MC Serch joined Chubb Rock, MC Lyte and Particular Ed for a particular episode Good Morning America final December. The golden period Hip Hop figures had been on deck in help Rostrum Information’ High Shelf 1988 compilation.
The 13-track mission was billed as a “treasure trove” unreleased cuts from artists akin to Massive Daddy Kane, Doug E. Contemporary, Craig G, Biz Markie and Jungle Brothers. The third Bass MC, who was instrumental in making the tv look occur, figured the timing was proper.
“I spoke to ABC final November considering that is the 30th yr — High Shelf was from 1988 — so it will make sense to finish the yr with this High Shelf tribute,” Serch explains to HipHopDX. “ABC New York had one the primary video reveals known as ‘Sizzling Tracks’ that will play rap movies, so it was a vibe so far as I used to be involved.
“It additionally was about treating our MCs from the golden period like the celebrities and icons they’re. To me, the one distinction between The Beatles and Massive Daddy Kane or Chubb Rock is that The Beatles had tons of radio stations taking part in their music all day, daily. We had faculty radio who performed it just a few instances per week late at evening and concrete stations that performed it just a few hours Friday and Saturday. But these artists are nonetheless revered and honored simply as a lot, however not with the fanfare.”
Evidently, Rostrum felt equally and put all their sources into making the mission genuine.
“The stage was not simply mics and turntables,” he says. “It was 4K digital movement graphics that took a group 5 individuals, three weeks at 20 hours a clip to create. It was Lyte, Particular Ed and Chubb rehearsing. It was additionally respecting these individuals who bought us there, plus honoring those that helped and had been now not there. It was magical and meant the world to me. It validated the viewers is there and we must always push to make them conscious.”
Though Good Morning America isn’t precisely the everyday platform for traditional Hip Hop, Serch believes it was the “excellent goal.” Many viewers the present could have grown past the tradition however nonetheless have a robust connection to the nostalgia the music stirs up. The phase wound up pulling within the second-highest scores 2018.
“GMA and host] Michael Strahan had been the right combination,” Serch explains. “He will get it. Their crew will get it. The individuals within the viewers get it. The groundswell main as much as it was nice and the timing couldn’t have been higher. This viewers who could have gone on with their lives and disconnected from the tradition didn’t disconnect from the music.
“They the viewers] have little or no time to hunt it down. So when it’s there for them, they not solely gravitate and get excited, additionally they join with their individuals and allow them to know. Now, it’s only a matter preserving it of their face with music movies and integrations, excursions and ultimately one thing greater.”
High Shelf 1988 didn’t come with out a little controversy. The music from the album was allegedly unearthed by an unidentified New York Hip Hop aficionado who found a field studio reels inside a storage locker in Hoboken, New Jersey. The one clue to its contents was the title “Fab 5 Freddy” written on a label.
The reels discovered had been supposedly recorded at an East Village studio in Manhattan known as High Shelf and rumored to be misplaced throughout the 1988 Tompkins Sq. Park riots. Some individuals labeled all the story a “hoax” and discovered the tracks weren’t really from 1988 as led to imagine.
“I feel that every one publicity is nice publicity,” Serch says. “Critically, it’s in poor style to problem this mission as a hoax. It’s a hoax the identical manner A Star is Born or Hustle and Move is a hoax. The important thing distinction is these artists are portraying themselves from a time remembered because the golden period and what many really feel was the best yr in Hip Hop.
“Each technology has a ‘Finest 12 months.’ I’ve been actually blessed to be round loads them. For me to be 20 years outdated in New York Metropolis watching a road artwork turn into a strategy to pay my payments and see the world had been the best instances in my life.”
Regardless the rumors swirling across the mission, Serch is solely comfortable it exists.
“To have these superb artist placing out data that, to me are nice data and what our artists the golden period ought to proceed to make, is de facto the best way it’s alleged to be,” he says. “This album and what has been happening with the streaming companies Pandora and Spotify discussing a platform for High Shelf, and LL Cool J’s Rock The Bells Radio not solely taking part in the brand new music but in addition together with the artists with their tales and voices, it offers me nice pleasure in speaking to my heroes and listening to the suggestions.
“I’ve not spoken to Grand Puba in many years and to listen to his voice and speak about music was so gratifying. To speak to Black Sheep’s] Dres, who I’ve not spoken to in awhile and discuss music once more, is such a blessing for me. This mission will give the followers, new and outdated, a take a look at one other vary expertise and expertise that they might not have recognized about.”