DJ Cassidy's Pass The Mic LIVE United Rap's Golden Era In NYC

  As hip-hop is celebrated globally this year for its 50th anniversary, one thing that no one can deny is that rap would never have been able to take it this far if it weren’t for pioneers of the Golden Age. Although the genre was first introduced during the mid ’70s, it took until 1979 before the music was even televised due to its association with inner-city issues and, well, general racism in America. However, things grew tenfold by the time hip-hop had reached the mid ’80s with emcees like Slick Rick, The Jungle Brothers, Public Enemy, KRS-One, the dynamic duo of Eric B. & Rakim and Roxanne Shanté as just some of the handful who helped elevate what it meant to be a lyricist. Guys like LL Cool J and Run-D.M.C. brought the commercial appeal to rap that we now see newer acts like Drake and Travis Scott benefitting astronomically from. For the ladies, Queen Latifah and Salt-N-Pepa were two shining examples that proved women have voices behind the mic as well; now, female rap is all that anyone can talk about. That’s why we had to give major props to seasoned mixmaster DJ Cassidy for using the latest stop on his Pass The Mic LIVE! Tour to unite 50 rap legends on one stage for an unforgettable blast from the past where it all started: New York City!       RELATED: Red Bull & Rakim Help Bring Breaking Culture Back To NYC

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Setting up shop at the legendary Radio City Music Hall last Friday (July 21), DJ Cassidy gathered nearly every core rapper from hip-hop’s Golden Age and simply let them rip the stage with their biggest hits. Not a seat was left unfilled, and some even had to stand in the aisle in order to really get down they way they wanted to. Each act flowed after one another with such precision that it all felt like one big nonstop performance. Crowd cheers for The Sugar Hill Gang and Kurtis Blow, the first rapper signed to a major label, were equal in volume to the likes of Onyx, Brand Nubian and EPMD amongst others. Kid N’ Play did their classic House Party dance routine, Monie Love was rocking the stage “in the middle” as per usual and Naughty By Nature’s Treach had the entire venue’s undivided attention while spitting his group’s classic banger, “Hip-Hop Hooray.” The headliners — whew! — they made it absolutely clear why each deserves a place on any proverbial Hip-Hop Mount Rushmore, with Big Daddy Kane, KRS-One, the God MC himself Rakim and a double play by Slick Rick alongside Doug E. Fresh capping off a night where hip-hop shined gold for all to see.    

See the full photo recap of DJ Cassidy’s Pass The Mic LIVE! Tour at Radio City Music Hall in NYC below, including a few pics from the exclusive afterparty hosted by Martell:

 

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1. Treach of Naughty By Nature

DJ Cassidy’s Pass The Mic Live!
Radio City Music Hall, New York, NY
July 21, 2023

2. Dres, KRS-ONE and Chi-Ali

DJ Cassidy’s Pass The Mic Live!
Radio City Music Hall, New York, NY
July 21, 2023

3. O'Neal McKnight and Don Pooh

DJ Cassidy’s Pass The Mic Live!
Radio City Music Hall, New York, NY
July 21, 2023

4. Kurtis Blow and Wonder Mike

DJ Cassidy’s Pass The Mic Live!
Radio City Music Hall, New York, NY
July 21, 2023

5. Monie Love

DJ Cassidy’s Pass The Mic Live!
Radio City Music Hall, New York, NY
July 21, 2023

6. Full Force

DJ Cassidy’s Pass The Mic Live!
Radio City Music Hall, New York, NY
July 21, 2023

7. Lord Jamar

DJ Cassidy’s Pass The Mic Live!
Radio City Music Hall, New York, NY
July 21, 2023

8. Erick Sermon and MC Serch

DJ Cassidy’s Pass The Mic Live!
Radio City Music Hall, New York, NY
July 21, 2023

9. B-Boys Crazy Legs and Miguel "Bboy Gravity" Rosario

DJ Cassidy’s Pass The Mic Live!
Radio City Music Hall, New York, NY
July 21, 2023

10. Big Daddy Kane and Parrish Smith

DJ Cassidy’s Pass The Mic Live!
Radio City Music Hall, New York, NY
July 21, 2023

11. Fredro Starr, Sadat X, Lord Jamar, Dana Dane

DJ Cassidy’s Pass The Mic Live!
Radio City Music Hall, New York, NY
July 21, 2023

12. Kool Moe Dee

DJ Cassidy’s Pass The Mic Live!
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July 21, 2023

13. Doug E. Fresh

DJ Cassidy’s Pass The Mic Live!
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July 21, 2023

14. DJ Cassidy

DJ Cassidy’s Pass The Mic Live!
Radio City Music Hall, New York, NY
July 21, 2023

15. Radio City Music Hall Packed For DJ Cassidy's 'Pass The Mic LIVE!'

DJ Cassidy’s Pass The Mic Live!
Radio City Music Hall, New York, NY
July 21, 2023

16. Doug E. Fresh and DJ Cassidy

DJ Cassidy’s Pass The Mic Live!
Radio City Music Hall, New York, NY
July 21, 2023

17. Slick Rick

DJ Cassidy’s Pass The Mic Live!
Radio City Music Hall, New York, NY
July 21, 2023

18. Lil Vicious

DJ Cassidy’s Pass The Mic Live!
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July 21, 2023

19. Rakim

DJ Cassidy’s Pass The Mic Live!
Radio City Music Hall, New York, NY
July 21, 2023

20. KRS One and DJ Cassidy

DJ Cassidy’s Pass The Mic Live!
Radio City Music Hall, New York, NY
July 21, 2023

21. Treach of Naughty by Nature

DJ Cassidy’s Pass The Mic Live!
Radio City Music Hall, New York, NY
July 21, 2023

