All language subtitles for Hip Hop Was Born Here (2025) S1E1

LL COOL J: So, yo, you perform
all over the world.

What makes New York unique
when it comes to hip hop?

For me,
what makes New York unique

is because
it's these five boroughs.

Each one of these boroughs
is like a different culture.

It's a different feel.

- It's a different flavor.
- Yeah.

So, for you to make it
in New York

and to hit all of these boroughs

and for these boroughs
to accept you, you're actually

ahead of the game...
- No question.

...because it's like
five cities in one.

Yep, yep.

I just think New York
trained us differently.

- I agree.
- We think differently.

- We move differently.
- [siren whoops]

In the beginning, hip hop
was just one of those things

in the community that people
really didn't understand.

And we just kept doing it,

and we did it so much
that it was hard to...

stop it.
- Amen.

[hip hop music playing]

LL COOL J:
Hip hop is everywhere,

every corner of the globe.

To understand
the power of hip hop today,

you gotta go back
to where it all started...

♪ Ain't no love... ♪

LL COOL J: ...my hometown,
New York City.

Because listen when I tell you,
hip hop was born here.

SINGER: ♪ In the heart of town ♪

♪ Ain't no love ♪

[horns honks]

LL COOL J: New York, New York.

[siren wailing in distance]

Nowhere else in the world
has an energy like this city.

Street strong on NYC.

Nowhere else
sounds like this city.

I'm rhyming about the Bronx.

It's a place that you can
point to on your map.

LL COOL J: These are the streets
where it all began.

♪

50 years after its inception,

the hip hop we know
is a global phenomenon,

an industry built for
and supported by the masses,

heard around the world,

instantaneously injected
into the mainstream...

through the Internet
and social media,

added to playlists,

reshared

before half the planet
even wakes up.

But it wasn't always like that.

- [whirring]
- It wasn't always so easy.

♪

Before streaming
on the Internet...

♪

Before hip hop
hit the mainstream...

♪

...artists had to grind
just to get their music heard

outside of their own neighborhood.

♪

To truly understand the path
from then to now,

from a local scene
to a global movement,

is to recognize and appreciate
the pioneers who were hell bent

on spreading the word of hip hop
by any means necessary.

♪

I'm on my way
to meet one of those pioneers

at the former location
of Chung King Studios,

a studio I named myself,

inspired by its location

just outside of Chinatown
in Manhattan.

Now, the biggest names
in the game recorded here--

2Pac, Biggie, Run-D.M.C.,
and yours truly.

But before all of us,

the Cold Crush brothers,

led by their fearless captain,
Grandmaster Caz.

Take one.

Grandmaster Caz.

Yes, indeed.

- Casanova Fly.
- [chuckles]

♪

- Well, who are you?
- Well, I'm Caz!

♪ So what?
What do that mean? ♪

♪ That I'm the baddest MC lover
on the hip hop scene ♪

You have
to understand something,

and this is not hyperbole.

This ain't hype.
This ain't bullshit.

You and the Cold Crush are...

definitely one
of the most important groups

in all of hip hop culture.

Am I right
in saying that Cold Crush

initially were reluctant
to record records?

GRANDMASTER CAZ:
Yeah, we was the hottest group

in the streets without a record,

We like, "We good.
We ain't gotta make no record."

♪ Ashes to ashes
and dust to dust ♪

♪ We are the brothers,
don't ask the Cold Crush ♪

- ♪ Not one, not two
- LL COOL J: Understand,

when Caz and the
Cold Crush Brothers came up,

there was no industry

or distribution network
in place of any kind.

♪

The Cold Crush Brothers
and the entire genre

existed in New York City,
in the Bronx.

That was it...

until...

hip hop discovered
the cassette tape.

All right, now, who were
the first tapes that you heard?

So, well, me.

I came up with an idea
to record what I was doing.

'Cause I thought it was cool,

and I thought other people
would think it was cool.

You should have seen how ancient
my tape recorder was, okay?

[LL Cool J laughs]

And the cassettes--
they were live.

They was us performing live.

♪

After flyers, the tapes
was the next best way

to find out what was going on.

That's the way you put
the voices to the names.

You like, "Okay, that's who
that is that sounds like that."

♪

Tapes were how we got music
circulated throughout the hood.

♪

I discovered hip hop
with Cold Crush Brothers

and Kool Moe Dee.

That shit was a fucking tape.

You know, a TDK tape.

