Lecco's Lemma
TYPE 4
>news:xz0Of.115000$Id3....@fe04.news.easynews.com...
>
>the message by grandmaster flash was considered the first
>rap song. but in early 1980, a dj named magnus johnston was
>playing rap on the radio in boston. all local stuff, mostly
>by teens. the show was on wmbr and called lecco's lemma.
>one kid, derek b, went pro.
While it's great to run into someone else that remembers Lecco's Lemma,
some factual corrections are called for. Although Magnus Johnstone had
been DJing since the beginning of the 1980's, he didn't start the
hip-hop show, local or otherwise, until 1985. I know, I was listening
from the beginning and appearing live from March 1986 on. As far as
"one kid, derek b, went pro", some more notable Lecco's alums that have
cashed a music-related paycheck have been Ed OG, The Almighty RSO (and
more recently Benzino), Gangstarr, MC Spice, and Top Choice Clique.
Below I've copied & pasted and excerpt from a post, written by Magnus
himself, about how the whole thing got started:
____________________________________________________________________________
in the summer of 85 i had been filling in once a week almost every week
on wmbr's nightly black music show "the ghetto". All the other dj's -
like ray antoine - who i think is still at wmbr - were playing stuff
like the gap band, prince & morris day's the time - i didn't like that
shit but i was mad for the emerging hip hop - it got so that by the end
of the summer i would get on, not even say anything, play 3 raps in a
row & the phones would start ringing - "keep it going magnus! i
remember in august i played a new song twice by popular request - the
only time before or since- it was "la di da di" by doug e fresh & slick
rick- i was having a very good time.
at the same time my regular reggae show- "reggae mukasa" had hit a
doldrum- the new music coming out was getting increasingly lame & my
enthusiasm was flagging so i decided to give it up. my buddy at wmbr &
mit- thomas uebel- alias "thomas alien" a german by way of england
student who i had originally produced to start the first african show
in the country- "aliens' corner"-(note the placement of the apostrophe)
didn't wanna see me give up radio & suggested that since i was so keen
on the new digital rythym music- not just rap but other stuff i was
into- that i propose a new show to the wmbr program board- he even
invented the name- "lecco's lemma". i did & it was accepted & given the
4-6 saturday afternoon spot in september.
as soon as i started though the kids found me & the requests started
jamming the phones- all for rap. it got so that as soon as every show
started all 3 phone lines would light up- & stay that way- as soon as
you'd answer it & put it back down- it would light back up- the energy
was incredible & there were no other rap shows anywhere- dj red alert
had a late night 1 hour show in nyc- but that was about it.
in fact there was a real antipathy for rap music in the older black
audience- mattapan music fr' instance- who were sponsoring my show-
took out an ad at the time on WILD- boston's "black" radio that they
self produced that included a snippet of rap on it. the owner of the
station- joe johnson- a trinidadian- heard it & was furious- called the
station & had them yank it. i remember particularly a letter from a
black parent & teacher to wmbr accusing the show of promoting
regressive language that featured later as a bit of evidence in the
show's cancellation at wmbr - many of my fellow (white) dj's couldn't
believe that i listened to that music at home- said that i was just
doing it to be different & that it wouldn't last -
meanwhile i was soliciting homemade tapes that i was then playing- &
then some rappers came down to rap live on the show - this was not such
an innovation for me- i had had many jamaican rappers "toast" live over
rythyms on my reggae show - but the floodgates soon opened-
before i knew it the studios were inundated with gaggles of aspiring
rappers eager to get on live- one saturday i showed up it was standing
room only inside-in fact the overflow was packed outside the studios at
walker memorial building- some kids had mimeographed flyers announcing
a "battle" & invited everybody down.
the powers that be at wmbr however, were becoming concerned that things
were getting out of control - & they were not entirely wrong as regards
the unintended obscenities getting aout over the air-no matter how much
some rappers were asked to obliterate the expletives inevitably the
enthusiasms would overwhelm & bad words would happen -
by may of 86 mbr had had enough & canned the show- i was going to leave
it at that but the kids wouldn't have it- so i called andrew herman-
the pd at wzbc- & he gave me a spot- sunday night at first- then
saturday- with the stipulation of no guests- which held to some extent-
& also zbc was harder to get to-
____________________________________________________________________________
For more info on Magnus and Lecco's Lemma, please visit:
http://www.bostonhiphoponline.com/forums/viewforum.php?f=12&sid=7bad41b4affa6ff63efbce71db573ef2
http://www.myspace.com/leccoslemma
http://www.myspace.com/type4
Oh and of course "The Message" was in no way ever considered by anyone
anywhere to be the "first rap song". Not only had people like The Last
Poets and Gil Scott Heron been releasing politically-charged
spoken-word recordings over funky breaks, and Kool Herc and Afrika
Bambaataa had been spinning live shows featuring live rappers such as
Busy Bee and Starski (all in the 70's), but certainly it's now been
generally accepted that Fatback, featuring King Tim III, had the first
true rap record release, with the "Personality Jock" B-Side in 1979.
If that doesn't ring a bell, how about a little record called "Rapper's
Delight" by The Sugarhill Gang, released later that same year? These
were the first examples of rap on record. Thanks for your time, and
keep on spreading the memory of Lecco's Lemma.