| Rating |
Date Attended |
Reviewer |
Gender [v] |
Age |
Where From? |
Group Type? |
|
mad props to GM Cas and Debra
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| Sat, Nov 26, 05 11:00 AM |
companyman |
Male |
30-39 |
International Tourist(s) |
Group of Friends |
| What a great time! Totally worth the price! Grandmaster Cas was knowledgeable and entertaining. The trip highlighted the four pillars of hip hop, b-boying, MCing, DJing and graf art. I learned a lot about the origins of hip hop, took lots of pictures, learned basic b-dancin' moves, and even got a chance to show off some MC skills.
Pros: lots of fun, interactive, educational, just the right length, lunch included
Cons: don't take this tour if you have no interest in hip hop, but that should go without saying. It's not a general tour of NYC with an emphasis on hip hop. It's all about hip hop.
Suggestions: CDs are available for sale, but it would be nice to have the Kangol hats for sale as well. Maybe throw in the plastic bling bling as part of the tour.
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Hip Hop is a Beautiful Thing
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| Sat, Nov 26, 05 11:00 AM |
Craig2005 |
Male |
20-29 |
Domestic Tourist(s) |
Couple on a Date |
| Recommended For:
If you like Hip Hop you will definately enjoy this tour - meaning: if you think you want to go, you will enjoy yourself. I've read all the books, heard the albums, seen the movies, but still learned much. Just meeting Grandmaster Caz was enough for me! (Tour guides can vary.) As a tour guide he was welcoming, funny, entertaining, and exciting. I even found the other tour goers interesting as most were from out of the country: Scotland, Kenya, Japan, Germany, London, etc. The food was good too.
Hesitant Recommendation For:
Locals - Being my first visit to NYC I especially enjoyed the drive with additional sights including the Apollo, Malcolm X Ave, and Yankee Stadium. But this MAY be redundant for someone who has seen it all already.
Haters and perpetrators - I do believe enjoyment of this tour hinged on letting oneself enyoy the community of hip hop which means enjoying the tour guide and others on the tour. If you have a stick up your butt, this tour will not remove it for you. |
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Shame about the CDs!
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| Sat, Nov 12, 05 11:00 AM |
lesdoc |
Male |
50-59 |
International Tourist(s) |
Family With Children |
| Excellent and entertaining tour. Great fun, informative and done with great humour.
Bought 6 of Grandmaster Caz's CDs and NONE work on any cd player I have tried so far. It it because I live in Scotland, and we are backward? I think not! $55 wasted!
Tour highly recomended - just don't buy the CDs!
Les Smith from Glasgow. |
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A truly amazing experience
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| Sat, Nov 12, 05 11:00 AM |
markyg |
Male |
30-39 |
International Tourist(s) |
Family Without Children |
| It was an excellent day, something you must experieance if you have had any interest at all in the roots of hiphop. Covering every aspect of the culture I found the tour very informative and entertaining. This was largely due to having Grandmaster Caz as our host, it was great to hear his unbiased and detailed story of the early days of hiphop and the part he played in it.
Higlights of the day included visiting 106 and park grafitti hall of fame, somewhere I have wanted to visit for many years - Excellent pieces by Dez, Ink76, Pink and Tats Crew.
We also enjoyed visiting Rucker Park where we were given an exhibition in b-boying by some of the locals.
Another highlight was visiting the Apollo theatre in Harlem, where we had the oppotunity to get off the bus and take photos.
The only disappointing thing on an otherwise excellent day was not being able to actually enter the Hall of fame which was locked - although still managed to get some excellent photos.
Just being able to visit places I had only ever seen in films and books was a truly amazing experience that I would recommend to anyone. |
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Memorable tour
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| Sat, Nov 12, 05 11:00 AM |
abisson |
Male |
20-29 |
International Tourist(s) |
Family Without Children |
| What can I say...this tour was just completely excellent. Grandmaster Caz was so engaging, so personable, so knowledgable. The other people working on the tour were great too.
