Urban Lights Music in St. Paul reflects on 50 years of hip hop
ST. PAUL, Minn. -- Inside Urban Lights Music in St. Paul, hip hop reigns supreme.
"The blessing that this store has had is that so many people have been through the doorway," said owner Timothy Wilson.
Wilson grew up listening to hip-hop in south Minneapolis. His life's journey allowed him to meet and work with some of the greats in the industry.
"Everything I've done and been blessed to do in the entertainment industry retail is all because of hip hop," said Wilson.
He says growing up in the Twin Cities every hip hop head knew the drill.
"I can remember us listening to Alan Freed and Tracey Crulson every Friday night on KBEM so we could hear the latest hip-hop records," Wilson said. "And then we would race downtown Minneapolis to Music City or Musicland to see who could get the 12-inch first to see who would be the first to play them at the park parties."
Wilson and his crew would throw parties backed by the park board.
"We had graffiti artists, we had breakdancers. You know, we all had the Kango hats on, and we had the Puma suits on, the Adidas suits and we played the latest hip-hop records from New York," Wilson said.
The Twin Cities had its own native New Yorker breathing life into the hip-hop scene -- Travatron, or Travis Lee, came to Minnesota and brought with him everything hip-hop.
"He brought his swag his technique of playing music, his djing, and his ability to find talent in the city, rappers and put together probably the first show on KMOJ, the Hip Hop Shop," Wilson said.
Wilson says bars are back, or artists are rapping again, bringing back a style initiated by some of the greats.
Ice T, LL Cool J and others have walked into Wilson's record shop.
Wilson hopes the next generation of artists return to independent stores that have promoted hip hop for all its 50 years.
Wilson says album release parties are back and stores like his are once again becoming the preferred place for artists to make connections.