Hip Hop Evolution Netflix Mini-series Review

Hip Hop Evolution (2016)
Mini-series - 4 episodes

Watch Hip Hop Evolution on Netflix
Created by: Darby Wheeler, Sam Dunn, Scot McFadyen
Rating: TV-MA

Plot
In the 1970's the foundation for hip hop was laid in the South Bronx. Featuring interviews from those that created the genre and those that revolutionized it, this documentary series traces the origin of hip hop and rap.

Verdict
This is a great documentary that is covering this piece of musical history while those that originated it are still alive to retell the story and reveal their influences. If you've listened to hip hop or rap at any point, you'll enjoy this look at the formative years. Even if you aren't a fan of the genre, you may find the influences on and expression of a new art form intriguing.
Watch it.

Review
This documentary chronicles the history of hip hop and is able to interview a vast myriad of artists that influenced and shaped the genre. With this being recent history, we hear it from those that were there. In few mediums is the history researched early enough to talk to the major players. We get exactly that.

I grew up with hip hop in the early 90s, like Slick Rick - Children's Story, Run DMC - It's Tricky, Biz Markie - Just a Friend, and Digital Underground - The Humpty Dance.

We explore the music with Shad Kabango who interviews the artists and takes us on a journey that starts in New York. This is a thorough approach, crafting a great story of how hip hop started as a response to disco. Grandmaster Flash pioneered what are considered standard DJ techniques. Artists took the best music available and only played "the break", the best beat of the track. From there they combined the breaks of multiple records, sampling music to create something new. This is the origin of hip hop, with many of the earliest tracks being MC's talking over the track.

While this is feels in depth, it's a broad overview of the genre. Interviewing everyone involved and every influence would never end.You could do a series focused just on some of the artists interviewed.
The Sugarhill gang made hip hop mainstream with Rapper's Delight. I was surprised that many of the original pioneers didn't like the group of the song. Big Bank Hank had ripped many of the lyrics from the song from Grandmaster Caz.

Run DMC

The band Blondie further expanded the world of hip hop with a rap influenced record.
Run-DMC fused rock and rap while they and LL Cool J abandoned the rock star glam style and adopted a street style.

NWA

Their music wasn't dance club music, it was hard hitting beats that influenced all artists after them and paved the way for gangster rap from Ice-T and NWA. NWA's defiant sounds focused on their experiences and criticized social mistreatment.

This series is begging to be continued, as it ends with Dr. Dre's album The Chronic released in 1992.