Yes Yes Y'AllAs of June 1, 2007, this page will no longer be updated. Please visit our new site to access newly added programs. Hosted by Charlie Ahearn, director of Wild Style! , and co-author of Yes Yes Y'All . |
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Edition #21: Ricky Powell - listen | listen with RealPlayer First broadcast November 14, 2005 Ricky Powell dropped by the Clocktower to spin some rare 70s joints for Yes Yes Y'all host Charlie Ahearn and to get open on his photo adventures from the early Beastie Boys, through his snaps of Flavor Flav and Biz Markie, Keith Haring, to his recent Colabs with Revolt, Lee, Dalek and other art luminaries which are seen in his new book Public Access on powerHouse. Some of the prize gems to be heard are 2001 by Deo Dato, Harlem River Drive by Eddie Palmieri, Sunshine of Your Love by Ella Fitzgerald. Thrown off the air when he was a DJ at Columbia University radio DJ, Ricky Powell is known widely for his photography. His lens has captured everyone from Fab 5 Freddy to Public Enemy. He was on his way to becoming a gym teacher (or a frozen lemonade vendor) but got sidetracked by a Minolta Auto-Focus 35mm and his friends the Beastie Boys. Now known as official photographer of Hip-Hop, Powell photographs and writes for The Source, Vibe, Grand Royal, Paper, and (the now defunct) Ego Trip. He has recently published Public Access: Ricky Powell Photographs 1985-2005. Powell lives and works in his hometown New York. |
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Edition #20: Safahri Ra - listen | listen with RealPlayer First broadcast December 12, 2005 MC Safahri Ra lived through Hurricane Katrina and delivers the story in his amazing freestyle. Safahri tells host Charlie Ahearn how he spent three days in an attic in the 9th Ward after the levee broke and how the aftermath of that disaster has changed America. He is on tour with members of The Kuumba Academy, a radical New Orleans hip hop school for kids. Safahri Ra also plays a live recording he made with Lady Bug from Digable Planets as well as Gil Scot Heron's It Might Not Be, which has nurtured his feeling for jazz and rhyme. |
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Edition #19: PStar - listen | listen with RealPlayer First broadcast October 3, 2005 Listen as nine-year-old PStar proves her amazing MC skills on Yes Yes Y'all with host Charlie Ahearn. This little girl can spit! Priscilla Star Diaz opens the show rhyming acappella and telling stories about her pre-teen life in Harlem. Although she is just getting started, her talents have attracted lots of attention. In an appearance on MTV's Made, she teaches some kid how to rap. Priscilla rocks the Clocktower live with such songs as Political, Daddy's Little Girl and Biggie's Bounce. Her agent Bugsy sits in for the interview. Check her out. |
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Edition #18: Oke - listen | listen with RealPlayer First broadcast June 27, 2005 Host Charlie Ahearn invites Okechukwu to represent Nigerian hip hop on this special segment. Oke's (rhymes with Coke) "Brother" floats over a jam by Nigerian colossus Fela Kuti and he reflects on his country's profound music heritage. Oke provides us with a taste of the exploding Senegalese hip hop scene and speaks about the importance of a Pan African Movement. His "Pain" rhymes over chain gang chants from American slave tradition. He wraps up the show with an awesome acappela free style in his unique baritone. |
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Edition #17: Dola - listen | listen with RealPlayer First broadcast May 9, 2005 MC Dola raps live in Swahili, rhymes acappella, plays selections of his music and also some hot tracks by Tanzanian MCs. In conversation with host Charlie Ahearn he delivers an intimate update on African hip hop. Balozi Dola, who grew up in Tanzania, became an East African recording artist with his recent Bongo Flava release. Dola is here to spread the word on hip hop culture as a vehicle for social change in Africa and around the world. We recommend a visit to www.nomandicwax.com. |
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Edition #16: Hank Shocklee - listen | listen with RealPlayer First broadcast April 25, 2005 Hank Shocklee, the "blitzkrieg producer" of Public Enemy (Chuck D, Flavor Flav, Professor Griff and Terminator X), the most dynamic rap group of all time, joins Yes Yes Y'all host Charlie Ahearn to illuminate the creative process behind PE's music. As leader of The Bomb Squad, Hank was one of the chief architects of their revolutionary sonics. Kicking it off with Public Enemy #1, Hank breaks down the evolution of the group's sound with such classics as "Bring The Noise" and "Black Steel In The Heart of Chaos." Hank recounts how by the time of Brothers Gonna Work It Out, PE had gone from pure noise assault to a kind of unifying anthem capable bringing people together. About Shocklee and the album It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back (1988), Chuck D has said, "it came together in a lightning-fast six weeks -- six weeks with 16 years of research and education behind them -- and Shocklee's production was a critical element." |
