Chopping it up on ‘Can You Dig It?’- Hip-Hop’s Origin Story with Chuck D

Weeks after the Grammy Museum’s lauded “Hip Hop America: The Mixtape Exhibit” opening, the celebratory mood continued with one of its exhibit’s contributors Chuck D being featured on a panel highlighting the latest Amazon Audible docuseries ‘Can You Dig It?’. On a busy downtown LA Tuesday night with The Lakers playing down the block, casual fan and hip-hop purist museum members alike gathered to hear more about the 1970’s Burning Bronx’s Ghetto Brothers’ Black Benjie’s gang murder backstory, leading to a peaceful culmination of Kool Herc’s historic 1520 Sedgwick Ave’s house party hip-hop birth.

Alongside Public Enemy’s Chuck D, the formidable squad panel included the podcast’s co-creators Pete Chelala, Julian Woloj, composer Bryan Master and manager and producer Lorrie Boula. Interspersed between soundtrack and snippet clips, moderator Imani Kai Johnson drew personal stories from the participants that further cemented the project’s legitimacy and unique NY flavor in a crowded content landscape. Amid dramatic scripted scenarios, sonic vivid imagery appears through interviews from hip-hop’s first MC Coke La Rock and legendary hip-hop photographer Joe Conzo, highlighting historical prequel figures that deserve the shine.

Listen to the first episode of ‘Can You Dig It? HERE!