DJ Rob Swift Slams Tariq Nasheed’s “Hidden History Of Hip-Hop” Claims

DJ Rob Swift, veteran turntablist and member of the X-ecutioners, had some choice words for Tariq Nasheed, director of Microphone Check: The Hidden History of Hip-Hop. The exchange began last week in a series of tweets addressing the origins of Hip-Hop. It was still going on as of Saturday (June 2). The discourse appeared to kick off after Swift tweeted, “Not all of the founders of Hip Hop say it was ‘100% Black.’ Some first generation Writers were White. Some first generation B Boys were Latino. Felipe Luciano (member of the Last Poets) is Puerto Rican. The founders who say it was ‘100% Black’ are victims of the Mandela Effect.” Nasheed quickly challenged Swift, retorting, “What first generation B Boy was Latino? What’s his name?” Swift replied, “In Hip-Hop, no element was ‘invented’ by a single individual. In the case of Breaking specifically, the dance was codified by a community of dancers over a period of time. The Zulu Kings might have laid the first cornerstones, yes. “Still, B-Boys like Trac 2 (Luis Angel Mateo) and Spy (Lein Figeueroa), Latinos, played integral roles in continuing to develop the dance throughout the mid to late 1970s. Spy, ‘The Man With A...