The Flavor Summit: An In-Depth Discussion with DJ Rob Swift

Today, Hip-Hop is caught between two opposing movements. One is the original movement recognized by day-one Hip-Hop heads, originating in the marginalized Bronx community in NYC. This community of ghetto youth developed a unique, thorough, and resourceful ethos, giving rise to a culture with universal appeal that transformed American and global musical conventions.

The other movement dismisses the diversity inherent in Hip-Hop and rejects the core values of peace, unity, love, and fun. It is a post-pandemic trend that falsely claims a “superior” race created Hip-Hop. This claim is both incorrect and disrespectful.

Hip-Hop OGs, Grandmixer D.St on the turntables, Donald D on the microphone, and Kool DJ Herc observing the party people.

Hip-Hop history has been manipulated by certain people within the culture to serve personal interests. Some of our own OGs of the culture are practicing historical negationism to enhance their legacies and minimize the contributions of peers they feel threaten their reputations. So they move dates around and embellish the events that shaped Hip-Hop’s formative years. I don’t have a dog in this fight, tho. My place in Hip-Hop history isn’t tied to its origins, so I have no preference regarding who, what, when, where, and why. All I care about is accuracy because the TRUTH is the foundation of history. Without truth, history becomes mythology, and methodology is not rational.

I hope this discussion helps those in the middle understand that context matters. Believing Hip-Hop was created by a single race or individual is like using a machete when a scalpel is needed to dissect the culture.

I’d like to thank DJ Dub for curating the Flavor Summit event in Baltimore and DJ 2 Tone Jones for moderating this Q&A session.