Been spending most of my weekends in bed and watching this Netflix series, Hip-Hop Evolution.
A really great documentary. In-depth. Comprehensive. Geeky. The tv presenter is a true hip hop historian. The flyest storyteller.
One that got special attention in that doco is “Protect Ya Neck”, the debut single by Wu-Tang Clan. How the song came out. How hip hop universe was pretty shocked with the song structure and the rapping style: raw, dark, dirty, no hook, no verse.
The first time I heard this song, I wasn’t very interested. Same as songs from Cypress Hill’s Black Sunday. I guess due to minimum hook and less catchy compare to rapcore tunes, the trendy genre at the time.
As the time went by, it grew on me. I remember vividly when we drank bad and lethal arak with my buddies in Denpasar where we usually hung out and cranked up this song, we all laughed listening to it. So raw, gritty, gravely. Pure arak spirit. Has a strong punk rock vibeâwe played punk rock a lot back then.
At Rumah Sanur – Creative Hub where I now run music department, We used to have a regular DJ set program called Protect Ya Deck. Obviously inspired by that Wu-Tang’s classic song. I guess, it’s time for a comeback.
Yes, Hip-Hop Evolution reminds me to show a better respect to RZA, GZA, Ghostface Killah, Ol’ Dirty Bastard, Method Man, Inspectah Deck, …who else, I always forget the rest. Sorry, Black Jesus.
Can I get a Suuuu?
