Rap was born with the art of speaking, and it's Caribbean and U.S. roots were recorded right from the beginning of the 20th century: inflamed utterances, impassioned preaching, negro spirituals, folk, and slam poets on the downbeat. But the amazing recordings included herein first and foremost show how quadrille callers morphed into DJs hosting dancefloors at the mike, laying the fundamentals of hip hop culture. Bruno Blum comments on more aspects of the roots of rap, such as radio DJs, talking blues, and jazz.

Patrick Frémeaux