The Year that Changed Hip Hop: 1987

 I was watching the movie Brown Sugar with Sanaa Lathan and Taye Diggs when the question was asked, “When did you first fall in love with hip hop?” It got me thinking about when hip hop became a part of my life.  Up until that point I was like every other Black kid in the late 70’s listening to whatever my parents were listening to.  Mostly Al Green, Marvin Gaye, or something by the Isley’s.  But then around 1979 a new music form began to take shape and I spent many weekends in my cousin Joey’s house listening to him practicing deejaying on his new Technic turntables and mixer.  I must have listened to him remix Queen’s “Another One bites the Dust” over 100 times in a row that day.  But Joey also introduced me to the Sugarhill Gang, Afrika Bambaataa, and Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five.  I remember when the movie Wild Style came out and my buddy Lee and I would have sleepovers watching it and staying awake to tape Mr. Magic or Chuck Chillout’s master mix on the radio at midnight.  Also, Video Music Box with Ralph McDaniel’s was the edgy upstart program that showcased these gifted orators and entrepreneurs allowing us to match the rapper’s face with the voice for the first time.

Not to mention, I went to the movies six times to see Beat Street and wore out many pairs of Puma’s and cardboard boxes moon walking and back spinning.  At the time Run DMC was hot and a new incredible rapper named LL Cool J had just burst on the scene.  For me, James Todd was the catalyst of what was to come.  Up until that point most of the rappers were older than I and it was hard to identify with them.  Run DMC was already out of college, Kurtis Blow was being hailed as the father of hip hop, and Kool Moe D looked like my uncle.  The beats were recognizable sampled seventies tracks from groups like Cymande and the Jimmy Castor Bunch or disco samples from Chic.  

In 1987 all of that changed.  Specifically the summer of ’87 for me.  I had just graduated from Union Catholic high school and was on my way to play basketball for Fairmont State College in West Virginia.  That summer I worked stripping and waxing floors at my former high school to earn extra money.  I had a boom box set up in the classroom so I could whistle while I worked but I wasn’t doing much whistling because I was falling in love with the melodic flow of KRS-One and Boogie Down Productions debut album Criminal Minded.  Specifically, “the Bridge is Over”, which was the answer to Mc Shan’s “the Bridge”, lit my fire.  The battle between Mc Shan and Krs-One is when artist started rapping and repping where they come from rather than the individual accolades they had achieved.  Over and over I would play the tape eating up my eight hour shift as best as it could and eventually wearing out the paltry magnetized audio tape. 

The classic year of 1987 released Criminal Minded, Eric B. and Rakim’s Paid in Full, Public Enemy’s Yo! Bum Rush the Show, and  LL Cool J’s Bigger and Deffer.  All game changers for rap music and igniting the explosion that was to come in 1988 featuring PE It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold us Back, NWA Straight Outta Compton, The Adventures of Slick Rick, BDP By Any Means Necessary, Epmd Strictly Business, Lyte as a Rock, He’s the DJ I’m the Rapper DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince, Long Live the Kane.

Biz Markie, Stetsasonic, Just Ice, the Jungle Brothers and the 2 Live Crew all released debut albums in ’88.  I was in love and neither my life nor the music culture would ever be the same.  Hip hop had gotten exponentially younger and took on a more educational based, conscious rap, with Krs, Chuck D, Parish from Epmd, and Young MC all having attended college and earned degrees.

The influence of hip hop is easy to see in Dapper Carter's 8 Rules of Dating.  Rap music affects my writing by helping think out of the box with colorful metaphors and similes.  It challenges me to say what i have to say and get my point across as crisply and concisely as possible.  Typically I'm listening to Lil Wayne, Kanye West, or Jay Z because of their abstract and metaphorically creative styles respectively.  

My hip hop roots are classic but I'm not as stubborn as some of my contemporaries who refuse to accept the newer artists and dismiss their lyrics as crap.  Hip hop is a movement, just like Jazz; and the only reason hip lasts the test of time, which it was predicted wouldn’t happen, is because of its constant evolution and adaptation like multi celled organism.  Even bad rap music has its place because it allows the genre to continually develop.  Hip hop music cycles through gangsta rap, braggadocios rap, party rap, conscious rap, and every thing in between.

I have a personal stake in the longevity and global marketing of the product since my own son,DaKidKam, has made rapping his occupation.  He’s just completed his second mixtape, Time In Between.  I’m asked all the time how I feel about having a son in the rap industry?  I think it’s great.  I’m a fan and a failed ex actor myself so I will do anything I can do to support him and help him realize his dreams. 