To see the projects and other landmarks that I had previously only seen in hip-hop videos...incredible. The soul food lunch was delicious. Another thing about this tour is you see a lot of cool things besides hip-hop landmarks during the bus ride, like Central Park, Apollo Theatre, etc. The history of Harlem was undeniable.
Anyway, to wrap up, I would highly recommend this tour to anyone. Interesting, comfortable, entertaining...this tour had it all. |
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Wonderful
|
| Tue, Nov 1, 05 11:00 AM |
philippe |
Male |
Under 20 |
International Tourist(s) |
Other |
| This guided tour was really wonderful! I learned a much about the beginnings of the HipHop and Harlem and Bronx. I gave me a different point of view of New York!
A big Thank you to Grandmaster Caz who led this tour perfectly! |
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Greatest experience ever
|
| Sat, Oct 22, 05 11:00 AM |
Ruggahbombom |
Male |
20-29 |
International Tourist(s) |
Individual |
| This tour is the most interesting tour I ever experienced. I'm really interested in the hiphopculture en Grandmaster and his pioneers tell you all you wanna know. The graffity wall of fame is really spectacular and what I liked the most was that it was interesting for any typ of person, even if you don't like hiphop at all. People, you gotta experience this.
Ruggah Bombastik
Amsterdam |
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amazing tour
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| Sat, Sep 24, 05 11:00 AM |
Anthony |
Male |
30-39 |
International Tourist(s) |
Unspecified |
| We thought this was an amazing tour. It was a great introduction for us to New York, the birthplace of Hip Hop.
Grandmaster Caz knew what he was talking about because he was there, he lived it.
If you want the low down on the birth of Hip Hop in New York, this is the tour to check out.
Big thanks to Caz and Debra for making this an awesome tour! |
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|
Crown jewels
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| Sat, Sep 17, 05 11:00 AM |
edonald |
Male |
30-39 |
International Tourist(s) |
Group of Friends |
| No matter which way you cut it, the figures don't lie. The culture of hip-hop is now a global phenomenon on many levels including socially and economically. Finally, a tour has been put together to not only acknowledge the stats, but to credit those responsible. I may be way off base, but I think the tour should have local [if not national] government support. The popularity of the tour will undoubtedly grow in the coming years, by which point it will have possibly been hijacked by a corporation keen to promote his/her own personal cause. I know it's easy for me to say as an 'outsider', but the fact remains, hip hop culture has, and continues to offer many positives to people from all walks of life, races and ages. In the long tradition of African-American expression, it will surely go down in history and the 'pioneers' should therefore be held in as much reverence as those from the traditions of Blues, Jazz and Soul. Additionally, the tour should become the centrepiece of a wider series of regularly scheduled events and activities that can serve as a living record of the culture for both locals and visitors from across the world.
I was amongst the first of the many European followers of hip hop in the early eighties and prompted by pioneers like Dondi, Lee and Futura became a passionate and dedicated graffiti artist. I have since used my talents and skills to inform much of the work I do now both as an artist and professional designer.
I'm reluctant to criticise the tour because of the many, many positives. I will therefore, end by saying that with continued support, community participation and of course PR and advertising, the tour and of course the culture, will eventually become recognised as a jewel in New York's crown. |
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all Hip Hop heads should be required to take tour!
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| Sat, Sep 17, 05 11:00 AM |
Ratchet |
Male |
30-39 |
Domestic Tourist(s) |
Individual |
| This tour was great! Grandmaster Caz was very entertaining and informative. My homeboy and I planned for months to go on this tour when in NYC, and we were not disappointed. They took us to some very memoriable spots, and I took some great pictures at the Graffiti Hall of Fame. The lunch spot was off the hook. It was right up the street from the world famous Appollo, and it was a buffet. I am a vegetarian, and found plenty there to eat. Very tasty. Next time I go to NYC, I'm taking the subway to that restauraunt.
Even if someone knows NOTHING about hip hop, I believe they would completely enjoy this tour.
To see pictures of this tour, look for my New York adventure blog on my website: www.southeasthiphop.org on the links page. Also make sure you tune into www.wutkradio.com every Saturday Night for the Edutainment Hip Hop Show. Aight. |