22. Kid 'n Play

DJ Cassidy’s Pass The Mic Live!
Radio City Music Hall, New York, NY
July 21, 2023

23. Greg Nice of Nice & Smooth and DJ Cassidy

DJ Cassidy’s Pass The Mic Live!
Radio City Music Hall, New York, NY
July 21, 2023

24. Smooth B and Greg Nice of Nice & Smooth

DJ Cassidy’s Pass The Mic Live!
Radio City Music Hall, New York, NY
July 21, 2023

25. Sticky Fingaz and Fredro Starr of Onyx

DJ Cassidy’s Pass The Mic Live!
Radio City Music Hall, New York, NY
July 21, 2023

26. CL Smooth

DJ Cassidy’s Pass The Mic Live!
Radio City Music Hall, New York, NY
July 21, 2023

27. CL Smooth

DJ Cassidy’s Pass The Mic Live!
Radio City Music Hall, New York, NY
July 21, 2023

28. Poc Fu of Fu-Schnickens

DJ Cassidy’s Pass The Mic Live!
Radio City Music Hall, New York, NY
July 21, 2023

29. Chip Fu and Poc Fu of Fu-Schnickens

DJ Cassidy’s Pass The Mic Live!
Radio City Music Hall, New York, NY
July 21, 2023

30. Grand Puba of Brand Nubian

DJ Cassidy’s Pass The Mic Live!
Radio City Music Hall, New York, NY
July 21, 2023

31. Sadat X and Lord Jamar of Brand Nubian

DJ Cassidy’s Pass The Mic Live!
Radio City Music Hall, New York, NY
July 21, 2023

32. Sadat X of Brand Nubian

DJ Cassidy’s Pass The Mic Live!
Radio City Music Hall, New York, NY
July 21, 2023

33. Monie Love

DJ Cassidy’s Pass The Mic Live!
Radio City Music Hall, New York, NY
July 21, 2023

34. Mc Serch

DJ Cassidy’s Pass The Mic Live!
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July 21, 2023

35. Special Ed

DJ Cassidy’s Pass The Mic Live!
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July 21, 2023

36. Special Ed

DJ Cassidy’s Pass The Mic Live!
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37. Mc Shan

DJ Cassidy’s Pass The Mic Live!
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38. Roxanne Shante

DJ Cassidy’s Pass The Mic Live!
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39. Roxanne Shante

DJ Cassidy’s Pass The Mic Live!
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40. Dana Dane

DJ Cassidy’s Pass The Mic Live!
Radio City Music Hall, New York, NY
July 21, 2023

41. Kool Moe Dee

DJ Cassidy’s Pass The Mic Live!
Radio City Music Hall, New York, NY
July 21, 2023

42. Busy Bee

DJ Cassidy’s Pass The Mic Live!
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43. Kurtis Blow

DJ Cassidy’s Pass The Mic Live!
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44. Scorpio and GrandMaster Melle Mel

DJ Cassidy’s Pass The Mic Live!
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45. Barshon

DJ Cassidy’s Pass The Mic Live!
Radio City Music Hall, New York, NY
July 21, 2023

46. Chi-Ali

DJ Cassidy’s Pass The Mic Live!
Radio City Music Hall, New York, NY
July 21, 2023

47. Master Gee of Sugar Hill Gang

DJ Cassidy’s Pass The Mic Live!
Radio City Music Hall, New York, NY
July 21, 2023

48. Wonder Mike and Diamond of Sugar Hill Gang

DJ Cassidy’s Pass The Mic Live!
Radio City Music Hall, New York, NY
July 21, 2023

49. Kid 'n Play

DJ Cassidy’s Pass The Mic Live!
Radio City Music Hall, New York, NY
July 21, 2023

50. Famed Stylist June Ambrose

DJ Cassidy’s Pass The Mic Live!
Radio City Music Hall, New York, NY
July 21, 2023

51. Big Daddy Kane and DJ Cassidy

DJ Cassidy’s Pass The Mic Live!
Radio City Music Hall, New York, NY
July 21, 2023

52. KRS-One and MC Shan

DJ Cassidy’s Pass The Mic Live!
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53. DJ Cassidy's Pass The Mic Live!

DJ Cassidy’s Pass The Mic Live!
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July 21, 2023

54. DJ Cassidy and Grandmaster Melle Mel

DJ Cassidy’s Pass The Mic Live!
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55. Kurtis Blow

DJ Cassidy’s Pass The Mic Live!
Radio City Music Hall, New York, NY
July 21, 2023

56. Greg Nice

DJ Cassidy’s Pass The Mic Live!
Radio City Music Hall, New York, NY
July 21, 2023

57. DJ SNS and DJ Cassidy

DJ Cassidy’s Pass The Mic Live!
Radio City Music Hall, New York, NY
July 21, 2023

58. Grandmaster Melle Mel

DJ Cassidy’s Pass The Mic Live!
Radio City Music Hall, New York, NY
July 21, 2023

59. B-Boy Crazy Legs

DJ Cassidy’s Pass The Mic Live!
Radio City Music Hall, New York, NY
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60. Celebrity Stylist June Ambrose

DJ Cassidy’s Pass The Mic Live!
Radio City Music Hall, New York, NY
July 21, 2023

61. Full Force and DJ Cassidy

DJ Cassidy’s Pass The Mic Live!
Radio City Music Hall, New York, NY
July 21, 2023

62. Grandmaster Flash

DJ Cassidy’s Pass The Mic Live!
Radio City Music Hall, New York, NY
July 21, 2023

63. Rakim, DJ Cassidy and Kurtis Blow

DJ Cassidy’s Pass The Mic Live!
Radio City Music Hall, New York, NY
July 21, 2023