Episode 13 “A Hip-Hop Classic”

This week we take it back to where it all started. Our co-hosts Rick and Dave have watched the very first episode of Snowfall that originally came out in July of 2017. Created by one of Hip-Hop’s most legendary creatives, the late filmmaker John Singleton (RIP), Snowfall is absolutely one of the most authentically hip-hop tv shows the world has ever seen on a major network. Rick notes that he got his start with just a $50 cocaine rock, as opposed to the kilo that Franklin somehow manages to convince the drug/gun lord Avi to give him on consignment. And Franklin gets it for a price ($12,000) that was much lower than what it would have actually cost at that time. Rick remembers how everybody told him he wouldn’t be able to sell cocaine in his neighborhood of South Central, as it was a rich person’s drug at the time. Marijuana and “Sherman” (PCP) were the drugs of choice in the hood in the early 1980s. Franklin is a hustler, running the local Asian-owned corner store, where he tells his next door neighbor Melody that he doesn’t drink and that making money is the thing that motivates him. Rick shares an old saying he used to live by, “getting drunk can get you put in a trunk.” The hosts give a rundown on each of the main characters that viewers meet in this first episode. Leon is the wild young’un fresh out of jail who becomes Franklin’s trusted sidekick. The hosts share their thoughts on Uncle Jerome, Auntie Louie, CIA agent Teddy and Franklin’s mom Cissy. They also discuss Franklin’s next door neighbor Andre, an LAPD sergeant. Rick remembers just one Black police officer who they called “Action Jackson,” but says a police officer could never have gotten away with living in the neighborhood. Finally, Rick and Dave discuss all of the outstanding music selections that we hear in this episode. Rick tells the audience some of his favorite artists and songs from that era while remembering how he and his crew would throw parties and always had two staple artists on hand: Parliament-Funkadelic and Earth, Wind & Fire. Dave talks about growing up with a love for music, going to buy 45s and how this lead to him creating The Source.