News & Updates — Boogie Down Productions

The social worker-turned-rap producer/DJ Scott La Rock formed Boogie Down Productions with homeless teen KRS-One in the South Bronx in 1986 and the act brought the art of rap to a new level of poetry. Their first album, the proto-gangsta Criminal Minded, was a heavy blast of borough pride, battle raps, sparse and cutting funky production (inspired by James Brown and dancehall) and a gritty urban realism that has been a continuation in rap (for good or bad) ever since. They (theatrically?) initiated the "rap beef" with their battle boasts. Scott was shot while trying to defuse a situation and...