Backspin: Milwaukee's First Hip-Hop Song

A businessman with a business plan finds a group of energetic local kids who model themselves on James Brown and convinces them to record what might be Milwaukee's first hip-hop song.

We begin the search for Milwaukee's first hip-hop song. But first we have to understand the origins of hip-hop before it got to Milwaukee, and the fertile ground for the genre that Milwaukee provided in the early '80s.

The leader of one of hip-hop's greatest groups, Arrested Development's Speech talks about the impact that Milwaukee had on him, and the impact he had on the city and the world.

Justin and Tyrone settle the debate. We hear Milwaukee's first hip-hop song in full and put an end to this journey for Milwaukee's first hip-hop song.

A fertile music culture in Milwaukee lays the groundwork for a new art form. In the early '80s there is an opportunity to make Milwaukee into the next Motown -- it just needs one charismatic entrepreneur to take advantage of it.

Controversy swirls around Milwaukee's first hip-hop song. A group of MCs, DJs and musicians who were there weigh in on the scene, the time, and the true beginning of hip-hop in Milwaukee.

Who made Milwaukee's first hip hop song? Turns out this question is a tough one to Google. So, we're finding the answer.

88Nine DJ Tyrone Miller and Music Director Justin Barney journey back to the early 1980s in our new podcast -- Backspin: The Search for Milwaukee's First Hip-Hop Song. In the six-part series, the guys interview national and local artists, including DMC and Speech, plus an ensemble of local musicians, DJs and historians who witnessed the birth of Milwaukee hip-hop firsthand.

Backspin premieres July 15