Hip Hop Turns 50_ Watch LL Cool J, Queen Latifah and P. Diddy's Early Interviews
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00:00 [MUSIC]
00:02 [MUSIC]
00:04 [MUSIC]
00:06 You are now about to witness the strength of street man.
00:09 [MUSIC]
00:14 It's all about the music.
00:16 If you take hip hop out of the equation, the world would be a boring place.
00:20 [MUSIC]
00:25 What we do is we control the party atmosphere.
00:28 So kick off your shoes, relax your socks, and watch E.T. 'cause it's ready to rock.
00:33 Oh, we're ready to rock Ice-T as we celebrate the 50th anniversary of hip hop
00:38 by opening the E.T. vault for a look back at how far some of our favorite stars have come.
00:43 [MUSIC]
00:45 I was nine years old when I began rapping.
00:47 The year? 1986.
00:49 The ladies loved a babyface Cool J, bucket hat, chain, and all
00:53 when E.T. first sat down with the 18-year-old.
00:56 Mainstream is not one of my goals.
00:58 Mainstream is going to take me for me being me.
01:00 I'm not going to try to change or mold myself just to get here.
01:03 [MUSIC]
01:06 I just remember getting my contract and being like, "Ma, you're going to let me do 10 albums."
01:11 She was like, "Really?"
01:13 Today, LL is preparing for his first arena tour in 30 years.
01:17 The 55-year-old who once dominated the golden age of hip hop
01:20 helped bring the music from the streets to mainstream
01:23 with other artists like Run-D.M.C. and Queen Latifah who were joining him on tour.
01:27 [MUSIC]
01:30 We were with the Queen on set of Sesame Street back in 1992.
01:34 Oh, yeah. Queen Latifah's in the house.
01:37 I got my Safari Sisters with me.
01:39 We knew this wasn't a fad, you know, once we heard that beat,
01:43 once we started making this music, there was no way that this was not going to stay around.
01:49 Queen Latifah rightfully wears the trailblazing crown for being one of the first to sing about feminist issues.
01:54 [MUSIC]
01:59 She helped pave the way for other fierce females like Lil' Kim, Lauryn Hill, and Missy Elliott
02:04 who will be the first female hip hop artist to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame later this year.
02:09 Holla, holla.
02:11 [MUSIC]
02:13 I believe anybody can make it. When you hungry, you're going to do whatever it takes to get there.
02:17 [MUSIC]
02:23 By the late 90s, hip hop music was the top selling music genre in the world.
02:27 Over the last year, hip hop has dominated the charts.
02:30 Number one, you know, that's me, Biggie, and Lil' Kim, and that's hip hop.
02:34 [MUSIC]
02:40 In 1997, a then 27-year-old Puff Daddy was full of confidence, and after 26 years, nothing has changed.
02:47 I'm the world's most interested man. You know what I'm saying?
02:51 Trust me, I run marathons, I star on Broadway, I host award shows, I open up schools.
02:59 I'm like Black man.
03:01 [MUSIC]
03:03 And I throw the best parties.
03:05 To Diddy's credit, he, along with Biggie, Tupac, and Dr. Dre, helped hip hop cross over into the pop music world.
03:11 [MUSIC]
03:13 It's important that I just put myself 100 percent, apply myself, and represent, you know, the young Black male, whatever I do.
03:22 [MUSIC]
03:27 We work hard to try to put good music in the streets, and everybody show their love.
03:31 [MUSIC]
03:34 I don't think it's getting the respect that it deserves yet, you know. Rap music sells.
03:39 From N.W.A. to owning his own label, Dre is known to be one of the most successful producers in the biz.
03:45 With an eye for talent, he helped discover artists like Snoop Dogg, Eminem, and Kendrick Lamar,
03:49 the first rapper to win a Pulitzer Prize for music, which influenced social change.
03:54 [MUSIC]
03:58 As for Dre's inspiration?
04:00 [MUSIC]
04:03 That would be the O.G., Grandmaster Flash.
04:06 In the mid-70s, he changed the hip hop game by manipulating records in a backward-forward motion.
04:12 [MUSIC]
04:16 Doing tricks with it, you know, and maybe I'm breaking the rules, but that's the way music goes.
04:21 [MUSIC]
04:22 But when it comes to making money, Jay-Z reigns supreme.
04:26 [MUSIC]
04:28 When we first talked to Hove in 1999, he was about to drop his fourth studio album.
04:33 Follow up to the five times platinum, volume two, Hard Knock Life.
04:38 We're just trying to take it to the next level.
04:40 Today, he has 14 number one albums, has sold over 140 million records worldwide,
04:46 and is considered by some to be the greatest rapper of all time.
04:49 His estimated net worth? Two and a half billion dollars.
04:53 Jay-Z on Impact on Music is, well, to me as a New Yorker, it's just like, wow,
04:57 this guy has walked the same streets that I have walked.
05:01 And it's just like, he can make it.
05:04 I can too.
05:06 [MUSIC]
05:11 (bells chiming)
05:13 [BLANK_AUDIO]