Chicagoist Weekend Theater: The History Of Chicago Hip Hop With Jitu Brown

By Chuck Sudo in Arts & Entertainment on Feb 10, 2013 8:00PM

Chicago hip hop has always lagged behind the scenes on the coasts, at least when perceived from people outside the scene on the coasts. Yet Chicago's hip hop community has roots that go back, and are influenced by, one of the city's greatest musical contributions—House music.

Jitu Brown (aka Jitu that Jugganot) was a member of the pioneering local hip hop crew Ten Tray, one of the first local hip hop crews signed to a major label. He now works as a community organizer for the Kenwood Oakland Community Organization (KOCO) and teaches at St. Leonard Adult High School for the formerly incarcerated.

In this 50-minute video interspersed with images from Brown's career and other images, he talks with Breakdown FM's Davey D about how Chicago hip hop, while not attaining the early acclaim as scenes in New York and the West Coast, was still fruitful an pulled influences from local politics and gang culture and black migration from the South, in addition to House music. This is required viewing for anyone interested in Chicago hip hop as Brown's institutional knowledge of the scene is in full effect.