K-Pop Dreaming - Roots of Rap
California Love
LAist Studios
4.5 • 1.3K Ratings
🗓️ 23 March 2023
⏱️ 55 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
The LA Uprising exploded racial and economic injustices simmering under the surface of Los Angeles into the open. Vivian looks at the events leading up to the Uprising, and the efforts following the protests to promote racial harmony in Los Angeles, including the staging of an African music festival in South Los Angeles that featured a performance by an up-and-coming Korean American rapper named Tiger JK. Years after the festival, he would go on to make a name for himself in South Korea as the “Godfather of Korean Hip-Hop”.
(Originally published March 23, 2023)
Support K-pop Dreaming and other LAist Studios podcasts by donating now at LAist.com/join
This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. Save 10% off your first month at BetterHelp.com/Dreaming
This episode is brought to you by your local Kia dealers. Visit kia.com to discover movement that inspires.
This program is made possible in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, a private corporation funded by the American people.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Peter Sagle here, so excited to tell you that Wait Wait is finally good enough to make its debut in the O.C. |
| 0:05.9 | Join us Thursday, November 6th, at the Segerstrom Center for the Arts in Costa Mesa. |
| 0:10.1 | For tickets and info, go to laisht.com slash events. |
| 0:14.9 | Hi, this is Larry Mantle. |
| 0:16.6 | This year marks the 40th anniversary of my program Air Talk. |
| 0:20.4 | On the show, we've discussed the biggest topics and events of the day from earthquakes to elections. |
| 0:25.6 | Please join me for the biggest conversation in Southern California for 40 years. |
| 0:43.3 | L.A. LAIS Studios On Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood, there was a very, very popular nightclub right there where hip-hop was just coming. |
| 0:52.3 | We go. Easy E was there, Ice-T, all the big names in the city. |
| 0:58.3 | Just go there and check new rappers. |
| 1:00.8 | This is Namdi Moeda, the host of a radio show called Radio Aphrodisha on KPFK, a radio station based here in Los Angeles. |
| 1:09.2 | I remember IST or EZE, put a microphone, they're ready to talk, |
| 1:14.6 | they're ready to give you some rhymes right there on the mic. |
| 1:18.6 | Namdi covered the hip-hop scene in LA during the 80s as part of a radio series called Roots of Rap, |
| 1:25.6 | which traced the roots of rap music back to Africa. |
| 1:28.3 | Namdi went to different clubs and shows around the city with this microphone, |
| 1:32.3 | capturing the sounds of the burgeoning hip-hop scene. |
| 1:35.3 | 98.17, I'm from Santa Barbara. My name is Namadi. Welcome to the show. |
| 1:39.3 | The hip-hop scene was getting really huge. I mean, the numbers were big in terms of the audience they were pulling. |
| 1:48.0 | But at that time, not many people took it serious, really. |
| 1:51.8 | Nobody ever believed it will be where it is today, 50 years after that, you know. |
| 1:57.8 | Hip-hop wasn't playing much on the radio at the time, |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from LAist Studios, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of LAist Studios and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.