JOANNE CALITRI from the Montecito Journal recently did a great article about the HipHop@50 NAMM events and we wanted to quote some her article here.

Check out the full article at HipHop@50 at NAMM.

Hardgroove, a musician, record producer, and member of Public Enemy, is a highly respected NAMM presenter who brings A-List industry experts to his TEC Tracks. This year he also brought in Chuck D, the co-founder of Public Enemy, social activist, Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee, and Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award recipient. Having Chuck D there ignited many new people to attend NAMM for certain.

In a phone interview with me, Hardgroove clarified,

“I have had a great relationship with NAMM for many years, and I am on the Les Paul Foundation Advisory Council.

When I heard that NAMM wanted to give a ‘nod to Hip Hop’ which is celebrating its 50th year, I decided to have Chuck D at my Black to the Future TEC Track to talk on the first 50 years of Hip Hop.

I went about raising the funds for that with Athan Billias and Lawrence Levine, who are members of The Midi Association, to cover the expense of bringing Chuck D to the show and provide a suitable honorarium.

We raised money under the banner of HIP HOP@50 from Roland, Shure, Pioneer DJ, Analog Devices, BASSBOSS, The Midi Association, and Spectrasonic Virtual Instruments.

While this is going on, my PR agent Caroline suggested to Pete Johnston, producer of the NAMM TEC Experience, to connect with me, which he did. Johnston said, since you’re bringing Chuck D here, we’d like to give him an award; however, there are no current NAMM awards that speak to his contributions.

I asked Pete to give me some time to come up with a proper award and its mission statement, which I did. The award is called the ‘Impact Music and Culture Award,’ to acknowledge the impact he has had on culture. I sent it to Johnston. NAMM made no changes to the awards name or mission statement, and then they sent an official notice to Chuck D to accept the award and he agreed. I presented it to him at the awards show Thursday.”

by  JOANNE CALITRI, for the Montecito Journal

Thursday night TEC Experience

The TEC Experience at April NAMM was very different than previous TEC Award events.  It was open to anyone with a NAMM badge and the NAMM Ballroom was packed with over 1800 people. 

Host Larry Batiste reminded everyone of how HipHop was embraced by other genres of music-RUN-DMC’s use of Aerosmith’s “Walk this Way” is an obvious example as is Method Man and R&B artist Mary J. Blige,  but there is also Chuck D’s 2015 collaborations with Archie Shepp (bet you didn’t see that coming!) 

GrandMixer DXT  was presented the “Hip Hop Innovator Award” for his innovation on the turntable by DJ Jazzy Jeff.  

DXT’s work with jazz legend Herbie Hancock on “Rock It” is another example of how HipHop shaped both global culture and other musical genres. 

Mike Relm created a fantastic mashup tribute  to Hip Hop and HipHop gear including the Roland Rhythm Composer TR-808, Technics SL 2000 turntables, Gemini PreAmps, E-Mu Systems, Inc. SP-1200, MPC 3000 Pads, Ensoniq ASR10, Korg Triton pro music workstation, and Akai’s S950 sampler, the MPC60 and MPC60II.  

This tribute fit perfectly with the MIDI@40 tribute to the founders of modern music production including Ikutaro Kakehashi from Roland, Tsutomu Katoh from Korg, Roger Linn from Linn Designs and Dave Rossum from EMU and Rossum Systems. 

DJs pay homage to the musicians, the artists, the name of the record, the songwriters, the musicianship. That is where we come from as DJ culture, to be able to explain to the world the beauty and gift of music.

The important factor is we had to know where these sounds came from. We knew that a DJ could be a band like Run DMC said, but you have to have the knowledge of the records. In this day I think it is disrespectful to make light of scholarship, because people just think they can be what they want to be by looking at a screen and think they’re a scholar too.

Scholars read everything, the good, bad and ugly – and then have a conversation about it. That is the same thing about technologists, DJs, and musicians – they can play anything but they process it to a point where you can dig it, pick it up and it’s palatable to your taste, and they spend time at it. They do the good, bad and ugly so they possibly can come up with something that can be a universal language. That’s the gift of music.