But he still has to go to college...

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Women HATE cheaters!

      It's humorous to me how women in particularly have responded to my book Dapper Carter’s 8 Rules of Dating.  I have read comments such as: "the way Dapper treats women was totally offensive to me even if this was a work of fiction," or "in fact while reading the first few chapters I wanted to put it away just because I couldn't stand the insults towards ALL women."    What's interesting to me is that of the fifty or so reviews I've had over thirty have been 5 star reviews and another twelve have been 4 stars.  Two 3 star ratings and one 2 star.  The only low ratings I received were from non-African American readers.  I find it interesting to see the disparagement between African-American reviews and non African-American reviewers. 

     During the 8 months that my book has been out i have found that Black women totally love my book and its honesty whether they know me personally or not.  White women who know me personally like my book.  And white women who don't know me at all hate my book!  lol

     My guess is that it has to be the language.  I don't think non Blacks are use to hearing the words nigga and bitch thrown around as freely as Black women are.  And they seem to be genuinely offended.  I'm not saying that either of these words is acceptable but unfortunately my people have learned to use both as terms of endearment at times and tools of hatred as well.

     I also catch an earful when it comes to the opening of the book and Dapper's dogged ways.  I always say if you get past the first three chapters then you will love my book.  Unbeknownst to the reader Dapper Carter's 8 Rules of Dating was conceived as a film idea and movie script first.  The first rule of screenwriting is that the opening ten minutes has to hook the viewer.  Novels normally don't start out with such a bang opting to build character and story more slowly.  However, I had to present Dapper as sooo unlikeable for the reader to be able to sympathize, empathize, and eventually root for our protagonist to find Love.

     I've found that all women HATE cheaters!  And its a delicate tightrope to walk when the lead character of your story is a cheating male and you're trying to gain female approval.  I guess I will have to continue to do what has worked for me thus far and write relentlessly honest and from the heart.  Hopefully my characters will be recognized as flawed and imperfect individuals just as we are and acknowledged for their attempt to achieve personal growth in each story.  No one is all good nor is anyone all bad.  We're just the good, the bad, and the ugly.

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Can others sense your desperation when you're playing the dating game?

Just like its easier to get a job when you already have a job it’s easier to get a date when you already have a date.  When you’re not in the dating flow it seems that people can pick up on the energy that you are out of the loop looking in. 

One of the themes of Dapper Carter’s 8 Rules of Dating is how people can sense your desperation when you are trying to date again.  It’s like they have a sixth sense that you’re not getting any play.  Dapper had to incorporate strict rules into his dating experience in order not to be took advantage of.  His rules were (1) not to talk too much, (2) go somewhere cheap on a first date because you may not see this person again, (3)f we’re friends we can split the check but if we’re having sex then I'm paying, if you’re at my house after midnight then we’re having sex (its like feeding a gremlin), treat the hos like queens and treat the queens like hos (that goes for both men and women), never have threesomes with people you care about, the only thing better than cookies are new cookies, and whatever it is you’re looking for from a relationship that’s what you have to give in a relationship.  My personal favorite is rule number three.  I had found myself in the position far more often than I liked where I would hear “Alan I like you as a friend” but yet and still I was always the one reaching in my pocket.  If we’re friends no problem, then we should be able to go Dutch once in a while, right?  But if we are actually sleeping together than I had no qualms springing for the meal.  It was the least I could do.

I don’t think people take advantage of other people with any malicious intent but if you put yourself in that position then its buyer beware.  Are you the only one paying for meals?  Do you only get booty called late at night?  It’s up to you to put a spending cap on dinners, time limit on late night visits, and address the boundaries of your friendship with the other person.  Sometimes you're the pigeon and sometimes you're the statue.

A lot of us have done the “taking advantage of” thing whether it be accepting a free dinner or drinks with no intentions of furthering the relationship or blowing a person off because they are too interested and too available.  Not to mention many of us have gotten the short end of the stick and been on the bottom of the dating totem pole committing dating faux paux’s of over eagerness, lack of confidence, volunteering too much personal info too soon, and lack of common sense.

If anyone has funny dating experiences (I'm sure it wasn’t funny at the time) in which you feel like you played the sucker and was taken advantage of let us know.

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Book trailer for Dapper Carter's 8 Rules of Dating

Book Trailer for Dapper Carter's 8 Rules of Dating