Documentary ‘Microphone Check’ Travels Back to the ’70s to Explore the Hidden History of Hip-Hop

American film producer, director, and internet personality Tariq Nasheed explores the hidden history of hip-hop in his ‘Microphone Check’ documentary. In the documentary, he focuses on when and where hip-hop and its culture started — the ’70s in the Bronx, which a lot may have known by now but have yet to fully grasp and appreciate how it came to be.

“There’s a lot of misconceptions about hip-hop,” Director Tariq Nasheed told WTOP. “One of the biggest misconceptions is that we got hip-hop culture from Caribbean culture and all of these other different cultures. It came from the foundation of Black American culture in America cultivated in the Bronx.”, says Nasheed.

However, it wasn’t just the Bronx that created hip-hop, it was the people living there. With that, the documentary revolves around key people who helped give birth and mold hip-hop to where it is today. From the first breakdancer, Trixie, to graffiti artist, Cornbread, and the first hip-hop emcee, Coke La Rock, all their and others’ stories were highlighted in the documentary.

“When people talk about hip-hop being born in the Bronx, they don’t humanize it,” Nasheed said. “They make it seem like it just fell out of a building and came up out of the concrete and slithered up out of the sewer. No, it came from people — so who were the people? We wanted to get into who the people were.”, adds Nasheed.

Aside from shedding light on the people, scene, and culture of hip-hop, ‘Microphone Check’ also talks about the first technical hip-hop record in the documentary. The actual recording and birth of the hip-hop genre of music arguably helped catapult hip-hop into the public scene, which we can all still enjoy and experience today.

Despite the film focusing mostly on the ’70s, ‘Microphone Check’ still draws parallels between the past and present. This helps us gain a newfound appreciation and understanding of hip-hop as an entirety and culture.

‘Microphone Check’ recently premiered at E Street Cinema in D.C. last July 19 in time for the 50th anniversary of hip-hop. As of writing, the documentary can now be purchased in Blu-Ray at the official Microphone Check website.