Hip-hop: Born 50 years ago at a Bronx back-to-school party

I always thought of Thundercat as Neo-Funk. I'm not sure that's even real lol

Where does Debbie Harry (Blondie) fit in all of this?  

"Rapture" made its US television debut on Solid Gold on January 31, 1981, and not only became the first rap video ever broadcast on MTV, but was part of its first 90-video rotation.

Hip Hop is like any other genre - it ebbs, flows, evolves and devolves. Most of us relate best to the music from our formative years, and while I like various pieces from any era, if you really want me to get kicking, play the songs that I was listening to in my teens and 20s, which in the case of hip hop means Run DMC, Salt-N-Peppa, Beastie Boys, Digital Underground, Eminem.... 

I can't stand of what my early-20s son listens to. Not very musical, seriously misogynist, thug-glorifying... But then, if I were his age, who knows what I'd be listening to?

Thundercat is pure money. I can't think of them right now but he did one song with both Kenny Loggins and Michael McDonald on it and another with Tame Impala. That is pretty impressive in itself..

We have hip hop night about once a week here. Probably the most cut throat genre out there.

How I got into hip hop is an interesting dynamic too:

https://medium.com/@the_nickdevin/the-unknown-pleasures-of-hip-hop-and-post-punk-4493c2549a2e

Punk and hip hop have always had a similar lineage. Both were born from the undergrounds of their respected scene. Punk acted as an anti-establishment movement against anything really, and hip hop emerged as a voice for the socio-political injustices against the African American and Latino people, primarily in 1970s New York. Both genres are cut from the same cloth. They started from the bottom wanting to rise up against the establishment, ultimately threatening those who didn’t understand. For punk it was the fans of clean cut, three chord/guitar lick filled rock and roll and for hip hop it was pretty much any group of white Americans. As punk began to develop, bands began to experiment with production techniques and other musical styles that were absent in generic rock songs. Bands began using elements of funk, dub, electronic and jazz to create this avant-garde fusion ultimately coined post-punk. Post-punk it too broad of a category to bring it down to one central sound. The idea was to bring in elements not commonly used and to subvert the convention and commercial formula of rock music. But it still had the raw, gritty flavour found in punk rock, with an added dreariness thrown in thanks to UK post-punk pioneers Joy Division. And it’s these themes that can be found in the alternative rap that is raising the eyebrows of the generic hip hop fan in a genre I’ll call Post-Rap.

I was an '80s punk rocker, still am really. I remember my first punk/hip hop show. It was different and really fun. No one gave a flying berkeley about color or where you lived or how you dressed etc.

In reply to preach :

I was lucky to see Run-D.M.C. live. Totally terrific performance and one of the most fun concerts ever.