RBMA Revolutions On Air The Golden Era Of New York Radio Square
The ever-tasteful and diligent Red Bull Music Academy (around here we just call them RBMA), has outdone themselves with the new mini-documentary Revolutions On Air: The Golden Era of New York Radio 1980 - 1988. A 17 minute trip through time and space, soundtracked by 808s, the film retells the story of DJs like Kool Red Alert, Tony Humphries and Marley Marl--figures that took matters into their own hands brought hip-hop to the airwaves.
Amidst jarring imagery of tagged-up subways and dirty vacant lots, Revolutions On Air brings us b-boys, boomboxes, block parties and homemade mixtapes. "It was freedom to play what you want, versus being tied down by a programming director," Humphries remembers in the doc's opening minutes. "Nothing was off limits." At the center of it all is Frankie Crocker, the earliest champion of hip-hop in the radio arena and, according to DJ Spinna, a one-man cornerstone of black music as we know it today. Whether it be learning to play two beat-heavy records at the same time, splicing looped grooves with an xacto knife, or tri-boro treks to find obscure records, New York City's "golden era" DJs stopped at nothing to hone their craft, and now RBMA's brilliant doc has given their pioneering work its due props. Watch Revolutions On Air in its entirety below, then grab your Lasonic TRC-931 and meet us in the park.
