Monday information in Late March of 2020.

If you want to understand fully about hip hop music or culture, then  you have to study the history and legacy of the Last Poets. The Last Poets were a major predecessor of modern hip hop music. They used spoken word not only to entertain audiences. They wanted to make precise, important political statements in favor of black liberation explicitly. Their members today are Abiodun Oyewole, Umar Bin Hassan, and Baba Donn Babatunde. Their past members who are deceased are Jalal Mansur Nuriddin, Sullaman El hHadi, Nilaja, Abu Mustapha, and Kenyatte Adur-Rahman. Jamal Abdus Sabur left the group. The Last Poets was formed in 1968 in Harlem, New York City. The name is taken from a poem by the South African revolutionary poet Keorapetse Kgositsile, who believed he was in the last era of poetry before guns would take over. The original users of that name were the trio of Felipe Luciano, Gylan Kain, and David Nelson. The Lost Poets existed during the time of the late 1960's U.S. Civil Rights movement and the black nationalist movement that transpired in America by the late 1960's. The versions of the group led by Jalaluddin Mansur Nuriddin and Umar Bin Hassan had the largest impact on popular culture. The Last Poets were one of the earliest influences on hip-hop music. Critic Jason Ankeny wrote: "With their politically charged raps, taut rhythms, and dedication to raising African-American consciousness, the Last Poets almost single-handedly laid the groundwork for the emergence of hip-hop." The British music magazine NME stated, "Serious spokesmen like Gil Scott-Heron, The Last Poets, and later Gary Byrd, paved the way for the many socially committed Black [emcees] a decade later." The Original Last Poets was created on May 19, 1968 at Marcus Garvey Park in East Harlem. That date was Malcolm X's Birthday. They performed at the historic NY TV program called Soul! on October 24, 1968. Luciano, Kain, Abiodune Oyewole and Nelson recorded separately as The Original Last Poets, gaining some renown as the soundtrack artists (without Oyewole) of the 1971 film Right On! In 1972, they appeared on Black Forum Records album Black Spirits - Festival Of New Black Poets In America with "And See Her Image In The River" and "Song of Ditla, part II", recorded live at the Apollo Theater, Harlem, New York. A book of the same name was published by Random House (1972 - ISBN 9780394476209).
 

The original group actually consisted of Gylan Kain, David Nelson and Abiodun Oyewole. Following their get-together on May 19, 1968 (Malcolm X's birthday), at Marcus Garvey Park, the group coalesced via a 1969 Harlem writers' workshop known as East Wind. When Nelson left, he was replaced by Felipe Luciano, who would later leave to establish the Young Lords. When Kain and Nelson then began to pursue other interests (theater and ministry respectively), Abiodun Oyewole "recruited" Alafia Pudim (later known as Jalaluddin Mansur) and Umar bin Hassan in an attempt to replace the founding members of the group. Following the success of the newly refigured Last Poets first album, founding members Kain and Nelson got together with Luciano and recorded their only album Right On in 1970, the soundtrack to a documentary movie of the same name that finally saw release in 1971.  Jalal Mansur Nuriddin a.k.a. Alafia Pudim, Umar Bin Hassan, and Abiodun Oyewole, along with poet Sulaiman El-Hadi and percussionist Nilaja Obabi, are generally considered the best-known members of the various lineups. Jalal, Umar, and Nilaja appeared on the group's 1970 self-titled debut LP and follow-up This Is Madness. Nilija then left, and a third poet, Sulaiman El-Hadi, was added. This Jalal-Sulaiman version of the group made six albums together but recorded only sporadically without much promotion after 1977. Their debut album was The Last Poets. This is Madness was their follow up album. The album had more political messages. The group was listed under COINTELPRO or the counter intelligence program during the Nixon administration. Hassan left the group following This Is Madness to be replaced by Sulaiman El-Hadi (now deceased) in time for Chastisment (1972). The album introduced a sound the group called "jazzoetry", leaving behind the spare percussion of the previous albums in favor of a blending of jazz and funk instrumentation with poetry. The music further developed into free-jazz–poetry with Hassan's brief return on Blue Thumb album At Last (1973), as yet the only Last Poets release still unavailable on CD. The Last Poets toured the world by the late 1970's and 1980's. Hip Hop expanded by this time, and they were cited as the grandfathers of hip hop. Jalaluddin solo project of Hustler's Convention in 1973 inspired early hip hop artists. The group, led by Hassan, also made a guest appearance in John Singleton's 1993 film Poetic Justice.  Sulaiman El-Hadi died in October 1995. Oyewole and Hassan began recording separately under the same name, releasing Holy Terror in 1995 (re-released on Innerhythmic in 2004) and Time Has Come in 1997. Meanwhile, Nuriddin released the solo CD's On The One (1996), The Fruits of Rap (1997) and Science Friction (2004) under the abbreviated name "Jalal."