Where we’re going right now, Artificial Intelligence is not getting dumber. You look around and it looks like society is falling off into stupidity, and AI is coming on like a locomotive on nuclear steroids in outer space. I know, I’ve heard all the talk how music is this and musicians are that and we are being invaded. You’ve all seen the speed of data GPT, and it ain’t wack. Prince Rogers Nelson said, ‘Try your best to be on top of the technology or it will be on top of you.’

And one thing we know, you might not like, but everybody’s got the gadget in their pocket attached to their hip. How do we dance with it as musicians, artists, creators, technologists, DJs, bass players, guitarists, and people who say I don’t have to write this speech all I have to do is pour it in a GPT blender, how we deal with that? What’s the next two and three generations look like? That’s the challenge. It’s hard to challenge that when you’re drunk or high, AI is not on cocaine.

This is the turning point, we’re two years past the pandemic, what is 2024 looking like?

Let the music stay free. Peace.”

by Chuck D during his acceptance speech of the Impact Music and Culture Award

On Friday, over 500 people showed up for Chuck’s discussion on HipHop at a NAMM Tec Tracks session. 

Here are some highlights. 

Brian Hardgroove (BH): Why did Hip Hop last 50 years?

Chuck D (CD): We were more aware, and we knew Hip Hop was going to last over 50 years. It is a sight, sound, story style which has creativity, musicianship, dance culture and graffiti art culture. Most people don’t have a clear definition of Rap and Hip Hop; Rap is a vocal on top of music, it is a vocal platform.

BH: How does Hip Hop push the dial to move culture forward?

CD: We need more people like you! We need to stop the corporate spectacle that has become music. Be spectacular not a spectacle. Hip Hop has always been embracing, intelligent, genius, and had scientists who know the technology to engineer and produce it. In the U.S., music was the number one influencer of people and culture, now it is sports, which has used music in its platform to push its place forward. The airwaves used to be public, but corporations took that over. The last century we all had music in the crib, and musicians respected the music that came before us, we knew who wrote it, produced it, wrote the liner notes, and the engineers. Get out of your bubbles. Look at what other countries and cultures are doing with music, Hip Hop and Rap have been worldwide for a long time, and it started right here. Use your devices as tools, not as toys which is soc-med [social media]. Don’t let the tech make you stupid and lazy, manage your devices before they manage you. Things are moving fast in 2024 and 2026, and you need to stay awake, it’s the cheapest price you’ll have to pay.

BH: Tell us about being inducted into the Rock Hall of Fame.

CD: Rock Hall said for the TV show we have a younger person do the induction speech. I said we love what you do but we have our own plans how we are going to do this. We come from Black Music, we want to honor our heroes instead of somebody inducting us, we don’t think we’re the most important thing. We want Harry Belafonte to induct us or we’re not showing up. We’re honoring somebody who laid the groundwork for us to be here in the first place that America wants to forget quickly. We felt dignified and honored to honor our hero honoring us. You have to fight for what is right if you have the power to do so at that particular time. When it comes to the arts, there is a longer trail of what made it to be – instead of thinking it’s a bunch of bones we stand on. You’re recording music and making technology on the shoulders of unacknowledged giants. When I look at any screen, I think of Philo Farnsworth; he was one of the cats who realized people could look at a screen and you got TV, but he’s one of the names that got pushed to the back like thousands of unacknowledged heroes, which you can choose to honor. This is where the humanity of music, the arts, and culture unite us with similarities and knocks our differences to the side. 

Resonant Alien performs on Saturday at the MIDI@40 concert

Resonant Alien performed on Saturday April 15th at MIDI@40 concert bringing the MIDI@40 and HipHop@50 celebrations together. 

If you have the NAMM + app, you can still watch the MIDI@40 live stream and we will be rebroadcasting portions of the event soon. 

In the meantime, here are images from the Resonant Alien graphic novel currently in development. 

“MIDI@40 not only showcases all of the amazing MIDI products that have impacted music over
the past 40 years but also looks forward to the future with MIDI 2.0 products that will continue to
shape the way music is made for decades to come,

Athan Billias, President of the MIDI Association

HipHop@50 Events At April NAMM

TEC Experience on Thursday night

Chuck D, the legendary leader and founder of rap group Public Enemy, social activist, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee, and GRAMMY® Lifetime Achievement Award winner, will be honored with NAMM’s Impact Music & Culture Award at The 2023 NAMM Show, being held April 13-15, in Anaheim, California. 

