Pete Rock, the well known hip hop producer, has a crazy comic book collection (see the link below)…now that I’ve got that interesting tidbit out the way, here’s a hip hop classic called Turn It Up that was produced by Pete Rock for Sadat X’s new album, Wild Cowboys 2 which was released today. The music video for Turn It Up was produced by Mark Carranceja (Noisemaker Media) who along with his team, really captured the visuals that was reminiscent of hip hop as it began it’s trajectory to the world wide stage.
I’m a fan of hip hop music, particularly the hip hop sounds that were being made between the mid 80’s to the mid 90’s. Growing up as a teen between 1980-1990, I was exposed to and influenced by the pop culture of the day, which as some of you know, was being brought to us through the airwaves by MTV. Hip Hop music was starting to get its traction, break dancing was the thing, big hair, neon clothes, pop, rock, and electronic music was coming at us from all directions. Pop culture was changing the face of America, and MTV (or rather, the music videos that MTV were broadcasting to the world) was bringing about a new era and creating a new influence, that to this day is still being felt across the media landscape.
Sadat X and Pete Rock are just some of the artist and producers that came from that era. Sadat X was a well known member of the group Brand Nubian, whose lyrics were socially conscious and politically charged, one of the many genres of hip hop that seems so lacking today. During that same time, Pete Rock was infusing his beats with jazz horns, ad-libs, and was becoming known for the remix. To see them collaborate on Turn It Up and keep the vibe from the early days of hip hop, is truly a great thing. Its not the current sound of the day; all art goes through different stages during its life span, but if you want a taste of hip hop with it’s layered beats, sick horn samples, and lyrics with substance, well Pete Rock and Sadat X are still cook’n it up in the kitchen that is Hip Hop.
Mark Carranceja of Noisemaker Media was probably born from that era, because his visuals have a certain feel to them. Watching Turn It Up, you can feel Mark resurrect an era that once was. It makes you want to go into a record store, dig through the crates and bring home another dope 12 inch to spin on the turntables, cut up a mix tape, then get in the car and pump up the subs & rattle the screws loose off the trunk. There is of course a larger story from that era and hip hop, but I’m not here to tell you that story, because everyone that lived it, has a different story to tell. I’m just glad to have lived through it.
Sadat X | Turn It Up | Featuring Pete Rock from Noisemaker Media on Vimeo.