got them coming from Story Avenue...from a lot of different areas."
SIR NORIN RAD:"Who were some of the best B-Boys that would dance at Mario's parties besides the Zulu Kings?"
BOSCO ROCK:"I would say Danny, Joe and them...Sterl, Cleamont. They was pretty good and then you also had and Rita and Dee Dee, they were girls. Let me mention one more person! Cholly Rock!!!!! I have to mention him 'cause he was nasty and he was over there with us! He was also a Zulu King, you know?"
SIR NORIN RAD:"What was your task as a DJ of the Chuck City Crew?"
BOSCO ROCK:"I was exactly their B-Boy DJ.....100 percent! That's for sure! Because I knew what they liked to dance to and I knew what I liked to dance to."
SIR NORIN RAD:"Cholly Rock (The Zulu Kings) told me that he still vividly remembers the farewell party that Mario gave for you in 1977. Why did you leave?"
BOSCO ROCK:"What it was....me and my brother had already enlisted for the National Guards, so we was going away. You know, you gotta do training and this and that. So that's what that Going-away party was initially about."
SIR NORIN RAD:"What do you remember about that particular party?"
BOSCO ROCK:"One day... in the late summer... Bambaataa, Mario and I got together for a conversation about giving a going away party for me. It would be at 123 school gym. It was not a battle, however it would seem that way in the eyes of the people...the bottom line is it was a party and a very big one. I spun my records for most of the night while I got on the microphone with the reverb machine making my voice echo all over the gym. It was such a great feeling to see that gym full of people dancing. By the middle of the night it was time for me to turn it up, meaning B-Boy music and so I began with my playlist of music that I called "Dancefloor Dynamite". I laid down the first wave of breakbeat music dating back to the very beginning. The crowd of dancers and B-Boy dancers like The Chuck City Crew and The Zulu King...they all was dancing. At that going away party I played a record that no one there had ever heard before called "Trans Europe Express"by Kraftwerk. It was something new to the Soundview area and they were feeling the beat of that record. It was Afrika Bambaataa who asked me," What is the name of that record and who made it?" I smiled and waited a few moments before I told him about the information that he found interest in. The gym had a divider where Bam was on one side and I was one the other DJing. People were able to walk from one side to the other and listen or dance to the music. It was a wonderful night!"
SIR NORIN RAD:"Would you like to give any shoutouts at the end of this interview?"
BOSCO ROCK:"I would like to take this moment in time to thank my loving family and thank God for blessing me with each of them. Shoutouts to my cousin Trixie and my friend Chip. A super thanks to all the B-Boys and B-Girls in Europe, Asia, Africa....thank you for keeping the dance style of the B-Boy moves going! Feel free to contact me any time:
Elijah Williams-02152-748
USP-Victorville
P.O. Box 3900
Adelanto CA 92301
or at
ewilliams2748@emailinterface.org"