walking upstream…
Cold Crush Brothers
Cold Crush Brothers
Formed in the South Bronx in 1978 around Grandmaster Caz, DJ Charlie Chase, Easy A.D., Almighty Kay Gee, JDL and Tony Tone, the Cold Crush Brothers turned park-jam rapping into stagecraft — doo-wop-tinged group harmonies, choreographed routines, and Caz's densely written verses (some of which, uncredited, became Big Bank Hank's lyrics on ‘Rapper's Delight’). They never landed a hit as big as that theft, but bootleg tapes of their battles with the Fantastic Five and a cameo in the 1983 film Wild Style made them one of the most studied and cited groups of hip-hop's first generation.
the sound in question
1983
Punk Rock RapCold Crush Brothers
walk the tributaries ↓
DJ Kool Herc1970s · hip hop / funk / breakbeat
Grandmaster Caz has said hip-hop “would have happened regardless,” but credited Kool Herc as “the catalyst that made it possible and made it cool” — the block-party engine the Cold Crush Brothers built their whole stage act on top of.
listen: upstream & here
1981
Live The T Connection (Part 1)DJ Kool Herc
1982
WeekendCold Crush Brothers
listen forThe raw breakbeat-and-crowd energy captured in Herc's live sets is the unpolished ancestor of the choreographed party-rocking Cold Crush turned into a single with ‘Weekend.’
Melle Mel1980s · Hip hop / Old-school hip hop
Caz has singled out Melle Mel as the one MC of that era he felt he “had to be competitive with” — a rivalry that sharpened Cold Crush's own writing rather than a direct stylistic copy.
listen: upstream & heresource: POW — Grandmaster Caz interview (‘Kool Herc was the catalyst,’ Melle Mel rivalry, James Brown as most-sampled artist) ↗
1983
White Lines (Don't Don't Do It)Melle Mel
1984
Fresh, Wild, Fly and BoldCold Crush Brothers
listen forThe urgent, socially pointed writing Melle Mel sharpened on ‘White Lines (Don't Don't Do It)’ shows up in the tighter, more purposeful verses Cold Crush brought to ‘Fresh, Wild, Fly and Bold’ a year later.
James Brown1960s–70s · Funk / Soul / R&B
Caz has called James Brown “the most sampled... artist of all-time,” and the breakbeats DJ Charlie Chase cut up at Cold Crush's earliest park jams and battles were pulled straight from Brown's catalog before the group ever picked up a mic.
listen: upstream & heresource: POW — Grandmaster Caz interview (‘Kool Herc was the catalyst,’ Melle Mel rivalry, James Brown as most-sampled artist) ↗
1970
Funky Drummer (Pt. 1 & 2)James Brown
1983
Punk Rock RapCold Crush Brothers
listen forThe stripped, syncopated drum break under ‘Funky Drummer’ is the literal rhythmic floor Cold Crush rapped over in their early sets, resurfacing under the rock-fused breakbeat of ‘Punk Rock Rap.’