An introductory guide to New York hip-hop in the '80s

The Get Down's Nelson George guides us through the world of '80s hip-hop in New York City, from Kurtis Blow to Eric B.

CBC Radio · Posted: Apr 28, 2017 8:45 AM EDT | Last Updated: June 26, 2020

Nelson George is the supervising producer of the Netlix series, The Get Down. (Courtesy of Nelson George)

Originally published on April 28, 2017

Today, we're taking you back to hip-hop's very beginning — to New York City and a time when hip-hop had no idea how big it would become.

Nelson George is the supervising producer of Netflix's hit series, The Get Down, as well as a hip-hop historian whom we've had on the show a few times before. George himself is a native New Yorker and was one of the first journalists to cover hip-hop in that early era.

So, naturally, we thought George would be the perfect candidate to give us the ultimate gateway playlist to '80s New York hip-hop.

Below are the songs mentioned in this segment:

Kurtis Blow, The Breaks