A little more than a year ago, Memphis got a second classic hip-hop radio station when Cumulus switched the format of WKIM from talk radio to “100% Throwback.” For the first week or so that WKIM (“The Vibe”) was on air, I listened to it nonstop and, since then, it remains one of the pre-set stations programmed into my car radio. I listen to NPR every morning and evening at home for the news, but I rarely ever listen to the radio anywhere else other than my car, so to pick a song that I “hear often on the radio” means (for me, anyway) that I’m basically picking from the regular WKIM rotation.
Lucky for me, there’s a wealth of awesomeness to choose from there.
I’m at the age now where I can be non-ironically nostalgic about “throwback” stuff. And since the birth of what we now call “classic” hip-hop pretty much coincides with my own entry into the world, stations like WKIM are right up my alley.
My pick for today is literally the first song I heard on WKIM after they changed the format. I was at a stoplight, this track came on, and first I was like whaaaaaaa???, but then I cranked it up to full volume, immediately proceeded to Act. A. Total. Fool., and I’ve barely switched the radio station in my car since.
Here it is, a classic among classics, Kurtis Blow‘s “The Breaks”:
Kurtis Blow really is a legend. Not only was he one of the first commercially successful rap artists, but he’s still going strong today at age 56. “The Breaks” was a huge hit, then and now. My guess is that it probably sounds cheesy to today’s younger rap and hip-hop fans– and let’s be real, if you listen to the lyrics, it is positively cornball– but, hey, these are the breaks.
Breaks run cold and breaks run hot. Some folks got ’em and some have not.
Click here to return to the “anchor page” for #30DaySongChallenge2016 with the full list of this year’s picks