This electric eighties jam from a jazz veteran helped make hip-hop mainstream.
by Rich Watson
The song “Rockit” by Herbie Hancock came around the time when hip-hop music was still new and unfamiliar to mainstream audiences. By combining the art of “scratching” vinyl records with a jazz sensibility, it helped legitimize the sound born of DJ house parties and inner city streets.
Hancock used more than scratches and samples on the song, though.