The Culture Corner: Philadelphia's place in hip-hop history
Lil Uzi Vert Rich Fury/Getty Images hide caption
Lil Uzi Vert
Rich Fury/Getty ImagesSet List
- Tuff Crew, "My Part of Town"
- Lady B, "To the Beat Y'all"
- DJ Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince, "Brand New Funk"
- Freeway feat. Jay-Z and Beanie Sigel, "What We Do"
- Meek Mill, "Dreams and Nightmares"
When our pals over at NPR Music rolled out their All Rap Is Local project earlier this month to celebrate hip-hop's 50th anniversary, the World Cafe team had two thoughts. First, what an amazing way to highlight the cities that played a big role in the genre's development. But also, where's Philly?
"In my opinion, Philadelphia was the first major stronghold of hip-hop culture outside of New York," World Cafe correspondent John Morrison says.
Philly is home to plenty of hip-hop greats, like DJ Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince, The Roots and Meek Mill. Plus, Philly artists like Lil Uzi Vert, 2Rare and Tierra Whack are still pushing hip-hop forward.
In this session, Morrison takes us through the history of hip-hop in Philadelphia. (It's where we make World Cafe, in case that wasn't obvious yet.)