Flavor Flav, left, and Chuck D of the rap group Public Enemy, pose for photographers upon their arrival for the MTV Music Awards at New York's Radio City Music Hall, Sept. 8, 1994. In the five decades since hip-hop emerged out of New York City, it has spread around the country and the world. And at each step there's been change and adaptation, as new, different voices came in and made it their own. Its foundations are steeped in the Black communities where it first made itself known but it's spread out until there’s no corner of the world that hasn’t been touched by it. Public Enemy's “Fight the Power” became an anthem when it was created for filmmaker Spike Lee's 1989 classic “Do the Right Thing,” which chronicled racial tension in a Brooklyn neighborhood. Associated Press File Photo

MALCOLM CLARKE

NEW YORK — As the world prepares to celebrate hip-hop’s 50th anniversary on Friday, rap icon Chuck D is taking a look back at a seminal moment that led to the birth of the music.

The 1971 murder of a Bronx gang member known as Black Benjie resulted in rival gangs agreeing to lay down their arms, and is said to have sparked a new era of creative collaboration in the Black community.

The event is the focus of a new Audible podcast titled “Can You Dig It? A Hip Hop Origin Story,” narrated by Chuck D and set to launch Thursday.

The “historical mixtape” as Chuck calls it, covers “the germination of the seed behind hip hop, and what really led to it,” he told the Daily News.

For Chuck D, the story of hip hop is intertwined with his own story. Co-founding the rap group Public Enemy with Flavor Flav in 1985, Chuck has been a fixture in the industry ever since.

In 2013, he was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and in 2020 received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award as a member of Public Enemy.

He’s also remained an outspoken activist throughout the years, testifying before Congress in 2004 to advocate for peer-to-peer music sharing, making political statements in his music and even publishing essays on the state of hip-hop.

“In the beginning, for hip hop to have any voice, it had to be a collective effort. It was a community effort,” said Chuck, who was 13 years old when the music was beginning to take shape.

Now, Chuck says, he’s proud to be part of a community working to illuminate an important cultural history.

The podcast delves into the 1971 Hoe Avenue Peace Treaty, which brought together hundreds of rival gang members who committed to cease hostilities and redirect their energies towards the creative arts.

Chuck says it’s the seed that led to a legendary night: When DJ Kool Herc is credited with instituting a new technique at a 1973 dance bash in the Bronx, spinning the same record on twin turntables.

Soon, other deejays in the Bronx were using the same technique, and a movement was born.

“Can You Dig It?“ speaks to really pulling down the facts that led to hip hop,” Chuck said.

“It’s one thing to have mythology, but mythology has to be pulled down out of the air and documented because people can believe anything. When you actually pull down the facts, you honor the pain of the pioneer.”

Billy Porter attends a special screening of "A Good Person" at Metrograph on Monday, March 20, 2023, in New York. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP)

Evan Agostini

Billy Porter selling house as Hollywood workers feel financial strain of SAG and WGA strikes

The ongoing writers and actors strikes in Hollywood are starting to take a financial toll on entertainers fighting for fairer wages, from the rank and file to stars like actor Billy Porter.

“I have to sell my house,” Porter said during a recent interview with Evening Standard. “Yeah! Because we’re on strike. And I don’t know when we’re gonna go back [to work].”

Porter, who’s won a Tony award for his role as Lola in “Kinky Boots,” starred in the FX series “Pose” and made his directorial debut last year with Prime Video’s “Anything’s Possible,” did not plan on having trouble finding work.

“I was supposed to be in a new movie, and on a new television show starting in September. None of that is happening. So to the person who said ‘we’re going to starve them out until they have to sell their apartments,’ you’ve already starved me out,” Porter added.

If Porter, an Emmy and Tony winner, is feeling the financial burden of the continued SAG-AFTRA and WGA strikes, it’s understandable that other union members would be feeling even more burdened.

“I feel like I’m subsidizing this strike with my savings in a way that’s starting to get scary,” one 35-year-old writer told NBC News, on the condition of anonymity.

“I wrote on an award-winning show last year,” she continued, “and I’m literally picking up dogs— right now.”

As the writers strike crossed the 100-day mark on Wednesday and the actors strike enters its fourth week, there seems to be no sign of a deal in sight.

The Writers Guild and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, the body representing the studios, agreed to sit down for a meeting last Friday , but have still not agreed to resume negotiations.

“I’ve kind of lost everything, including my side hustle,” said 45-year-old stunt performer and COVID-coordinator Paul Varacchi, whose credits include “The Good Fight” and “Daredevil.”

Dana Morgan, another SAG-AFTRA stunt performer and actor who’s worked on “Dead Ringers” and “Madam Secretary,” said she and her husband have been surviving on their savings, and she’s currently on a waitlist for a job with Uber Eats.

Luckily, there is some relief. SAG’s Emergency Financial Assistance Program raised over $15 million in donations in July, from A-listers like George Clooney, Leonardo DiCaprio, Meryl Streep and Oprah Winfrey.

The SAG-AFTRA Foundation, a nonprofit organization that supports actors during crises, reportedly processed over 30 times its average number of applications for emergency aid last week.

“It’s a massive challenge, but we’re determined to meet this moment,” said the organization’s president, Emmy-winning actor Courtney B. Vance.

Angelina Jolie

Joel C Ryan

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NEW YORK — Add Angelina Jolie to the growing list of celebrities lately dipping their toes into producing on Broadway.

The Oscar-winning “Girl, Interrupted” actor has become a lead producer on the Broadway-bound new musical “The Outsiders,” a show based on S.E. Hinton's novel and Francis Ford Coppola's 1983 coming-of-age crime drama.

"The Outsiders" had its world premiere at La Jolla Playhouse earlier this year. The Broadway cast and dates have not been revealed yet.

“I hope to be able to contribute while continuing to learn from this amazing team, who I have been working with since my daughter brought me to see the show at La Jolla Playhouse,” Jolie said in a statement. "I can’t begin to express how excited I am for this musical to make its Broadway debut and look forward to sharing this new adaptation of ‘The Outsiders’ with the world.”

Other celebs who have signed up to produce Broadway shows include Mariah Carey on the current hit “Some Like It Hot.” Dwyane Wade, actor Gabrielle Union and RuPaul joined the producing team of the closed show “Ain’t No Mo,’” and Nick Jonas and Priyanka Chopra Jonas joined the producing team of last season's “Chicken & Biscuits.” Jennifer Hudson, Don Cheadle, Mindy Kaling and RuPaul were also among the producers of 2022's Tony-winner “A Strange Loop” while the current “Here Lies Love” boasts H.E.R., Jo Koy and Apl.de.Ap as producers.

“The Outsiders” musical features a story by Adam Rapp with Justin Levine, music and lyrics by Jonathan Clay, Zach Chance and Levine. It will be directed by Danya Taymor.

From combined wire services