The DJ Grand Wizard Theodore took me for a drive through the neighborhood while he described the mid 1970's world of hip-hop.

NPR: The South Bronx Sound, from Mambo to Hip-Hop

Born in London, but raised in New York, he attended Harvard University, where he studied film and animation before dropping out in the mid-1990s to help launch a hip-hop music label, Rawkus Records.

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Like my elders, hip-hoppers born before the mid-1970s, I cringe at the gratuitous money-hungry, violent, misogynistic and lackluster turn of some of the music.

NPR: Getting 'The Message' from Hip-Hop Lyrics

"'Hold On' is a song of hope for the generation, " said Jean, who shot to worldwide fame in the mid-1990s as part of the superstar hip-hop group Fugees.

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