The hip-hop pioneer will visit to help wrap up Cuban music luminary Juan De Marcos GonzĂĄlez’s UW-Madison residency.
Hip hop pioneer Kurtis Blow perfected a style of simple, relatively wholesome rap that helped make him the first rapper to sign a major-label contract and appear on national TV.
Songs like âChristmas Rappinââ and âBasketballââwith lines like âBasketball is my favorite sport / I like the way they dribble up and down the courtââmight sound a bit corny to some ears now, but itâs impossible to downplay the critical role Kurtis Blow played in moving hip hop into the mainstream.
Now, some 36 years into his illustrious career, Kurtis Blow will bless Madison with his presence when he joins a December 8 celebration of University of Wisconsin-Madison Arts Instituteâs Interdisciplinary Artist in Residence Juan de Marcos GonzĂĄlez at Frederic March Play Circle in the Memorial Union.
Kurtis Blow will be performing along with finalists from the Madisonâs Schools Got Talent competition and will stick around to talk about hip hop culture.
The event will be the final get together of GonzĂĄlez’s residenc,y and three students from Marcosâ âMusic Production: Afro-Cuban and Hip Hop Musicâ class will be performing with the legendary Cuban bandleader, as well as the School of Musicâs Jazz Orchestra, Latin Jazz Ensemble and World Percussion Ensemble. For those unable to attend in person, it will also be streaming online and available to watch later here.