Mr. Magic is going to be remembered for his music, so where is it?
I see on my Yahoo Pipe of obituaries that Mr. Magic, an old-school hip hop pioneer and DJ, has moved along to join his ancestors.
The NY Times obit on him is quite thorough, save for one element.
While his accomplishments as an early cheerleader for the hip hop aesthetic are enumerated, his career path plotted, and personal details revealed, what we don’t get is an immediate sense of the music that was such an integral part of his life.
From the NYT piece:
“Mr. Magic, born John Rivas, was the first host on commercial radio to devote a program exclusively to rap when his “Rap Attack” began broadcasting on WBLS-FM in New York in April 1983. Disco and funk were then fading, and rap was emerging as a rebellious new art form in the streets, housing projects and parks of New York City.
But many radio stations and music executives were wary of the frank explosiveness of the new music. Mr. Magic played a role similar to that of Alan Freed in popularizing rock ’n’ roll in the 1950s.
‘Magic was the guy who carried a flag for the music on the radio, exactly as Freed had done for rock ’n’ roll,’ said Bill Adler, a former director of publicity for Def Jam Recordings.”
Fine and good. But isn’t it richer to know that it sounded like this:
Well, I think that makes it more interesting at least.