Elements of hip-hop are inherited from African and ancient Indigenous cultures. Hip-hop historian Paradise Gray says the art form is ancient, and there are hundreds of missing links in the stories of hip-hop.
Gray, who was a member of the Brooklyn hip-hop group X-Clan, now serves as an advisory board member and chief curator of The Hip Hop Museum.
He says the music genre was built on the backs of the ancestors and credits artists such as James Brown, George Clinton, Gill Scott- Heroin and so many others for paving the way for its creation.
“We remixed their music, their culture, when we were children and teenagers,” said Gray on Monday’s edition of “Closer Look.”
Gray and Pete Nice, a co-curator of The Hip Hop Museum, author, historian, and founding member of the Def Jam Recording group 3rd Bass, were featured guests in the “Closer Look’s Hip Hop @ 50″ series.
