If you’re going to call a track ‘Real Hip Hop‘ you better have the history to back it up, and 1/2 Pint not only knows her hip hop history, she’s lived it. Starting out in the mid-1980s as the first-ever hypewoman in hip hop, as part of the legendary group Son Of Bazerk, she’s been there from the early days of the genre and has only sharpened her game since.
The song and the video literally take the listener to school, as she blends her real-life role as an educator and school principal in with a blazing track that touches on the history and culture of the genre and injects true old school flavour with a 21st Century outlook. “What people don’t know is that after my first run with Bazerk I chose college over music,” she explains.
“I’m a school principal as well as an educator. I’ve developed a curriculum on hip hop from a sociology perspective. How we’ve evolved as a culture over the years. I’ve also tied that into a show called Hip Hop 4 Justice that bridges the gap between the pioneers, elders and the young people so this generation can preserve the culture and move forward. I also produce a show called The Classroom: Hip Hop 101 with Dr. Blizzy. All of these come into play as to why it’s important. It lets me salute the pioneers and educate at the same time and that embodies who I am and where I am right now. To be able to have a single come out at this time, where my rhyme set has evolved and I have all this perspective, it’s a wonderful experience.”
When Son Of Bazerk made their debut, they were under the wing of the iconic production team known as The Bomb Squad; for this track, True Groove Records producers Tomás Doncker and James Dellatacoma make a distinct nod to that unmistakeable style and sound while updating it with a fresh perspective all their own.
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