The Intrinsic Link

Five Great Hip Hop Tracks

Hip Hop has played an important part in the history of dance music and directly contributed to the craft of DJing as we know it today. Grandmaster Flash and Grand-Wizard Theodore, two of the genres founding fathers, are largely accepted as the first DJ's to develop scratching and turntablism, often using two copies of the same record to extend the breaks in a track.

It is no coincidence that Native Instruments recent advertising campaign for Traktor Scratch featured footage of Grandmaster Flash and Richie Hawtin chatting about DJing and generally spending some quality time together; Flash was as much of a pioneer, in his experimentation with turntable technique, as Hawtin is today with his exploration of digital DJing. Although a slightly odd match up, what better people to have promote the groundbreaking program that is Traktor than two of the most innovative DJs ever to exist?

There are a fair few House & Techno orientated DJ's who have come from a Hip-hop background; Tom Novy, A-Trak and Loco Dice who had a career as a rapper, going by the name 'Dice' to name a few. Even die hard Hip-Hop producer and rapper P Diddy who was heavily involved in the scene during the middle 90's with Snoop Dog and Notorious B.I.G is now largely a dance music convert featuring on DJ Hells rather controversial latest techno stormer 'The DJ' and making tracks with Felix Da Housecat. To honour this intrinsic link between dance music and Hip-hop here are five great tracks to take you way, way back.

Number One:
(1982) Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five - 'The Message' - Pure flavour from the Grandmaster himself, spitting about the urban jungle.

Number Two:
(1987) Eric B. & Rakim - 'I know you got soul' - Tough, sharp lyrics and a funky ghetto baseline.

Number Three:
(1988) Slick Rick - 'Children's Story' - Lyrical story telling at it's best with a distinctive sound from the man with the eye patch.

Number Four:
(1991) Cypress Hill - 'How I could just kill a man' - Aggressive but still funky.

Number Five:
(1993) Ice Cube - 'It was a good day' - Think cruising in around the hood at sunset, when "everything is alright".