Genesis of Hip Hop in Birmingham

Kurtis Patterson takes us back to the old school.

Bettina and family… I don’t have a lot to say concerning the present state of hip hop in Birmingham. However, as usual you have struck a cord in my memory that has transported me to happier times! After reading the entry made by Bettina and Chris Coleman I was inspired to add my little bit to the conversation. We can't know who we are if we don’t know where we come from. I’d like to address the genesis of hip hop culture in Birmingham!

In and around 1978 Birmingham was a much simpler and less combative place. The town was still relatively white politically. David Vann was mayor. Richard Arrington and present mayor Larry Langford were staking out ground for a run at the top job! Birmingham had fourteen high schools back then. There was no Hoover high, or Spain Park. One could go to any sporting event anywhere in the city and not have to worry about being shanked or gatted!!! There was no Tom Joyner or Steve Harvey to start our mornings! We had Shelly the Playboy, Pat Slim Man Williams and the master of them all Tall Paul - Paul Dudley White! Tall Paul manned the microphone for afternoon drive! This time in my life was so very cool. When it was not basketball season I raced to my home in West End after school! I bust down my bedroom door and turned on my component set to WENN 107.7!!! Tall Paul was already into that afternoon’s high school checkin!!

High School check-in was a little thing where the listeners would call in and state what school they went to. What ever school had the most callers could claim bragging rights for that day… till the next afternoon’s contest! It was so exciting to hear callers from West End, Hayes, Phillips, J.O. and those hater Parker Thundering Turds!!! LOL most days the contest came down to Parker and West End! Occasionally we galvanized enough of us to win an afternoon at Ramsay! When that happened there was so much buzz in the hallways the next day. Because, everyone would know if you called… they would recognize your voice! You would be a celebrity that day! All thanks to Tall Paul and the High School check-in!

OK… What does that have to do with hip hop? Around 78 The Rapper’s delight hit the airwaves and exploded!!! It was the BOMB ditty! Tall Paul had the brilliant idea to allow callers to phone in and “rap” with the song as it played! Callers from all over the city would take their chances at emulating Big back Hank and the rest of Sugar Hill! I submit that it was this little nugget that was the genesis that germinated and eventually exploded into the sequoia like phenomenon that hip hop became in Birmingham in the 80s.

When I went off to college in the fall of 1980 I was shown just how far reaching the Birmingham genesis was. At Mississippi State University, as soon as someone learned that I was from Birmingham I was questioned about the call-in, about WENN, and the Djs in the area; Johnny Austin, Michael Starr, and of course SHOWBOAT!! It turned out that the radio waves were far reaching into Mississippi and surrounding areas! I was always asked if I could get tickets for the Prince concert, or The Time, Gap Band, Ray Parker, Obryan!!! I made so much money selling bootleg Whodini and Run DMC albums that I never needed my family to send meal money! LOL

As to a thread that my friend Bettina offered I have to challenge! She mentioned the fabulous skate rink days of yore! She mentioned Skate Haven and Holiday Skate on Valley avenue. I forget the name of the rink on third avenue west. But, I offer that the crème de la crème of skating rinks in the 80s was Skate Palace in Irondale!!! The building that is now Salvage whatever it is, across from Sam’s club in Irondale was the place to be in the Bham area! Cars were stretched all the way down to Montclair road! On Sunday nights the doors opened at 7 and closed at………WAIT FOR IT!!!!!! Four AM in the morning!!!! We partied and skated every minute till they kicked us out! Chris Talley was the venerable master of mayhem spinning the ones and twos!! This was the birth of the video era! Skate Palace had a HUGE screen on the far west wall.

Long live Skate Palace in Irondale, long live WENN 107.7, long live the Birmingham Genesis of Hip Hop… Paul Dudley White!!! TALL PAUL!!!