In 2005, the Last Poets found fame again refreshed through a collaboration where the trio (Umar Bin Hassan) was featured with hip-hop artist Common on the Kanye West-produced song "The Corner," as well as (Abiodun Oyewole) with the Wu-Tang Clan-affiliated political hip-hop group Black Market Militia on the song "The Final Call," stretching overseas to the UK on songs "Organic Liquorice (Natural Woman)", "Voodoocore", and "A Name" with Shaka Amazulu the 7th. The group is also featured on the Nas album Untitled, on the songs "You Can't Stop Us Now" and "Project Roach."  In May of 2018, The Last Poets released Understand What Black Is, their first album since 1997. The album featured tributes to late artists Prince and Biggie Smalls. The Last Poets songs about how people are scared of Revolution and about the God complex of white racists were real and strong.


DJ Kool Herc or Clive Campbell is the founder of hip hop music. He was born in Kingston, Jamaica. Also, he is a Afro-Caribbean man. He created hip hop at the Bronx, New York City. His hosted his "Back to School Jam" on August 11, 1973 that officially started modern hip hop music. The location of the jam was at 1520 Sedgwick Avenue. He wanted to show music to help his younger sister Cindy Campbell to earn more cash for back to school clothes. Kool Herc played hard funk records similar to the music of James Brown. Early hip hop people wanted hip hop to be used as an alternative to gang culture of the Bronx. This existed when disco was popular. Campbell began to isolate the instrumental portion of the record which emphasized the drum beat—the "break" and switch from one break to another. Using the same two-turntable set-up of disco DJs, he used two copies of the same record to elongate the break. This breakbeat DJing, using funky drum solos, formed the basis of hip hop music. Campbell's announcements and exhortations to dancers helped lead to the syncopated, rhythmically spoken accompaniment now known as rapping. He called the dancers "break-boys" and "break-girls", or simply b-boys and b-girls. Campbell's DJ style was quickly taken up by figures such as Afrika Bambaataa and Grandmaster Flash. Unlike them, he never made the move into commercially recorded hip hop in its earliest years. Kool Herc's parents were Keith and Nettie Campbell of Kingston, Jamaica. He was the first of six children. Kool Herc listened to the sound systems of neighborhood parties called dance halls. The DJs used speeches called toasting. He came into the bronx when he was 12 on November 1967. He played basketball and attended the Alfred E. Smith Career and Technical Education High School in the Bronx. He was nicknamed Hercules because of his height and size. He fought people and the Five Percenters came to Herc's aid. They helped to allow him to understand American culture and New York City street culture in general. He used graffiti with the Ex-Vandals. Herc's first sound system consisted of two turntables connected to two amplifiers and a Shure "Vocal Master" PA system with two speaker columns, on which he played records such as James Brown's "Give It Up or Turnit a Loose", Jimmy Castor's "It's Just Begun" and Booker T. & the M.G.'s' "Melting Pot." Kool Herc used the break method in his hip hop music. Kool Herc also contributed to developing the rhyming style of hip hop by punctuating the recorded music with slang phrases, announcing: "Rock on, my mellow!" "B-boys, b-girls, are you ready? keep on rock steady" "This is the joint! Herc beat on the point" "To the beat, y'all!" "You don't stop!" For his contributions, Herc is called a "founding father of hip hop," a "nascent cultural hero," and an integral part of the beginnings of hip hop by Time. So, DJ Kool Herc used scratching on a beat, he allowed people to breakdance, and he rapped on the beat. This was the foundation of hip hop music. Break dancing allowed people to move around in unique ways. It was a mixture of ballet, flipping around, and other forms of dance. Herc was a hero of the Bronx. Later, Coke La Rock rapped. Kool Herc traveled in New York City with his boom box to show his music. In 1975, the young Grandmaster Flash, to whom Kool Herc was, in his words, "a hero", began DJing in Herc's style. By 1976, Flash and his MCs The Furious Five played to a packed Audubon Ballroom in Manhattan. Venue owners were often nervous of unruly young crowds, however, and soon sent hip hop back to the clubs, community centers and high school gymnasiums of the Bronx. Afrika Bambaataa first heard Kool Herc in 1973. Bambaataa, at that time a general in the notorious Black Spades gang of the Bronx, obtained his own soundsystem in 1975 and began to DJ in Herc's style, converting his followers to the non-violent Zulu Nation in the process. Kool Herc began using The Incredible Bongo Band's "Apache" as a break in 1975. It became a firm b-boy favorite—"the Bronx national anthem"—and is still in use in hip hop today. As for Bambaataa, he has been accused of pedophilia and sexual abuse. Bambaataa had denied all allegations. We always condemn pedophilia and sexual abuse 100 percent.  I want to make that clear. In early May 2016, the Universal Zulu Nation disassociated themselves from Bambaataa as part of an organizational restructuring. In June 2016, the Universal Zulu Nation issued an open letter apologizing to the alleged victims of sexual abuse which the accusers said was  perpetrated by Bambaataa. Now, Kool Herc is still a great ambassador of hip hop music. In the summer of 2007, New York state officials declared 1520 Sedgwick Avenue the "birthplace of hip-hop", and nominated it to national and state historic registers. In May 2019, Kool Herc released his first vinyl record ever with DJ/Producer Mr. Green. “Last of the Classic Beats” was critically acclaimed.
 