♪

Memorex or TDK would give you
the little sticker, right?

And then you'd write
all the songs.

You have to remember
what songs were on what side.

And, uh, LL Cool J is on this,
you know?

♪

You could take your boombox,

listen to the radio,
tape that and press the button

and then start it, and then play
another and press the button,

and you can
make your own mixtape.

- Everyone was doing that.
- Taping off the radio--

we used to do that.
That was probably not legal.

♪

TONE: If someone
in your neighborhood had a tape,

you would run up to their crib,
make a copy of the tape,

and now you had a tape.

ROXANNE SHANTÉ: The mixtape
did get to mixing around.

Like, I thought that was
the reason why they called it

a mixtape, because that's how
it mixed all around.

♪

[clack]

Okay, so what was
your favorite tape back then,

outside of your stuff?
- Nah, nah, good question.

There was a lot
of other influences out there.

- Okay?
- Yeah.

GRANDMASTER CAZ:
The Treacherous Three was some

of the dopest tapes
you'll ever hear in hip hop.

I also like to hear
old DJ Hollywood tapes.

And the first person I heard
talking on a microphone

while the DJ was playing
was Coke La Rock.

People rarely ask me,
"Who inspired you?"

- Because I'm one of the first.
- Right.

But we all were inspired
by something else.

We all were inspired
by something we heard,

something we saw,
something we liked,

and emulated it.

INTERVIEWER: Um, you're
considered New School.

You're considered the new
generation of rap artists.

- What's the difference?
- What's the difference?

The difference is
I grew up listening to them,

you know,
the first rappers to grow up

listening to rappers.
You know what I'm saying?

Grandmaster Flash,
Furious Five, Treacherous Three,

Fearless Four, Crash Crew,
all those brothers.

♪ We came here tonight
to throw down ♪

Listen to all those rappers.

Okay,
so these incredible vibes--

I think we should go
to the Bronx real quick.

- You gon' guide LL.
- Let's get it.

We gon'--we gon' see
where it was born.

All right, so we gon'
head over to the Bronx, baby.

- Make it happen, baby.
- Let's get it.

♪

When I said...

♪ I got bodyguards,
got two big cars ♪

♪ That definitely
ain't the wack ♪

- ♪ I got a Lincoln Continental
- And?

♪ A sunroof Cadillac ♪

I didn't have none of that shit.

- Yeah.
- I was talking about aspiration.

- Right.
- But that's where

the creativity come into play.

You say it,
and then you become it.

"LL" stands for Ladies Love,
Legend and Leather

Long and Lean
Love of Ladies Last

for the red hot Lovers
Looking for a Little,

Look and Learning
the one you're Liking.

Just a lot of L's,
you know what I'm saying?

We wanna be way up there,
like... pssh!

Just like that--the jet going
through the sky over there.

GRANDMASTER CAZ: That's what
I love about hip hop.

I was talking
about what I aspire to have,

- Right.
- ...what I wanna have.

I didn't have none of that shit.

♪

- We here.
- There it is.

♪

Here we are.
1520 Sedgwick Avenue.

Gotta pay homage.
This is the birthplace, baby.

♪

1520 Sedgwick Avenue.

This is the place where
Kool Herc and his family live.

And this is the site
of the first documented

hip hop party--
August 11, 1973.

♪

LL COOL J: When you think
about this place,

what does it mean to you,
like, for real?

Like, in your soul,
what does it mean to you?

Origins.
I live right up the block.

You can walk to where I lived
from here. And I was a shorty.

I was too young
to go to the party,

but the energy that came
out of this room

permeated
the whole neighborhood.

So, it's like Kool Herc party,
Kool Herc party, Kool Herc.

Who the fuck is Kool Herc?

♪

Now, a little past
this building,

it's like
a little makeshift park.

- Uh-huh.
- Right?

That's the area where Herc
took the music outside.

♪

That corner right there--

that's where Kool Herc used
to set up his equipment.

- Used to set up in that corner?
- Yep.

LL COOL J: Man.

GRANDMASTER CAZ: And the park
would just be packed.

You saying a little party here,
outside, playground,

breakbeats playing.
- Yep.

And this thing went worldwide
from right here?

Just from this.

That's crazy.

♪

- [sizzling]
- [children shouting playfully]

LL COOL J:
Let's talk about one word.

GRANDMASTER CAZ: All right.

Legacy. What does
the word "legacy" mean to you?

I think it's more important
than--than the present,

than the here and now,
because this is gon' be over.

