This is an extraordinary documentary made by the BBC in the mid 80’s about hip hop culture. I saw it a fair while ago and have watched it a few times since – truly exceptional.

Given the era the way it is presented and narrated is truly so far ahead of its time. If you have a spare hour and have even the remotest interest in hip hop then watch this – you will not be disappointed.

Cheers, I’ll give that view later. I was expecting a programme from the 80’s I used to tape which I think was called Behind the Beat.

Thanks. I’ll be watching that later.

When watching it just remember this was the BBC in 1984 or 1985. Groundbreaking and pushing boundaries doesn’t even come close…

I can also highly recommend Hip Hop Evolution on Netflix, particularly the first 3 seasons. Follows the development of hip hop and rap chronologically, as well as episodes on specific regions or scenes.

Cheers, will watch later

Thrty Years of hip hop history in five minutes

Thanks. Just watched it. Nice little trip down memory lane.

I can remember watching as a kid, thanks for posting

Oh the excitement of hearing rockit for the first time! Was playing electo 4 on cassette just last night. Electic boogie.

This inspired me to dig a bit deeper into my cassette collection and i found the classic that is Quick Step and a Side Kick by Thompson Twins. Awesome.

Those who like electro need to listen to the b-side of the cassette version which has dub remixes with some banging bassline loops. This was 1982/3 UK!

Thanks csb,

Thompson twins sound a lot better than I remember as a kid, just saw them as a pop band at the time, before I got properly into dance music. Love to hear the dub mixes you’re talking about, are they available to listen to anywhere online?

It’s often overlooked how much UK electronic music of the early 80’s influenced hip hop. Reminds me of when Adam Ant went to New York and saw all the breakers breaking to Gary Numan’s ‘Cars’. when he came back to UK and told Numan, Numan had no idea that his music was being used that way.

@inkster i can’t find them online but they’re the tracks referred to in the Wikipedia entry for the cassette version of the album.

Cheers for this, will add to my list of things to watch.

I would second Hip Hop Evolution on Netflix after somebody mentioned it up there ^^^

I really like Greg Wilson who DJs a lot of old 80’s funk, hip-hop and soul stuff alongside newer stuff so worth checking his website out for anybody interested