Remember When KPRS Hated Hip-Hop

Credit to this local write-up that recalls the days when traditional leaders from the Black community were, justifiably, cautious of a new art form that would go on to dominate the global music industry until very recently . . . Here's part of the story . . .

"Most people weren’t introduced to hip-hop until six years later, in the fall of 1979, when The Sugarhill Gang performed “Rapper’s Delight.” KPRS first played the iconic song in Kansas City months after most urban stations across the country had already played it. It would be the beginning of the radio station’s tumultuous and uncomfortable relationship with rap music . . .

"Although not a lot of rap music was played on KPRS, savvy party promoters like Vonzell Bryant, Marcus Harris and Ryonell Frederick used the station to advertise their hip-hop parties at high schools, hotel ballrooms, skating rinks and union halls. The underground hip-hop scene was healthy and vibrant despite the limited amount of airtime rap music received on Kansas City radio."

Read more via www.TonysKansasCity.com link . . .

Hip-Hop and Kansas City: It's Complicated

Like most urban radio stations across the country at the time, Kansas City's KPRS was slow to embrace the hip-hop movement fifty years ago.