- Legacy is forever.
- Oh, wow.

- ♪ Cold Crush
- ♪ Grandmaster Caz or GMC ♪

♪ I'm gonna stick ya
on the board, man ♪

♪ Can't you see? ♪

I'm only gon' be here
for a little while,

but the influences that I
leave in other people...

- LL COOL J: Yeah.
- ...and in other things,

that's always gon' be here.

- Yeah.
- It's the account

of our history and let people
know we were here

and what we did
when we were here.

Legacy is everything...

- Yeah.
- ...to me.

- Yeah. That's powerful.
- Yeah.

Well, yo, I appreciate you, bro.
I love you, man.

- I love you, too.
- And respect, too.

The Grandmaster,
the Fly One.

- The flyest of 'em all.
- Got the GOAT in the BX, baby.

- [laughs]
- You know what it is.

- You know exactly what it is.
- [chuckles]

[children shouting playfully]

♪

LL COOL J: Over 50 years ago,

the seed of hip hop
was planted in the Bronx

Thanks to artists like Caz
and the Cold Crush Brothers,

the Treacherous Three,
Melle Mel,

Grandmaster Flash
and the Furious Five,

Afrika Bambaataa,
and new methods of distribution

like the cassette tape,

that seed began to grow, pushing
deeper into the boroughs of NYC.

So, now I'm on the move again,

following the roots
of hip hop into Brooklyn

to meet up with someone who was

at the forefront
of that early wave--

my man, none other than
the hip hop innovator,

Brooklyn's finest,
Big Daddy Kane.

[both laughing]

Greatness.

What up, baby?

- My man.
- You got it, brother.

This shit look good on you.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,
yeah, yeah.

[laughs]
This shit look good on you.

I'm feeling kind of
back in time right now.

- You know what I mean?
- Yeah.

♪ I'm coming ♪

LL COOL J:
Now, this man right here

is one of the absolute icons
of hip hop.

Sincerely yours,
the Smooth Operator.

♪ I'm gonna love you ♪

LL COOL J:
A master lyricist and wordsmith,

broke out in '86
with the Juice Crew.

And he quickly became

one of the most influential
MCs in the game.

The Big Father,
the Smooth Operator,

Big Daddy Kane.

LL COOL J:
Rapper, producer, an actor,

Grammy Award winner,

and a hip hop style icon
to this day--Big Daddy Kane.

- ♪ Ooh
- Did I leave anything out?

The main element
is to be intelligent.

LL COOL J: Often imitated,
never duplicated.

- Big... Daddy... Kane!
- [cheering]

Turntables, drum machines,
and cassette tapes

weren't the only tools
Kane and his hip hop peers

had at their disposal
in the early days.

They also had
internal combustion engines.

- I'm talking about car services.
- ♪ Ooh ♪

Car services
before they were on an app.

♪ I'm coming ♪

LL COOL J: They served
as a distribution network

for tapes and mixes
across the city.

♪ Oh, I'm coming ♪

Okay, so first of all,
did you use the car services?

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Lots of times.
We would, you know, use it to,

like, to like, go to a party.
- Yeah.

Back in the days, you know,
there was OJays,

Touch of Class.
From a music standpoint,

did you get any hip hop
influence in them cars?

Sometimes
in the Black Pearl joints,

you hear master mixes.

♪

KIM OSORIO: So, car services

were a non-traditional way
of spreading hip hop.

NELSON GEORGE: In New York,
if you were Black or Latino,

it was very hard to get a taxi.

So, all of these
different cab companies

developed to serve you
in Brooklyn,

to serve you
in Harlem and Uptown.

♪

We had Black Pearl,
Godfather's.

There were OJay's.

Every barbershop,
every beauty parlor,

every grocery store,
there'd be a card in the window.

You call 'em up.
That's how you got around.

- Thank you. Enjoy your day.
- And a lot of these guys

in the car,
it's part of their patter

to get you to take
a longer ride

so they can charge you more
with tapes.

You would hear new things
that you wouldn't hear before.

♪

This was
pre-hip hop being on radio.

♪

This is pre-hip hop
getting circulated

to people's Walkmans
and things of that nature.

♪

You talking to Roxanne Shanté.
Now, there were OJay cars,

and people did get
picked up in 'em,

and they rode around in 'em.

But, baby, I mean, I was
seeing people who had cars,

so I ain't really taking
car services.

