Hip Hop’s 49th birthday was on August 11th. Next year will be the big 50. How will we celebrate? The only proper answer is throw a party. Easy to forget how it all started with DJ Kool Herc and his sister Cindy charging girls 25¢ for girls and 50¢ for guys to enter a communal space the size of a large basement to raise money for school clothes. 

A few weeks before the holiday, while shooting Nicolay of Foreign Exchange for Little Brother’s documentary, he gave me a mint-condition Wax Poetics magazine with Kool Herc on the cover. He speaks candidly about 40 years of Hip Hop. 

To put time in perspective, Run The Jewels self-titled debut album is in the magazine’s new & upcoming release section and there’s an interview with the late Mac Miller promoting his sophomore album, Watching Movies With The Sound Off. Ten years later, today’s landscape looks nothing like it did back then. 

Something that Kool Herc said that will stick with me is how they only threw parties when people asked for them. As the demand grew, they became more conscious, turning their events into a business. The money they made was re-invested to buy better equipment creating an experience that was second to none. 

I think of Dreamville’s Dollar & A Dream shows and how they were communal events in small rooms with die-hard fans. From there Dreamville’s Dreamville Fest expanded the space to celebrate their longevity with everyone that stuck it out with them. Community on a larger scale. 

What I love about today’s Rap Portrait documentary is how it takes the viewer back to the festival from behind the barricade. The camera roams on faces that you wouldn’t normally see talking about a man that stays on the move, making sure that the operation continues to run smoothly. It’s like watching the story of Disney World as told by the people who knew Walt Disney best, but instead of Walt we give you Dreamville co-founder Ibrahim 'Ib' Hamad.

-Yoh