The Impact Music & Culture Award was conceived by musician, producer and songwriter Brian Hardgroove as an opportunity to recognize individuals who move culture through the power of music. The award will be presented at NAMM for the very first time. Chuck D will be on hand to accept the award, presented at the TEC Experience on Thursday, April 13 from 6-7:30 p.m. 

The recognition comes as part of The NAMM Show’s Hip-Hop 50 celebration, a curated slate of sessions and events throughout the conference that pay tribute to a genre of music that has greatly influenced culture, music, and music-making products.

“As an outgrowth of hip-hop culture, rap music has revolutionized popular music with an impact not seen since the emergence of rock and roll. One of hip-hop’s most influential artists is Public Enemy’s Chuck D,” shared Hardgroove, Public Enemy’s bassist and bandleader and founder of Resonant Alien. “I had the opportunity to watch Chuck up close and witness first-hand the impact he’s had on music fans worldwide. It will be an honor for me to present Chuck with the first Impact Music & Culture Award as part of this year’s TEC Experience at NAMM.” 

As an outgrowth of hip-hop culture, rap music has revolutionized popular music with an impact not seen since the emergence of rock and roll. One of hip-hop’s most influential artists is Public Enemy’s Chuck. 

I had the opportunity to watch Chuck up close and witness first-hand the impact he’s had on music fans worldwide.
It will be an honor for me to present Chuck with the first Impact Music & Culture Award as part of this year’s TEC Experience at NAMM.

by Hardgroove, Public Enemy’s bassist and bandleader and founder of Resonant Alien.

Only You Can Set You Free:
Living Colour’s Muzz Skillings on the Making and Impact of ‘Vivid’ and ‘Time’s Up’

On Friday, Hip-Hop@50 will present “Chuck D on Hip-Hop@50.”

Hosted by Brian Hardgroove, the session will feature an in-depth conversation with legendary rapper and Rock and Roll Hall of Fame leader of Public Enemy, Chuck D. Come hear the history of this American cultural phenomenon through the lens of a legend that influenced the genre like no other. 

MIDI@40 Educational Sessions

Wearable technology has had the promise and ability to usher music into a new era, letting us go beyond sound and enter into new multi-sensory experiences for both creators and audience members. But despite this potential, the question remains: Why are the music and entertainment industries not realizing and better showcasing these next-generation innovations?

Join A3E for a fascinating discussion on the intersection of creative imagination and technological innovation. A panel of experts will explore the ways in which wearable technology is transforming the entertainment industry, how it will expand artistic expression and create more inclusion for audience members, and how we can bridge the gap between artists and developers creating transformative collaboration opportunities. 

The MIDI@40 and Hip-Hop@50 celebrations will come together on Saturday, April 15 from 3–5 p.m. with an All Star concert 

At Saturday’s anniversary celebration, lifetime achievement awards will be presented to (or posthumously honor) legendary music industry innovators who created the modern music production environment of synths, drum machines, and sequencers, including Bob Moog, Don Buchla, Ikutaro Kakehashi, Tsutomu Katoh, Roger Linn, Tom Oberheim, Alan Pearlman, Dave Rossum, and Dave Smith.

The musicians, composers and performance artists selected as MIDI brand ambassadors represent the beautiful diversity of cultures and people from all over the world and music from different genres and generations brought together by music and MIDI.

The show will climax with a performance from The Ambassador of Soul, Ellis Hall. 

Blind since the age of 18, Hall has written nearly 4,000 blues, gospel, and soul songs and performed with the likes of Ray Charles, Natalie Cole, Herbie Hancock, Tower of Power, Bobby Womack, and Stevie Wonder. 

 A NAMM JAMM to close the April Show

“The MIDI@40 and Hip-Hop@50 celebrations have come together in a perfect creative storm. 

Hip-hop and MIDI have both made music more accessible to more people and changed our global music culture.

Brian Hardgroove, Resonant Alien and Public Enemy

Share what MIDI means to you on the 40th anniversary of MIDI

We have lots of great events planned at the April NAMM show, but we wanted to give everyone here a chance to join in the celebration. 

We have created a Google form where you can upload a short video about what MIDI means to you. 

We will collect and review these videos and then share the best of them (after NAMM as we are really busy preparing for the MIDI Showcase and the HipHop@50 and MIDI@40 events at NAMM. 

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