Hip hop from 1974 to 1979 rapidly expanded actors New York City and across America. In 1974, the first rapping DJ named Lovebug Starski coined the term of hip hop while trading lines with Cowboy of the Furious Five. In 1974, Grandmaster Flash, Grandmaster Caz, Afrika Bambaataa played parties all over Bronx neighborhoods. In 1975, DJ Grand Wizard Theodore invented scratching. He used his hand on record after his mother ordered him to run the volume down. This technique is known as scratching and gave hip hop its original sounds. Kool Herc was hired as a DJ at Hevalo Club. He allowed Coke La Rock in the same year to say rhymes at parties like "Dj Riz is in the house and he'll turn itout without a doubt." In 1976, Grandmaster Flash invented many things in hip hop. He was from Barbados and he was raised in the Bronx, NYC. He was an expert in electronic repair. He used that and his skills in mathematics to innovate many techniques in hip hop like the backspin technique. This methods isolates break section and punch phrases. This caused the isolation of short section of music and using them over the beat using a mixer. In that same year, DJ Bambaataa performed at the Bronx River Center. He battled against Disco King Marlo that caused the DJ battling culture in hip hop culture. In 1977, the Rock Steady Crew was created. These people included Jo Jo, Jimmy Dee, Easy Mike, and P-Body. They danced and used music to show their skills. They were the best break boys or break dancers of this early era of hip hop. They are among the most respected break dancers in hip hop history. Wild Style or the first film in hip hop showcased them. They toured the world. Many Latino Americans were involved in the early history of hip hop too. DJ Kool Herc survived a knife attack by a miracle. Disco Wiz (or the first Latino DJ), Disco King Mario, Grandmaster Flash, and Afrika Bambaataa toured the city of NYC performing. By 1978, hip hop expanded. Kurtis Blow hired Russell Simmons's brother Run as his DJ in 1978. Kurtis Blow was the first rapper to be signed to a major record deal. The Music industry in this time calls the music rap music and shifts its focus on emcees. Grandmaster Caz and Bambaataa engaged in a battle at the Police Athletic League. In 1979, Sugar Hill Records was created. It was founded by Sylvia Robinson (who was a great pioneer of producing. She is the Mother of Hip Hop). Her husband Joe was involved in the project too. They had backing from Roulette Records. Sylvia head a Cold Crush Brothers bootleg tape and worked in hip hop. She supported the Sugar Hill Gang and this group made Rapper's Delight in 1979. In 1979, Grandmaster Flash formed the Furious Five. They include Grandmaster Flash (Joseph Saddler), Melle Mel (Melvin Glover), Kidde Creole (Nathaniel Glover), Cowboy (Keith Wiggins), Raheim (Guy Williams), and Mr. Ness (Eddie Morris). This year saw the Cold Crush Four formed (with Charlie Chase, Tony Tone, Grand Master Caz, Easy AD, JDL, and Almighty KG). The first rap record by a non-rap group King Time III was recorded by the Fatback band. Mr. Magic's Rap Attack was the first hip hop radio show on WHBI. In 1979, hip hop records grew like Super rappin' from Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, Sponin Rap from Spoonie Gee, Kurtis Blow's Christmas Rappin on Mercury Records, and Jimmy Spcier's Adventures of Super Rhymes (on Dazz Records that lasted for 13 minutes of storytelling). Sylvia also mentored and signed Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, Funky 4 + 1, and the Treacherous Three.



