Happy Birthday Mr. Magic

By Ralo

As a small child I discovered rap music the first time I heard "Rappers Delight" by the Sugar Hill Gang. I was completely fascinated with the inner city poetic styling that I was taking in. For some reason it reminded me of my earliest days in The Bronx. Immediately I knew that this form of oral expression was from where I was from, everything about it said "New York City". It resonated with me in a way that nothing had before or since.

At the time the premiere station for black music in New York City was 107.5 WBLS. Needless to say most radios in the house were on BLS. Subsequent to seeing "Rappers Delight" become the biggest record on radio and the hottest idea around, I had my one-speaker boom box with the cassette recorder on BLS one Friday night in 1980/81 (giving my age). At which point I heard the Treacherous 3 and plenty of other rap records back to back. The biggest rappers out at the time was Kurtis Blow, Jimmy Spicer, Sugarhill Gang and Grandmaster Flash and the furious 5.

 I was hearing new rap that daytime radio wasn't playing. I learned that what I was listening to was Mr. Magics Rap Attack. After that, each and every Friday and Saturday night I was in front of the radio to make my pause edit Mixtape of all the newest rap records. Anyone familiar with the show knew when they heard the drop that said "The Mr. Magic Rap Attack presents a WORLD PREMIERE" they were in store for some new music.

Mr Magic (aka John Rivas) was born in The Bronx in 1956. His career in radio began on a lease-time radio station in Newark, WHBI in 1981. His show, the first to have a mostly all Rap format< wasknown as "Mr. Magics Disco Showcase. A little more than a year later, in July of 1982 he made the switch to New Yorks' WBLS, where he became a legend. His opening theme music was The Fearless Fours' classic "It's Magic" and  his DJ was none other than Marley Marl.

Mr. Magic is probably best remembered for the ongoing beef he had with radio rival Kool DJ Red Alert. Mr. Magic always threw his support behind The Juice Crew, which was named after him, Sir Juice, as they had answer record beef with KRS-ONE, Red Alert and Boogie Down Productions.

Mr. Magic unfortunately passed away of a heart attack in 2009, and was planing a comeback to WBLS. In 2009 he did a voice-over portraying himself for the Grand Theft Auto: Vice City video game.  He helped launch the careers of many rap legends like Master Ace, Big Daddy Kane, Kool G Rap, Biz Markie, Roxanne Shante, Whodini and many others. Everyone involved in Rap radio owes him a debt of gratitude. Every Rap artist owes him a debt of gratitude for bringing a rap music show to a commercial radio station.

In 1982, Brooklyn based Whodini recorded a song called "Magics Wand" in honor of Mr. Magic. Jalil Hutchins, who was a completely unknown rapper at the time, worked as an intern for Mr. Magic answering the phone at the radio station. He teamed up with Ecstasy (John Fletcher) because he wanted to have another voice on the song. Mr. Magic played the song so much it caught the attention of London Based, Jive Records. Jive then signed Whodini and teamed them up with Thomas Dolby to re-record the record.

Rest in beats Mr. Magic.

 Salute!

Corner Buzz

Emmis Buys WBLS And WLIB
Amid the decline of black radio in New York City, black radio takes yet another hit. WBLS and WLIB, known for it's African American programming, has been sold to Emmis Communications for $131 million. Emmis is the same corporation that owns Hot 97 (WQHT).

Only time will tell if the program format is going to change. WBLS, which used to be owned by Percy Sutton, has always maintained a high level of decorum. Over the years WBLS has brought legends like Frankie Crocker and Vaughn Harper into black homes. WLIB on AM, brought us Imhotep Gary Bird, Tony Brown, Felipe Luciano and many others to speak their minds on their talk radio format.

Lets hope WBLS and WLIB don't become two more radio stations that portray black people as ignorant buffoons, like Hot 97has done for so long.

Teachers Tells Students That Malcolm X Is "Bad" 
Fourth grade students at P.S. 201 in Flushing Queens were told that they could not do a report on Malcolm X for Black History month because he was "violent" and "bad". Cleatress Brown, one outraged parent, confronted Principle Rebecca Lozada. Brown, 47, said “I’m outraged". “As a teacher, you’re imposing your opinion on a bunch of kids.” Brown encouraged her son to write about Malcolm X and turn in his paper anyway.

Malcolm X is only bad for people  who believe in the system of racism and white supremacy, and the only violence he was involved in was his own assassination.

Verdict In Dunn Trial
As the George Zimmerman trial did last year, Saturday’s verdict in the Michael Dunn trial has brought about deep soul-searching about race in America. Michael Dunn was charged in the shooting death of unarmed black teenager Jordan Davis, in what is being referred to the loud music trial.

Dunn fired 10 rounds into an SUV that was occupied by Davis and his friends after an argument about loud Rap music on November 23, 2012 in Florida. 3 of the 10 shots struck the 17 year old Davis, one of them cutting through his liver, a lung and his aorta. Dunn claimed he felt threatened by the teens and thought he saw  a shotgun in the vehicle when he opened fire. Dunn said he shot in self defense. No shotgun was ever found. This case is yet another example of how black life is devalued and seen as "less than".

A jury on Saturday night convicted Dunn of three charges of attempted murder.