♪

As things were happening
in the Bronx

and obviously
in the other boroughs,

what was the movement like

in those early years
in Brooklyn?

Bronx is a thousand miles away,
sometimes

it feel like, from here.
- Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Like, my first dose was '77,
going to a block party.

- Okay.
- I'm a kid.

You know,
I'm only nine years old.

- Mm-hmm.
- Everybody crowded around

like they was watching
a movie or something.

Mm-hmm.

And then you saw
a mic line form...

- Mm.
- ...and about, you know,

20 cats got up, you know,
waiting to get on a mic.

And I had never seen
nothing like that before.

♪ They rally ♪

LL COOL J: You saw that passion,
you saw that vibe...

- Yeah.
- ...that hunger that they had...

- Yeah.
- ...to get on the mic.

It had me like, "What's this?"
And I knew I wanna be

a part of it, whatever this is.

Like,
how did you ultimately say,

"You know what? I'm-a do this.
Like, I could do this"?

Well, I was really focused
on the DJ side, right?

What was your name
when you was DJing?

- Sir Romeo.
- Sir Romeo.

DJ Sir Romeo.

[laughter]

Fucking love it.

♪

So, then at a certain point,
you went from listening

and vibing and being influenced
to actually writing.

I started off really, like,
just writing battle rhymes,

battling people in school.
I felt like, I'm good.

- Right.
- And when I heard Caz...

LL COOL J: The Grandmaster.

Yeah, like, the stuff
that he was spitting,

I just was like, yeah,
I'm doing everything wrong.

I'll never be dope if I'm not
half as good as this guy.

So, I threw my whole
rap book away. I started--

- Really?
- Yeah. I started all over. Yeah.

- That's crazy.
- Yeah.

So, look, I wanna see Brooklyn.

I want you to show me,
point some things out.

- You know what I'm saying?
- Say less.

Teach your Queens brother
about Brooklyn,

you know what I mean?

- Say less, baby.
- Love.

♪

[siren wailing in distance]

[engine revs]

♪

Do this feel Black Pearl,
in particular, people-ish?

[laughs] Just need
the pine tree air freshener.

LL COOL J:
The pine tree air freshener.

- Yeah.
- [laughs]

♪

So, we're gon' go up
to your school,

where a lot of
Big Daddy Kane battles

took place and all that?

A lot of rap battles.

The majority of time,
I would be in class,

and someone would come
to the door...

- "Yo."
- ...and let me know that someone

outside wanted to battle.
- Wanted to battle.

- Yeah.
- And you'd go out there.

Yeah, I get the bathroom pass,
go out there,

wear somebody ass out...
- [laughs]

...then bring the pass back,
like, a period later.

LL COOL J: Yo, that's hilarious.

- BIG DADDY KANE: Yeah.
- [school bell rings]

[engine rumbling]

Hold up.

MAN: Peace, L.

- Peace, baby. We here.
- [horn honks]

Sarah J. Hale High School.

What's the first thing come
to mind when you look over here?

That sign wasn't there.

[laughter]

For my man B.D.K.,

hip hop was born here.

In here, like, it used to be me
and the guidance counselor.

- Like, he knew that I rap.
- Right.

So, he would, like,
during official period,

he would let me
get on the microphone

and say a rhyme
about attendance,

about staying off of drugs.
- Oh, really?

Then by noon, we go cut class
and go get drunk.

[laughter]

BIG DADDY KANE:
Nah. But it was, like,

so much support
in this here school.

I had the whole school
in my corner.

- Mm-hmm.
- The whole school

rooting for me.
- Mm-hmm.

BIG DADDY KANE: I felt like
one day I'm-a make it.

And let me ask you a question.
Why did you wanna make it?

♪

When I was younger, I always
wanted to be Marvin Gaye.

- I just can't sing.
- [laughing]

You know? But I knew
I could rap my ass off.

INTERVIEWER: So, I understand
you're the Marvin Gaye of rap.

That's what people are saying.

Are they? Good.

It wasn't about, you know,
selling a bunch of records.

It wasn't about, you know,
buying a Bentley or a Rolls.

- Yeah, just being the dopest--
- Just wanted to be

the dopest MC, that's all.
- Yeah.

That's all I really
envisioned at that time.

Everything is still the same,
you know?

I'm still living the same place
I was living before.

Well, I got more things
than I did before,

you know, like all big jewelry
and Dapper Dan suits.

♪

Okay, one word.
Talk to me about it--"legacy."