The Yalta Conference from February 4-11, 1945 was the start of the end of World War II. Many scholars believed that this conference was the early start of the Cold War, because it was when the Soviet Union, America, and the UK debated about the future of the world after World War II. The Nazis were being defeated after the Battle of Stalingrad. By early 1945, the Soviets were winning in Eastern Europe, America was liberating the Pacific, and America was in North Africa fighting the Axis Powers. The Yalta Conference included President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and Soviet leader Joseph Stalin plus all of their aides. The Allied Powers wanted to divide Germany into four occupation zones (controlled by the USA, the UK, the USSR, and France). The Yalta agreement wanted free elections held in Poland and in all countries occupied by Nazis Germany. The United Nations was supported after the earlier League of Nations failed. The U.N. was the dream of FDR. March 6, 1945 was when the Soviets made a puppet government in Romania. Josip Broz Tito was the leader of Yugoslavia. Stalin supported a Poland Communist puppet state by April of 1945. This angered Britain and the USA. April 12, 1945 was when President Franklin Delano Roosevelt passed away. From that moment on, the world wouldn't be the same. FDR wasn't as hawkish towards the Soviets as Truman. Vice President Harry Truman became President, and Truman was a dedicated Cold Warrior. At first, Truman didn't know of the diplomatic efforts, didn't know about the atomic bomb, and was biased against the Soviet Union. Truman told Stalin that he or America has nuclear weapons at the Potsdam Conference (this is at July 24, 1945). The USSR finally agreed to invade Manchuria. After Truman committed overt war crimes with his droppings of atomic bombs in Nagasaki and Hiroshima, the war of WWII soon ends. The independence movement of the Third World grows. Indonesia declared independence from the Dutch on August 17, 1945. Yet, the Allies and the Dutch invade Indonesia on August 17, 1945. The Viet Minh controlled Hanoi after the Japanese military surrendered. Ho Chi Minh declared Vietnam independent and even cited the Declaration of Independence on September 1945. World War II officially ends on September 2, 1945 when the Japanese surrendered unconditionally to U.S. General Douglas MacArthur. By September 5, 1945, Igor Gouzenko tells the Royal Canadian Mounted Police that a Soviet spy ring is in Canada and America. Igor was a former Russian advisor working in the Soviet embassy at Canada. The Cold War escalated. Stalin didn't want to give up Soviet occupied areas in the nation of Iran. This caused the Iran crisis. By January of 1946, the Chinese Civil War continued between Communist and Nationalist forces.

The battle lines are clear. Joseph Stalin, on February 9, 1946, said that capitalism and imperialism make future war inevitable. George F. Kennan was a famous political leader. He wrote his Long Telegram, which defined the foreign policy of America involving the Cold War. Kennan wanted to contain Communism at various places of the world in order to stop its spread. His philosophy of containment wanted to use money, political strategies, and containment militarily in order to stop the growth of Communism.  Truman is presented with the Clifford-Elsey Report, a document which listed Soviet violations of agreements with the United States. Nikolai Vasilevich Novikov wrote a response to Kennan's Long Telegram, known as the 'Novikov Telegram', in which he states that the United States is "striving for world supremacy." On December 19, 1946, the French landed in Indochina begin the First Indochina War. They are resisted by the Viet Minh communists who wanted national independence. The French imperialists won initial battles, but they would lose to the Vietnamese forces by the 1950's. During the time of early 1947, France, Britain, and the United States failed to have an agreement with the Soviets on creating a future economically self-sufficient Germany. So, The Marshall Plan was crated by June of 1947. This was a pledge of economic assistance for all European countries, even those nations controlled by the Soviet Union. Billions of dollars were sent under this plan to rebuild Europe. The National Security Act of 1947 created the Department of Defense being modernized, the CIA, and the NSC or the National Security Council. These agencies were the U.S. intelligence community's arms during the Cold War. Stalin wanted his Eastern Bloc in order to prevent all of Eastern Europe to be integrated politically to the West. Stalin used his Molotov Plan, and he didn't want an unified Germany for fear that Nazis would rise up again if that happened. On April 16, 1947, Bernard Baruch, in a speech given during the unveiling of his portrait in the South Carolina House of Representatives, coined the term "Cold War" to describe relations between the United States and the Soviet Union. The Truman Doctrine was part of the containment doctrine. Truman  extended $400 million of military aid to Greece and Turkey, signalling its intent to contain communism in the Mediterranean. August 16, 1947 was when India and Pakistan gained independence from the United Kingdom. The Soviet Union formed the Communist Information Bureau (COMINFORM) with which it dictated the actions of leaders and communist parties across its spheres of influence. On May 14, 1948, the State of Israel was formed, with David Ben-Gurion as its first Prime Minister.