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Edition #15: Kurtis Blow - listen | listen with RealPlayer First broadcast April 11, 2005 An amazing gospel freestyle over Kanye West's smash single "Jesus Walks", plus discussions and revelations about hip hop history, music and culture by a man who was present at the creation. Kurtis Blow is a pioneer, statesman and historian of hip hop music and culture. On Charlie Ahearn's Yes Yes Y'all hip hop hour, Kurtis tells how it felt to be the first rap star after the release of "The Breaks" in 1980. He went on tour with Russell Simmons' Def Jam Records in a tour that included Whodini, Run DMC, The Fat Boys and Newcleus. Later hits such include "AJ Scratch" and "If I Ruled The World" which was later covered by Nas. Kurtis also reveals his story of how a Bronx B-boy worked himself up through the disco-fied rap scene to his most recent founding of The Hip Hop Church. Recently Charlie witnessed Kurtis MC-ing and DJ-ing for a packed congregation at Greater Hood Memorial AME Zion Church where the spirit moved some people to shout, "Word!" and others to break dance in the aisles. |
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Edition #14: Rammellzee - listen | listen with RealPlayer First broadcast March 14, 2005 Rammellzee makes a surprise visit to Charlie Ahearn's Yes Yes Y'all show to rock his street intellectual wild style MC thing live in the Clocktower and to speak of original theories of Iconoclast Panzerism and Gothic Futurism. Rammellzee was unforgettable as the MC with Rock Steady in the climax of the movie Wild Style. His unique graffiti based painting and sculpture, his alien monster costume design, and his hip hop performance and theories of the "armed letter" were profiled by Edit Deak in Art Forum in the early '80s. He has recorded records with Jean Michel Basquiat, Bill Laswell and others. |
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Edition #13: DJ Synapse - listen | listen with RealPlayer First broadcast February 21, 2005 DJ Synapse gives Yes Yes Y'all host Charlie Ahearn a quickie course in scratchology, deconstructing the mysteries of the needle and the mixer as he performs an autopsy on the multi-layered tissues of today's hip hop sound. Get ready for Synapse's freshly found mash ups such as one with Lou Reed's "Walk On The Wild Side" with Janet Jackson and then Lou Reed with A Tribe Called Quest. Although he's young, Synapse has played with many of hip hop's legends such as Kool Herc, Grand Wizard Theodore and Jazzy Jay and he spun last Summer at one of PS1's Warm Up. |
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Edition #12: Biz Markie - listen | listen with RealPlayer The clown prince of hip-hop kicks off this live session with Charlie Ahearn by telling tales of recent deejay adventures from partying with Will Smith in Hollywood to playing the Playboy mansion for Hugh Hefner, rapping to funky fresh In this live session at the Clocktower, the Biz tells Charlie Ahearn how he first beat-boxed with Dougie Fresh, formed a crew with MC-god Rakim and recorded his first record with teen diva Roxanne Shante. He also raps along with "Just A Friend", "Pickin' Boogers" and "The Vapors," dropping selections like his homage to Double Trouble's "Do Your Thang" from his new TommyBoy release, "Weekend Warrior," and for his finale adds a new party anthem reflecting his American Indian roots, "E-Ya." |
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Edition #11: MC Supernatural - listen | listen with RealPlayer Supernatural's skills at spontaneous rhyming defy are on full, and magnificent, display here as host Charlie Ahearn challenges him to create a fresh rhyme with the headlines on the front page of The New York Times, unleashing a barbed attack on the that day's election victory by President George W. Bush. Supernatural also recounts the ups and downs of his career, including his experience with Electra Records and his travels to Africa, giving listeners a taste of his new recording-in-progress, "S.P.I.T." |
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Edition #10: Afrika Bambaataa - listen | listen with RealPlayer Perhaps the most beloved figure in hip-hop around the globe, Afrika Bambaataa celebrated his 30th anniversary with Charlie Ahearn. Expect everything from James Brown to bangra to Burt Bachrach. Afrika Bambaataa began his B-boy throw-downs in New York City's Bronx River housing project in 1974, transforming the often violent local gang scene into an entirely new, creative culture through his organization, the Universal Zulu Nation. Here with Charlie Ahearn he tells how, after his super electro-funk anthem, "Planet Rock" hit, he was able to record with his funk heroes James Brown and George Clinton, as well as with punk avatar Johnny (Rotten) Lydon. "Bam" backs his globe-trotting stories with such fresh, world-funk tracks from his new Tommy Boy album, "Black Matter At The Speed of Light," mixing the bangra-beat, "Got That Vibe" with the African classic, "Soul Makossa" and the Euro rock of Metal with Gary Neuman. He was just as ready with remakes of Burt Bachrach's "Walk On By," Parliament's "Flashlight," and Sly Stone's "Everyday People." Looking for the perfect beat? Look no more! |