I mean, nothing means more to me

than to have someone say
that my music

helped them get
through high school,

through college,
through Desert Storm.

If I can give you just
something motivational

to make you do better in life,

I feel like then I did
a good thing with my music.

I'm not trying to tell nobody,
you know, to do this or do that,

you know, trying to tell
nobody right from wrong.

I'm just trying
to show you that I was

in that same position
where I had a choice,

you know,
to go this way or that way.

And I believe
that I went the right way.

It's like,
we're not paying the fans.

- Mm-hmm.
- They're paying us.

Right. They're paying for that
inspiration and that escape.

- Right.
- It's our spirit

sharing with their spirits.
- Exactly.

There it is.
You know what I'm sayin'?

My man. King Asiatic, baby.

That's what it is.

♪

SINGER: ♪ Brooklyn, Brooklyn,
Brooklyn, Brooklyn ♪

♪ We go hard ♪

♪

LL COOL J: From B.D.K. to B.I.G.
to Lil' Kim,

countless more,

there's no doubt
Brooklyn goes hard.

Now I'm headed north
to visit a Harlem rapper who,

in my humble opinion,
is hip hop personified.

[beatboxing]

[continues beatboxing]

- Yo.
- What's up, man?

- My man Doug! Doug with an E!
- Come on, man. Come on, man.

Chillin' with... uhh!

♪ Hit it ♪

LL COOL J: Doug E. Fresh,

the human beatbox.

While other MCs and DJs used
drum machines and turntables,

the equipment
that Doug E. Fresh used

was basically
Doug E. Fresh himself.

♪ Somebody say...
[high-pitched] "Oh, my God!"♪

LL COOL J: The most ionic
beatboxer of all time.

Doug E. took the art mainstream

with his partner, Slick Rick
and the Get Fresh Crew.

The toast of
America's rap generation,

Doug E. Fresh.

LL COOL J: The single,
"The Show/La Di Da Di"

is a hip hop classic

and one of the most sampled
tracks in all of music.

[beatboxing]

- ♪ Excuse me, Doug E Fresh
- ♪ Yes ♪

Me and you, in terms of
our industry, we are true peers.

We really came out together.
How were you exposed to hip hop?

You know,
my sister just came home

and started talking
about DJ Hollywood.

She started saying the rhyme--
"ring-a-ding-a-ding,

da-dong, the dong-dong,
the dang, the dang-dang,

the ding, the dong-dong
to the hip hop..."

And all of a sudden, I said,

"Wow, that's crazy.
Do that again."

Right now, rap music
is number one over here.

Rap music is ruling.

The main message to
our rap music is have something

to believe in and be yourself
and let people hear

that we're not as stupid and as
ignorant as they think we are.

Know what I'm saying?

I used to write poetry
all the time.

- Oh, wow.
- So, I wrote poetry in school.

I won the Langston Hughes award.
But when hip hop started,

it turned from poetry
into just coming up with rhymes.

Y'all be beatin'
on the lunch table.

Yeah.

So, all of these
different things collectively

just changed
my whole perspective.

[cheers and applause]

LL COOL J:
As Doug E. was evolving

into the hip hop icon
he is today,

something else popped
on the scene

that completely
changed the game

and further spread the gospel
of hip hop in an all new way.

Now let's talk about
the boombox.

The boombox is like
an icon of hip hop culture.

GEORGE: The boombox is not just
music that you can hear--

everybody can hear.

OSORIO: The whole point was to
make sure that everybody heard

so when you hear the music,

you can start looking
for what's going on.

It really was
a way to call people in.

♪

Whoever it was
that had the biggest boombox

had the party on the block.

GEORGE:
It played cassette tapes.

It also had a radio component.

You could carry it outside.
You have enough D batteries,

then you can
take your boombox outside.

♪

SHANTÉ: We're talking anywhere
from 12 to 18 D batteries.

They also had to have money

'cause D batteries
was expensive.

♪

The boombox
came from the b-boys.

♪

They needed
to dance to some music,

so the bigger the radio,
the louder the music,

the more people gon'
come around

and make that circle again.

♪

The boombox became
a fashion statement.

LL--he was the first one
to be talking

about how big his radio was.

SHANTÉ: Then they got
the two speakers,

then they got the four speakers,
then they got the six speakers,

then they got the three parts.

[laughs] We're talking
about a big strap

and somebody having
a strong back.

♪

LL COOL J:
When I would see a dude

walking down the street
with a boombox,

it was so much power.