By March of 1946, the Greek Civil War started. It is a war between the Communists and the Kingdom of Greece. Truman send millions of dollars to the Kingdom of Greece n order to cause a victory for the right wing Greece government. The Kingdom of Greece won the civil war in the end. March 6, 1946 was when Winston Churchill spoken of a dangerous Communist threat of spreading an Iron Curtain across Europe. It was his Iron Curtain speech. It was famous and controversial. Churchill never trusted the Soviets during WWII, and now he had his wish for an ideological confrontation among Western Europe and America vs. the Soviet Union. The Communists gain power in Czechoslovakia and the Philippines gained independence from the USA (while the Philippine nation fought Communist rebels). U.S. Secretary of State James F. Byrnes repudiates the Morgenthau Plan on September 6, 1946. He wanted America to keep troops in Europe indefinitely. Also, he wanted U.S. approval of the territorial annexation of 29% of pre-war Germany, but does not condone further claims. 

After Israel was a nation, further divisions would occur between America and the Soviet Union. Hungary would further be controlled by Communists with the leader Matyas Rakosi. There was June 18 communist insurgency in Malaya against British plus Commonwealth forces in 1948. The Deutsche Mark was promoted as a common currency in the British and French zones of Germany. By June 24, 1948, Stalin ordered the Berlin Blockade. Stalin closed all land routes from West Germany to Berlin. He wanted to starve out the French, British, and American forces in the city of Berlin. The West ordered the Berlin Airlift to supply the citizens of Berlin by air. On June 28, 1948, the Soviet Union expelled Yugoslavia from the Communist Information Bureau or COMINFORM for the latter's position on the Greek civil war. The Berlin Airlift was a success, and it ended by May 11, 1949. Communists gain power in Korea by September 9, 1948. American counsel and his staff in Muden, China were made virtual hostages in China. It doesn't end in one year. Relations among China and America became terrible for years and decades afterwards. By 1949, NATO was created on April 4th. It stands for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Its original members are Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, and the UK. Its goal is clear to resist Communist expansion. On May 23, 1949, the Bizone merged with the French zone of control to create the Federal Republic of Germany with Bonn as its capital. Indonesia witnessed its Islamic insurgency in August 7. The Soviet Union tested its first atomic bomb on August 29, 1949. Konrad Andenauer was the first Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany on September 15, 1949. East Berlin is the capital of the German Democratic Republic controlled by the Soviets. On December 19, 1949, sovereignty was handed over to United States of Indonesia from the Netherlands through the Dutch-Indonesian Round Table Conference with Sukarno as the first president of the newly formed federation.
 

William Monroe Trotter had an interesting life. He was the third child. He was the first one to survive infancy. His parents were James Monroe Trotter and Virginia Isaacs. His father was born in slavery in Mississippi. James' mother named Letitia was enslaved. Letitia's father was her white enslaver Richard S. Trotter. Letitia, her son and two daughters were freed. They left to Cincinnati, Ohio. They lived in a thriving free black community. James worked as teacher. Later, he was enlisted in the United States Colored Troops during the American Civil War. He was the first black man to be promoted to lieutenant in the 55th Regiment of the Massachusetts African American Volunteer Infantry. Virginia Isaacs was born free in 1842 at either Ohio or Virginia. Her mother Ann-Elizabeth Fossett was born into slavery at Monticello. She was the daughter of Joseph Fossett and Edith Hern Fossett. She was the great granddaughter of Elizabeth Hemings. Virginia's father was Tucker Isaacs or a free person of color. He purchases the freedom of Virginia's mother or Ann-Elizabeth Fossett. The family moved into Chillicothe in the free state of Ohio. Virginia grew up into a thriving black community. It was in Ohio where she met and married James Trotter. The Trotters moved from Ohio to Boston.  The Trotters had two more children both daughters after William Monroe Trotter was born. James Trotter protested the inequality of pay between black and white Union soldiers. In Boston, he was the first man of color to be employed by the Post Office Department or the U.S. Postal Service. He left the job after facing discriminatory Republican-led federal government party. James Trotter was a political person. He was the Recorder of Deeds for the District of Columbia when Grover Cleveland was President. William Monroe Trotter was educated by the political activist African Archibald Grimke. He was a valedictorian and president of his high school class. His high school was Hyde Park High School (a mostly white school). He went into Harvard University. he earned a bacheolor's degree magna cum laude in 1895. He had his Masters in 1896. He promoted the temperance movement as he never drank alcohol. He was in the Total Abstinence League that was anti-alcohol. He considered to be a minister as he was active in the Baptist church.

 
By Timothy