Hip Hop Turns 50_ Watch LL Cool J, Queen Latifah and P. Diddy's Early Interviews

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00:00 [MUSIC]

00:02 [MUSIC]

00:04 [MUSIC]

00:06 You are now about to witness the strength of street man.

00:09 [MUSIC]

00:14 It's all about the music.

00:16 If you take hip hop out of the equation, the world would be a boring place.

00:20 [MUSIC]

00:25 What we do is we control the party atmosphere.

00:28 So kick off your shoes, relax your socks, and watch E.T. 'cause it's ready to rock.

00:33 Oh, we're ready to rock Ice-T as we celebrate the 50th anniversary of hip hop

00:38 by opening the E.T. vault for a look back at how far some of our favorite stars have come.

00:43 [MUSIC]

00:45 I was nine years old when I began rapping.

00:47 The year? 1986.

00:49 The ladies loved a babyface Cool J, bucket hat, chain, and all

00:53 when E.T. first sat down with the 18-year-old.

00:56 Mainstream is not one of my goals.

00:58 Mainstream is going to take me for me being me.

01:00 I'm not going to try to change or mold myself just to get here.

01:03 [MUSIC]

01:06 I just remember getting my contract and being like, "Ma, you're going to let me do 10 albums."

01:11 She was like, "Really?"

01:13 Today, LL is preparing for his first arena tour in 30 years.

01:17 The 55-year-old who once dominated the golden age of hip hop

01:20 helped bring the music from the streets to mainstream

01:23 with other artists like Run-D.M.C. and Queen Latifah who were joining him on tour.

01:27 [MUSIC]

01:30 We were with the Queen on set of Sesame Street back in 1992.

01:34 Oh, yeah. Queen Latifah's in the house.

01:37 I got my Safari Sisters with me.

01:39 We knew this wasn't a fad, you know, once we heard that beat,

01:43 once we started making this music, there was no way that this was not going to stay around.

01:49 Queen Latifah rightfully wears the trailblazing crown for being one of the first to sing about feminist issues.

01:54 [MUSIC]

01:59 She helped pave the way for other fierce females like Lil' Kim, Lauryn Hill, and Missy Elliott

02:04 who will be the first female hip hop artist to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame later this year.

02:09 Holla, holla.

02:11 [MUSIC]

02:13 I believe anybody can make it. When you hungry, you're going to do whatever it takes to get there.

02:17 [MUSIC]

02:23 By the late 90s, hip hop music was the top selling music genre in the world.

02:27 Over the last year, hip hop has dominated the charts.

02:30 Number one, you know, that's me, Biggie, and Lil' Kim, and that's hip hop.

02:34 [MUSIC]

02:40 In 1997, a then 27-year-old Puff Daddy was full of confidence, and after 26 years, nothing has changed.

02:47 I'm the world's most interested man. You know what I'm saying?

02:51 Trust me, I run marathons, I star on Broadway, I host award shows, I open up schools.

02:59 I'm like Black man.

03:01 [MUSIC]

03:03 And I throw the best parties.

03:05 To Diddy's credit, he, along with Biggie, Tupac, and Dr. Dre, helped hip hop cross over into the pop music world.

03:11 [MUSIC]

03:13 It's important that I just put myself 100 percent, apply myself, and represent, you know, the young Black male, whatever I do.

03:22 [MUSIC]

03:27 We work hard to try to put good music in the streets, and everybody show their love.

03:31 [MUSIC]

03:34 I don't think it's getting the respect that it deserves yet, you know. Rap music sells.

03:39 From N.W.A. to owning his own label, Dre is known to be one of the most successful producers in the biz.

03:45 With an eye for talent, he helped discover artists like Snoop Dogg, Eminem, and Kendrick Lamar,

03:49 the first rapper to win a Pulitzer Prize for music, which influenced social change.

03:54 [MUSIC]

03:58 As for Dre's inspiration?

04:00 [MUSIC]

04:03 That would be the O.G., Grandmaster Flash.

04:06 In the mid-70s, he changed the hip hop game by manipulating records in a backward-forward motion.

04:12 [MUSIC]

04:16 Doing tricks with it, you know, and maybe I'm breaking the rules, but that's the way music goes.

04:21 [MUSIC]

04:22 But when it comes to making money, Jay-Z reigns supreme.

04:26 [MUSIC]

04:28 When we first talked to Hove in 1999, he was about to drop his fourth studio album.

04:33 Follow up to the five times platinum, volume two, Hard Knock Life.

04:38 We're just trying to take it to the next level.

04:40 Today, he has 14 number one albums, has sold over 140 million records worldwide,

04:46 and is considered by some to be the greatest rapper of all time.

04:49 His estimated net worth? Two and a half billion dollars.

04:53 Jay-Z on Impact on Music is, well, to me as a New Yorker, it's just like, wow,

04:57 this guy has walked the same streets that I have walked.

05:01 And it's just like, he can make it.

05:04 I can too.

05:06 [MUSIC]

05:11 (bells chiming)

05:13 [BLANK_AUDIO]

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