In the late 1970s, music was fundamentally changing. Nationally, Black artists were experimenting with new sounds and techniques, creating a unique form of musical expression. As disco morphed into something else entirely, a musical and cultural phenomenon was underway, leading to what we now call hip-hop. And it was more than music; it was a movement — both musically and culturally — that spread to cities across the United States, including Milwaukee.
So, who exactly recorded Milwaukee's first hip-hop song? How did Milwaukee create a hip-hop scene? In this long-form podcast series, hip-hop expert and DJ Tyrone Miller (DJ Bizzon) teams up with Justin Barney on a quest to definitively answer those questions. They speak with an array of guests who were deeply embedded in Milwaukee's emerging scene. From Speech to DMC, to Doc B, to Andy Noble, to the original recording artists themselves, Radio Milwaukee pieces together a nearly forgotten musical story, unique to our city.
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We hear Milwaukee's first hip-hop song in full and put an end to this journey. -
Arrested Development's Speech talks about the impact that Milwaukee had on him, and the impact he had on the city and the world.
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A group of MCs, DJs and musicians who were there weigh in on the scene, the time, and the true beginning of hip-hop in Milwaukee.
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A businessman with a business plan finds a group of energetic local kids who model themselves on James Brown.
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In the early '80s there is an opportunity to make Milwaukee into the next Motown -- it just needs one charismatic entrepreneur to take advantage of it.
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