Hip-hop turns 50: Musical genre which carries spirit of protest was created by Bronx DJ Kool Herc

FRANCE 24 English

Visit our website: http://www.france24.com  Like us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FRANCE24.English  Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/France24_en

Transcript

00:00 For more on this story, let's welcome Mo Lodi.

00:02 He is a South African curator, artist, composer, and DJ.

00:06 Thanks so much for being with us here on France 24.

00:08 So hip-hop has been around for 50 years now.

00:11 I wonder if you can just talk about its influence on your own music and art.

00:16 Oh gosh, the whole influence of hip-hop goes so deep.

00:21 It started for me in Polukwane when I was a child, rapping in Sotru, inspired by Jero

00:28 Sokoto, and how he looked at the Sophia Town movement, and then reinterpreting how Snoop

00:36 Dogg would rap about all-stars.

00:39 And you see Mapan Tula wearing all-stars, and then the bomb squad from Public Enemy,

00:46 and the whole graffiti painting on the streets, taking the street and creating a whole identity

00:54 when you don't have a space, but creating your own space, your own community, your own

01:00 sense of belonging.

01:01 The DIY aesthetic of how people like Virgil Abloh went from working with Kanye West to

01:10 being the head of Louis Vuitton, and you see the same aesthetic that goes into Pharrell

01:18 Williams and the Jay-Z's creating a whole economy.

01:24 And even now when I'm making music, I'm thinking about this legend, how they transformed the

01:31 culture and me creating my own label, which led to my own philosophy, Globalista, how

01:38 you think about the world and the biggest malls, and say whatever it takes to make it,

01:47 the NARS, and this whole idea of you can make it no matter where you're from.

01:55 And even now when I'm curating, I'm thinking about how to create a sense of community.

02:02 I worked with artists like Arthur Jaffa way back in the day.

02:08 I was lucky that in 2010 he created my music video, and later to find that he's making

02:16 music videos for Jay-Z's and Kanye West, and the videos like "Washes in Blood."

02:23 And now when I'm curating for the next exhibition that's going to be in 2025 with Madeleine

02:30 Leclerc at the Musée de l'Ethnographie de Genève, it's looking at this history that

02:37 is inspired, that is transformed, that is changing people's identity, the griots, how

02:46 they went from Mali, passing generations of history through rap, through storytelling.

02:54 And I'm looking at people like Khotutsile Korapet, who inspired the last poets to create

03:01 their name, the last poets that is inspired by one of the poems.

03:09 So hip-hop is integral to the aesthetic, the philosophy, my own philosophy, globalisto,

03:18 and it's changing day by day.

03:21 To look at the words, as Jay-Z now has an exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum, and you

03:28 look at these words and how they have this empowerment, and how we are actually changing

03:36 society by thinking about how we feel about ourselves.

03:41 We should point out, hip-hop was preceded by other forms of African American music such

03:45 as jazz, R&B, rock and roll.

03:48 We're running out of time here, but I did want to ask you, you know, many genres don't

03:51 have the staying power that hip-hop has had.

03:54 How do you explain its longevity, with just about a minute left here?

03:59 It's evolved from the aesthetic of basically a party music to a business where you actually

04:08 think about how you actually exist and how you produce your music.

04:13 Instead of waiting for someone to create a platform, you create that platform yourself.

04:18 And this is the DIY philosophy that's in globalisto, creating that platform for ourselves and not

04:24 waiting for other people.

04:26 And that's the lasting power that you see in hip-hop and how these artists are able

04:33 to transform again and again.

04:35 And it's no longer just part of a subculture, but it's mainstream.

04:40 It's everywhere you go, you have brands that are appropriating this culture.

04:45 Everywhere you go, you see a little bit of hip-hop that is there, that is remaining.

04:50 Its influence has definitely gone beyond music and certainly into pop culture.

04:55 Sorry for cutting you off there, but we've run out of time.

04:57 Moula Odis, South African curator, artist, composer, and DJ, thanks so much for celebrating

05:02 the 50th birthday of hip-hop with us here on Friends 24.

Category

Transcript

Be the first to comment

Recommended