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Edition #9: Hangar 18 - listen | listen with RealPlayer Fresh from the New York underground, Hangar 18 - the MC duo, Alaska and Wind N' Breeze - join host Charlie Ahearn in the Clocktower with the DJ and producer Pawl. Both Alaska and Wind are rising-star MCs on hip hop's independent label, Definitive Jux. Rocking live and dissecting such songs as "Take No Chances" and "Go Get That" from their new CD, "Multiplatinum Debut Album," they also take note of the influence of Public Enemy's "Black Steel" and Del's "Wacky World of Mass Transit". For more information, contact ben@biz3.net 773 645-1035 or hangarmaniac@hotmail.com or tjbaker1972@yahoo.com |
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Edition #8: D.O.A. - listen | listen with RealPlayer Host Charlie Ahearn brings D.O.A. - "the human beatbox" - to the Clocktower, where this unique vocal percussionist creates an astonishing range of sounds, from electronic blips and screeches to hilarious send-ups of classic hip-hop and funk, in a mix drawn from deep inside his head. |
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Edition #7: Jorge "Fabel" Pabon - listen | listen with RealPlayer Continuing his oral history of hip-hop, Charlie Ahearn speaks to B-boy Jorge "Fabel" Pabon. With more than 20 years under his belt as a dancer with the venerable Rock Steady Crew, and a longstanding member of the Universal Zulu Nation founded by Afrika Bambattaa, Fabel has also become a DJ of the first order and a popular lecturer on the subject of hip-hop. |
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Edition #6: Jazzy Jay - listen | listen with RealPlayer Charlie Ahearn with the great Jazzy Jay, one of Afrika Bambaataa's early Zulu Nation Djs. (He worked on Bam's hit "Planet Rock.") He was a founder, with Rick Rubin, of Def Jam records, and has also worked with LL Cool Jay, the Beastie Boys and Public Enemy. Jazzy Jay was featured in the movie, "Scratch," movie and continues to produce and DJ actively today. |
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Edition #5: Chief Rocker Busy Bee and DJ A.J. - listen | listen with RealPlayer Hip-Hop pioneers Chief Rocker Busy Bee and DJ A.J. were featured player's in host Charlie Ahearn's seminal film, Wild Style!. For Charlie, Busy Bee is one of the funniest and most beloved MC's around. DJ AJ, who is the cover model on the book, Yes Yes Y'all: The Oral History of Hip-Hop's First Decade, started out with Grand Master Flash and has promoted parties with Busy Bee, Kurtis Blow and other greats. Here they do their stuff live in WPS1's Clocktower studio, overlooking Manhattan. |
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Edition #4: Blade - listen | listen with RealPlayer Charlie Ahearn, co-author of Yes Yes Y'All, sits down with the pioneering king of graffiti art, Blade. His art has been exhibited in museums around the world, beginning with a 1981 show at P.S. 1 Contemporary Art Center and including shows at the Whitney Museum, the Stedelijk Museum, the Groninger Museum, the Brooklyn Museum and the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame. But WPS1 is the place to hear tracks from the new CD, Blade and the Bazay Jam Band. Here it is. |
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Edition #3: Grandwizzard Theodore - listen | listen with RealPlayer In addition to teaching at the Scratch Academy (founded by Reg E. Gaines), Grandwizzard Theodore still finds time to hold down spots across the city and work on his upcoming album, Hip Hop Headz. In New York, see the Grandwizzard live as he vies with Vikter Duplaix aboard Lightship "Frying Pan", docked at Hudson River Pier 63, September 25, 2004 for "The Iron DJ." |
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Edition #2: J Smoke - listen | listen with RealPlayer Charlie Ahearn meets with hip-hop battle champ and cofounder of Tablist magazine, J Smoke. |
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Edition #1: Premier Show with Grandmaster Caz - listen | listen with RealPlayer This is Wild Style! filmmaker Charlie Ahearn's introduction to his WPS1, Art Radio history of hip-hop with Grandmaster Caz, who rides high among the best hip-hop lyricists and MCs of all time. And how! Playlist MC's Delight Four-Bar Funk I Got It Way Back Party Time |
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