This is the best @nyknicks team in franchise history! And Jalen Brunson is the greatest Knick ever. Brunson is better than Patrick Ewing, Walt Frazier, Willis Reed, Bernard King, Carmelo Anthony, and, and, and… Go New York Go New York Go!

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Podcasters and content creators are diluting Hip-Hop. These social media “hosts” promote guests who don’t know 💩 about the culture in exchange for virality, and because social media lets anyone build a following, genuine expertise is being undermined by self-promotion.

I'm not upset with Tariq Nasheed for his proximity to Whiteness b/c, in reality, there's no such thing as a pure race. However, he and the Foundational Black American useful idiots who support him are hypocrites. People think propaganda agents look like Tom Cruise; they don’t.

No single ethnicity created Hip-Hop or Breaking. They’re not forms of expression that are centralized to one group of people. It’s stupid to think that.

Sending 23rd-year anniversary wishes to the most impactful DJ album of all time, Built From Scratch. #loudrecords #xecutioners #builtfromscratch

Classic material.

Rap History: Rob Swift (@DJROBSWIFT) - ‘The Ablist’, released February 23, 1999.

Finally about to jump into @DJROBSWIFT and Rasul A. Mowatt’s recent book “The City Of Hip-Hop”. Have been looking forward to reading this. #TheCityOfHipHop

Hip 🙌🏾 Hop 🙌🏼

Hip-Hop is more than just a musical genre. It embodies an ethos that includes sound, word, dance, and art. After reading my book, *The City of Hip-Hop: New York City, The Bronx, and a Peace Meeting,* co-authored by Rasul Mowatt, you will gain a deeper appreciation for the “do-it-yourself” spirit and creativity of oppressed youth in New York City. *The City of Hip-Hop* will be available to purchase at your local book stores on December 17th but you can available for pre-order now—routledge.com/The-City-of-Hi…. #thecityofhiphop

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The City of Hip-Hop is not just another book about Hip-Hop culture. It's a deep dive into the political and social conditions that spawned the art, dance, sound, and poetry. Pre-order it now at routledge.com/The-City-of-Hi…) and apply the code AFLY04 to receive a 20% discount.

Name a DJ we ain’t influence. 🙅🏾🙅🏻‍♂️

Here’s an excerpt from our appearance on @respectthedjs_'s podcast. You can watch the full interview on YouTube. Here’s the link: youtu.be/9_tWTOHBu68?si=748w….

In this excerpt from our lecture and Q&A at @MIT earlier this week, Rasul Mowatt and I discuss how the ingenuity that characterizes Hip-Hop is significantly influenced by the unique environment of New York City in the 1970s. #brolicarmydjschool #thecityofhiphop #routledge #mit

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In a recent interview on @wwoz_neworleans, I discussed conjunction as a key, albeit neglected, factor in why Hip-Hop exists. Hip-hop wasn't "created." It was triggered by certain conditions in the Bronx, NY, during the 1970s. If you're open-minded enough to learn more about my thesis on this topic, check out my upcoming book, The City of Hip Hop ⏩ a.co/d/fIE7Gtf.

Music is the backdrop of most of my memories. Whether it was the Salsa, Merengue, or Cumbia my dad played at home while preparing for a gig that coming weekend or the funk, rock, and soul my brother played when he would invite his High School friends over to jam on my dad's equipment while my parents were away at work, my childhood was driven by song. So, early in my adolescence, I realized the power of music and how it could bring people together. That understanding grew even more when Michael Jackson's THRILLER album, produced by Quincy Jones, dropped in 1982. That album changed everything for me because, for the first time, music didn't just connect me to the people in the environment with which I was hearing it, a basement church gathering where my dad was hired to DJ or park jam my brother took me to. THRILLER bridged me to the entire world. Whether you were a kid in Jackson Heights, Jacksonville, or Japan, Quincy Jones' ability to compose, arrange, and score an album that transcended people's life experiences globally is why, to this day, I value the power behind music. In 2006, Herbie Hancock invited me to perform with him and his band at the WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM in New York's Waldorf Astoria. I got to meet and play alongside legends like Bono and Wynton Marsalis. But with all due respect to everyone I interacted with that week, it was getting to vibe with Mr. Quincy Jones, who curated our performance and made the most substantial impact on me. When I was a kid, from afar, his music influenced me. To this day, I vividly remember my dad giving me 12 bucks to go buy THRILLER from Numbers Record Store on 78th Street and 37th Avenue when I dropped by because he specifically wanted to play "Billie Jean" at his next party. But now, I was talking to the man, learning his manner and experiencing how his mind worked. At the end of our performance on the night of our show, I remember he walked up to me, rubbed my stomach, and said, "That was smooth, Rob." I was a DJ with no formal training, yet Quincy regarded me as a musician like anyone else in Herbie's band. Thank you, Quincy. Rest in peace.

There has always been gatekeeping in Hip-Hop, but it is based on creativity rather than race.