You know, look,
when you growing up

in New York in that time,
you feel invisible.

- Right.
- Your friends get killed.

It means nothing to anybody.
Nobody cares.

- Right.
- But there was so much joy

and such high vibration
around this.

And it was all
about the dude walking

down the block like this.
He just walking.

LL COOL J: No doubt.
Or with it on his shoulder.

- Right, right, right, right!
- With it on his shoulder.

And it's so crazy
because it's right in his ear.

- Blowing his ears off the frame.
- [laughs]

LL COOL J: All right,
so this what we gon' do.

This what we gon' do.
We gon' hit the rooftop,

and you gon' be able to see
the whole city from where we at.

And I'm-a show you where
the beatbox was first done.

All right,
let's get to it, baby.

♪ Ain't no half steppin' ♪

[siren wailing in distance]

[speaking Dutch]

...the human beatboxer.

[resumes in Dutch]

...in studio, Doug E. Fresh
and the Get Fresh crew.

Doug here... [speaks Dutch]
and Rick. [speaks Dutch]

Uh, could you explain
what a human beatbox is, Doug?

[beatboxes] Ladies...

[beatboxes]

...and gentlemen...
[resumes beatboxing]

We are...

[resumes beatboxing]

ALL: The Get Fresh Crew!

♪

[seabirds calling]

So, yo, origins of the beatbox.

Okay. All right.
I went to a school over here.

LL COOL J: Mm-hmm.

- I had a teacher...
- Mm-hmm.

...who wanted me
to play the trumpet.

Mm-hmm.

So, I'm taking
this trumpet home.

Every day I'm practicing.
I'm practicing.

And then one day
I come to school,

and he is no longer there.

It ain't 'cause of
your trumpet playing, is it?

- No, no, no! [laughs]
- Terrible teacher. That's...

But I--what it was is
that they cut the music program

in most of the urban schools.

- Of course.
- And that's what happened.

So, long story short,
I'm walking home.

But while I'm walking home,

every day
I'm hearing these musics.

I'm hearing...
♪ It was a party night ♪

♪ Everybody was breakin' ♪

- ♪ Was breakin' in the house
- Oh, man, that gave me... Whoo!

♪ And it won't be long
till everybody knowin' that ♪

♪ On that beat box
goin' that... ♪

- [laughs]
- And...

♪ Sha-na-na ♪

♪ Italian, Caucasian,
Japanese ♪

♪ Spanish, Indian, Negro,
Vietnamese ♪

DOUG: We hear that, Spoonie,
Treacherous, everything.

So, I'm walking home.
I'm hearing...

[hums]

So, now you got the bass
and the beat box, right?

- Yeah.
- Then you got...

[humming, clicking]

Then you putting the hi-hat
in there, and the crash is...

[humming, clicking]

Then you putting
the other thing in there.

[humming, clicking,
making blooping sounds]

And now you starting to--
now you going...

Now it's starting to
get real crazy, right?

- [laughing]
- So, now I'm doing it outside.

Everybody lost they mind.

That was the beginning,
and then it took off.

[beatboxing]

Yeah. Come on.

♪

[beatboxing]

No, I'm working out, y'all.

♪

LL COOL J: Okay.
And this is something

I've been asking people--
your legacy.

What's legacy mean to you?

What is my legacy? Uh...

I never really put
too much thought into that.

I'm so busy living in the now,

in this moment right now,

that I don't even really think
about the legacy.

I think it writes itself.

I think it writes itself.
You know that?

Yep.

And I mean this so sincerely.

There's no words.

There's nothing
that I can ever say

to thank God enough...

Amen.

...for giving me
this moment right now

and the opportunities
that I've had

and just to be here now
with you

and us growing up together
and us standing here

from the time when
we were little kids, man.

- Doug E. Fresh.
- Appreciate you, brother.

- You already know.
- Hip hop was born here.

- Yes, sir.
- Here.

- Yes, sir.
- No doubt, no doubt.

- Let's roll.
- Yeah.

[Boogie Down Production's
"South Bronx" playing]

♪ South Bronx ♪

♪ The South, South Bronx ♪

I got the GOAT with me, baby.

LL Cool J! Get over here!

[laughter]

[crowd cheering and laughing]

♪ South Bronx,
the South, South Bronx ♪

♪ South Bronx, the South,
South Bronx ♪

♪ South Bronx,
the South, South Bronx ♪