Kurtis
Blow
@ The Jazz
Café
Recipes Used:
I’ve been (what I class myself) a Hip-Hop student for over a decade now. It’s been through Hip-Hop that most of the positives in my life have filtered through in one way or another.
So to say that I’ve covered one of the pioneers of Hip-Hop is something I will cherish.
Kurtis Blow is a foundational figure for the Hip-Hop MC: The first solo rapper to sign a major record deal – at the age of 20 mind you – he was a key breakthrough for what was a fledgling cultural force at the time.
Fast forward to now and Kurtis is still the MC that he was back then. This show was testament to that. Whilst most performers just go from song to song in their own catalogue, Kurtis made it a point to celebrate Hip-Hop as a whole through him and his amazing fit.
Speaking of which, we’ll dive into the first set: the coloured set where you can see the fit in question.
Whilst he performed his own hits such as as “Basketball” and “The Breaks” – the latter of which I had the honour of shouting “That’s the breaks!” down his microphone – he also told stories about his past, putting on The Fugees and playing a medley of songs from Hip-Hop history.
Now for his monochrome set:
A cool moment was when he brought on members of the audience for a little dance break during “The Breaks”. When I tell you this whole show felt as throwback as it could be…
Lastly. The best moment in my opinion, was when he told the audience about the show being a true family affair. His sons St Michael & Kurtis Blow Jr were the DJ and hype man respectively. Not only that, Kurtis' wife of over 40 years was hovering around recording every moment.
There are so many things about this show that make it one of the most unique I’ve ever been to. Whilst it isn’t my best performance as a photographer, that doesn’t really matter to me in this case, knowing that the subject of this post is such a legend in this thing I anchor a lot of myself on.
I can’t help but see this all with an immense gratitude where I can say I saw a legend of the game in the flesh, was involved in his show and was transported to a time when Hip-Hop shows were done a little differently… Hip-Hop brought me here.
Charlie Taylor
chillicharlie.taylor@gmail.com
Born in Camden, North London.
Bred in Leigh-On-Sea, Essex.
Screenwriter/Podcaster/Photographer/
Hip-Hop Student.