The Daily Show: Ears Edition - CP Time: Old-School Hip-Hop

Episode Date: May 28, 2022

Roy Wood Jr. teaches a lesson on the origins of hip-hop – and of that iconic record scratch noise. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

You're listening to Comedy Central. All right, welcome to CP Time. The only show that's for the culture. Today, we're going to talk about hip hop. And I mean real hip hoppah. Not this new school trap mumble rap where you can't even understand what they're saying. Hubbita, hubbita, hubbiter, Hubertah. That's not lyrics.

That's the sound Fred Flintstone's feet make when he driving off. His feet just joined the Migos. Now, today we're going to talk about old school hip hop. Legends like DJ Cool Herk, Grand Master Flash, run DMC. And of course, my short-lived group, regular Roy and the trapezoids. We broke up right after we took that picture. Had a huge argument over what exactly a trapezoid is.

Didn't record a single track. Kiss my ass, LeRoy. Tonight, let's discuss some of the seminal moments in the birth of hip-hop. Starting with the 40th anniversary of Rappers Delight, the first commercially successful rap song. Rappers Delight got everyone rapping. In fact, thanks to Rappers Delight, hip-hop went so mainstream, it even led to stuff like this.

And every rapping, Cat I know, dreams. Ain't that so? Thankfully, hip-hop survived that commercial. But barely. Now, rappers Delight might be the reason rap went commercial, but what gave hip-hop its flavor was unduitably the sound of the record scratch. A lot of people don't know this. But the record scratch was actually invented by accident. A young DJ by the name of Grand Wizard Theodore

was practicing in his room when his mother came in and he stopped the record with his hand, which led to this. That's right. That sound was accidentally created by a young black man trying to avoid an ass-whopin. And now it's the signature of hip-hop. It's also the sound of when some shit didn't go wrong.

The condom had a hole in it. P-Boh-Ph! What do you mean that ain't my mouth. But before you could scratch on a turntable, you needed a turntable. And that was one of the biggest obstacles for aspiring hip-hop djays. Turntables were too expensive. Luckily in 1977, an active gaud changed the course of black history. A massive blackout hit New York City, and in the ensuing chaos, over a thousand stores were looted.

Now, I'm not going to be the one to say that black people had anything to do with it. But let's just say that the next day, there were a bunch of brand new DJs in New York City. Coincidence indeed. Now, before you judge those people who looted on that faithful day, remember that looting can lead to some beneficial side effects. Black people looted, and now we have hip hop. White people looted, and now we have museums. If you know damn well, those mommies didn't just walk themselves into that museum.

Now, that historic night in 77, my Uncle Beebo also took part in the looting. But because of the darkness, he couldn't identify what he was taken. He thought he stole two turntables. Turns out it was too lazy Susan's. He never did become a DJ. But he could pass the hell out of some ketchup. Well, that's all the time we have for today. But before we go, I want to make peace with the trapezoids. Leroy, if you're watching this tonight, I'm sorry that I said a trapezoid is just a square with an attitude. So I'm sorry for having sex with your wife.

This has been CP time. And remember, before the culture, Lero kissed my son for me. Don't see it in a couple of years. Watch the Daily Show, weeknights at 11, 10 Central on Comedy Central and stream full episodes anytime on Paramount Plus. This has been a Comedy Central podcast.