by Eric Neffke, Fine Arts Department

On August 11, 1973, a young disc jockey named Kool Herc was spinning records at a party in the South Bronx when he noticed that the party only really came alive when the records went into their breaks, or the part that stripped the music down to mostly the beat.  This is when the early breakdancers would show their moves on the floor.  He came up with the idea of extending the breaks by playing multiple copies of the same record on different turntables.  This began the series of events that would lead to the development of the music and lifestyle known as hip-hop.

The Pratt Library has a number of books that explore the beginnings of hip-hop music and culture and show how Herc’s idea led to the rise of DJs like Grandmaster Flash and Afrika Bambaataa, and emcees like Melle Mel, Sha-Rock, and Kurtis Blow, and that fateful day in 1979 when Sylvia Robinson, owner of Sugar Hill Records, decided she wanted to put this music on vinyl.

The Hoopla app, which can be used with your library card, has a nice selection of early hip-hop: from The Sugar Hill Story, a large compilation of some of the biggest hip-hop tracks ever released by Sugar Hill Records, to records by Kurtis Blow, The Treacherous Three, and Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five to name a few.

On Kanopy, another app that can be accessed using your library card number, you can watch documentaries such as Wild Style, a 1984 release that focuses on early hip-hop culture, Rubble Kings: How Hip-Hop Culture Stopped Gang Violence, Fresh Dressed: The Evolution of Rap Fashion, and Something From Nothing: The Art of Rap, which was directed by legendary rapper Ice-T.

Looking for a new romance to read? Hoopla has you covered with a collection of novels featuring diverse casts of characters that you are sure to fall in love with. Go ahead and check them out!

Dr. Trisha Raje is San Francisco’s most acclaimed neurosurgeon, but that’s not enough for the Rajes, her influential immigrant family. Up-and-coming chef DJ Caine needs the lucrative job the Rajes offer, but he values his pride too much. As the two clash, their assumptions crumble like the spun sugar on one of DJ’s stunning desserts.

Rhiannon Hunter may have revolutionized romance in the digital world, but in real life she only swipes right on her career-and the occasional hookup. There aren’t any rules to govern her attraction to her newest match, former pro-football player Samson Lima. The sexy and seemingly sweet hunk woos her one magical night… and disappears. A temporary physical partnership is one thing, but a merger of hearts? Surely that’s too high a risk. 

While her boss the prince was busy wooing his betrothed, Likotsi had her own love affair after swiping right on a dating app. But her romance had ended in heartbreak. When Likotsi and Fabiola meet again on a stalled subway train months later, both of them wonder if they can turn this second chance into a happily ever after.

“Masterpiece” Celebrates 50 Years of Must-Watch TV for Anglophiles

by Tom Warner Best & Next Department

2021 marks the 50th anniversary of Masterpiece (formerly known as Masterpiece Theatre), which premiered on PBS stations in January 1971, making it America’s longest-running weekly prime-time drama. Long before Britbox and Acorn TV, Masterpiece was the program that launched America’s love affair with prestige British television imports. From Upstairs, Downstairs to Downton Abbey; from Agatha Christie’s Poirot to Sherlock; and from The Six Wives of Henry VIII to Wolf Hall, Masterpiece has consistently presented critically acclaimed adaptations of literary classics, historical dramas, mystery whodunits, and clever “BritWit” comedies. Along the way, Masterpiece has garnered 83 Primetime Emmys,18 Peabody Awards, seven Golden Globes and two Oscars. To celebrate this golden anniversary, Best & Next compiled this list of classic “Masterpieces” that are available to check out from Pratt using our Sidewalk Service, Books-by-Mail or Hoopla digital streaming services.

Happy Women’s History Month! Throughout March, we’ll be spotlighting the great accomplishments, talents and contributions of women in history and culture. Take a look at these documentaries streaming over on Kanopy. Don’t forget you can watch up to 10 movies a month.

Maya Angelou: And Still I Rise

With unprecedented access, filmmakers Bob Hercules and Rita Coburn Whack trace Dr. Angelou’s incredible journey, shedding light on the untold aspects of her life through never-before-seen footage, rare archival photographs and videos and her own words.

Rachel Carson: American Experience

Drawn from Carson’s own writings, letters and recent scholarship, this film illuminates both the public and private life of the woman who launched the modern environmental movement and revolutionized how we understand our relationship with the natural world.

Chisholm ’72

Recalling a watershed event in US politics, this Peabody Award-winning documentary takes an in-depth look at the 1972 presidential campaign of Shirley Chisholm, the first black woman elected to Congress and the first to seek nomination for the highest office in the land.

Also, check out these films:

by Tom Warner, Best & Next Department

Baltimore native & 1st African American Actor to appear in a starring film role

Clarence Muse was the first African American actor to appear in a starring role in film (1929’s Hearts in Dixie, an early “talkie” that was also the first film to feature an all-Black cast) and the first African American Broadway director (1943’s Run, Little Chillun). Born in Baltimore on October 14, 1889, Muse acted for over 50 years and appeared in more than 150 films. He was also a screenwriter, director, singer, composer, and author, and helped pioneer the Black Theater movement as an acclaimed performer with two Harlem Renaissance troupes: the Lincoln Theater Players and the Lafayette Theater Players. He was a co-founder of the all-Black Lafayette Players, who gained national acclaim with stagings of Orson Welles’ Voodoo Macbeth (1936) and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Of the latter production, Muse famously said the play was relevant to Black audiences because, “It was every Black man’s story. Black men too have been split creatures inhabiting one body.”

Among Muse’s many accomplishments in the arts, he co-wrote the screenplay for Way Down South (1939) with Langston Hughes and in 1931 co-wrote “When It’s Sleepy Time Way Down South,” which later became a signature song of Louis Armstrong. Highlights of his film career include star turns in The Broken Earth (1936) and Broken Strings (1940), co-starring with Joe Louis in Spirit of Youth (1938), and playing Peter the Honey Man in Otto Preminger’s Porgy and Bess (1959). After being considered for the role that went to Dooley Wilson in the 1942 film, Muse appeared as “Play It Again” Sam the pianist in the 1955-1956 TV version of Casablanca. Other notable film credits include the Disney TV miniseries The Swamp Fox (1959), Buck and the Preacher (1972), Car Wash (1976), Larry Clark’s Passing Through (1977) and Carroll Ballard’s The Black Stallion (1979).

Muse was inducted into the Black Filmmakers Hall of Fame in 1973 and in 1978 received a doctorate from Penn State’s Dickinson School of Law, where he studied Law briefly in 1908 before leaving to pursue an acting career. He continued acting up until age 89, last appearing as fruit and vegetable seller “Snoe” in 1979’s The Black Stallion. He lived until October 13, 1979 – one day shy of what would be his 90th birthday and four days before the release of The Black Stallion.

Despite a celebrated career, many of Muse’s early films remain hard to find. Thankfully, Pratt has a number of Clarence Muse films, including a rare interview taped just months before his death, available to check out using our Sidewalk Service or Books-by-Mail resources:

Host Dr. Winona Fletcher (Indiana University) interviews Black actor and vaudevillian Clarence Muse a few months before his death in 1979. Muse reminiscences about his professional life, particularly the formation of the Lafayette Theatre Players.