*EUR had the privilege of chatting with filmmaker and historian Tariq Nasheed about his new groundbreaking documentary “Microphone Check.”
The film aims to unpack hip-hop’s origins and foundational narrative — shedding light on the untold stories and overlooked aspects of this influential cultural movement.
According to the press release, “Microphone Check” offers a unique opportunity to hear from an incredible ensemble of early hip-hop pioneers. The project includes commentary from Coke La Rock, Trixie and Sasa, Sha Rock, Melle Mel, Grandmaster Caz, and many more. They each share their firsthand accounts and insights into the birth and evolution of hip-hop.
The film aims to dispel myths and offer a comprehensive and accurate account of hip-hop’s history through compelling interviews, rare footage, and historical context.
Check out the trailer below.
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Speaking to EURweb’s Ny MaGee about the project, Nasheed explained, “Well, I’m a historian, and I’ve done a lot of history documentaries like the Hidden Colors series, 1804: American Maroon and I’m also a fan of the hip-hop culture, and around the 50th Anniversary of Hip-Hop we kept getting these narratives of all these other groups who were the real originators of it, or they were co-creators of the culture. We kept hearing this narrative, and a lot of the real originators, the creators of the culture, were getting pushed to the back burner. So I wanted to do a documentary to set the record straight because there’s a lot of documentaries out here saying everybody and they momma created hip-hop except for the real people who actually created it. So that was the inspiration. I wanted to tell the true story about the origin of hip-hop and all of the elements related to hip-hop.”
Nasheed noted that “so many narratives” have been “thrown out there, and nobody ever bothers to talk to the people who were really there in the beginning.”
He added, “There’s always this secondary commentary from people who came in the 80s, or later on… This is why we wanted to focus on the 70s — who was there in the 70s. We got the people who were really there, giving first-hand accounts from their perspective.”
Nasheed said one of the biggest myths the film aims to dispel is that hip-hop came from Jamaican culture.
“Another misconception is that there is a co-founder myth of Blacks and Latinos creating hip-hop together. That’s not true,” he stated.
“Our Latino brothers and sisters came later on. They were the first students of hip-hop. So it was very important to get that story straight because when people use this narrative that there was a 50/50 co-creation, it eventually morphs into, well, we got it from them. So we got to clean all of that stuff up and tell the truth and have the pioneers tell the truth,” Nasheed explained.
“I wanted to get some Latinos in it because of the whole, ‘We created the 50/50,’…and I asked around and was talking to Latin scholars, and I was kinda getting the runaround,” he said.
“I did want to get some Latinos in it, so if anybody says, ‘How come you didn’t have any Latinos?’I tried my best. I set up interviews with certain people who were flaking out… We reached out. We wanted to have certain Latino folks come on in and tell their side. A lot of people were conveniently not available. So we just want to let that be straight for the record.”
Watch my full conversation with Tariq Nasheed in the clip below.
As we reported earlier, he will host a star-studded red carpet premiere at the SVA Theatre in New York City on Saturday, May 25th, as well as many other major cities that week. See the complete list of screenings and dates below. Click HERE for more information and to purchase tickets in your city.
- Los Angeles: Thursday, May 23rd, 8:00 pm
● New York: Saturday, May 25th, 6:30 pm and 10:00 pm
● Dallas: Thursday, May 23rd, 7:00 pm
● Detroit: Saturday, May 25th, 7:00 pm and 10:00 pm
● Atlanta: Saturday, May 25th, 7:00 pm
● Washington DC: Thursday, May 23rd, 7:00 pm
● New Orleans: Wednesday, May 22nd, 7:00 pm
● Chicago: Thursday, May 23rd, 7:00 pm
● Denver: Thursday, May 23rd, 7:00 pm
● Oakland: Thursday, May 23rd, 7:00 pm
● San Diego: Thursday, May 23rd, 7:00 pm
● Indianapolis: Thursday, May 23rd, 7:00 pm
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READ MORE FROM EURWEB.COM: Tariq Nasheed’s Documentary ‘Microphone Check’ Aims to Set the Record Straight on Hip-Hop’s Origins
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