GVP #071 - The Black Dot - Hip-Hop’s Spiritual Heritage

Good Vibrations breaks its temporary hiatus as Mark Devlin is joined by the hip-hop MC-turned researcher/ author known as The Black Dot. His 2005 book entitled 'Hip Hop Decoded: From Its Ancient Origin To Its Modern Day Matrix' is now considered a groundbreaking piece of work, and has earned the praise of many of the founding names in hip-hop culture. In it, he proposes that the scene that was spawned in The Bronx in the 1970s, marked a re-awakening of many spiritual and metaphysical components that had their roots an ancient cultures. The five central elements of hip-hop were modern-day re-interpretations of concepts that can be found throughout the universe. We go on to discuss the corporate bastardisation of hip-hop, from the once meaningful artform it was, into the dumbed-down, toxic shadow of its former self it has become, and reflect on whether this was a deliberate move by the controlling corporations to not only capitalise on its financial potential, but also to crush the very spirit of the genre, and to deliberately cut its followers off from accessing higher levels of consciousness through the music. Specific names discussed during the course of the chat include Kool Herc, Grandmaster Flash, Afrika Bambaataa, Puff Daddy, Dr. Dre, Jay-Z, Kanye West, Lil Wayne and Nicki Minaj. Anyone who has ever expressed an enthusiasm for hip-hop culture stands to be fascinated by the information!