Yesterday, Simeon Viltz of Chicago hip hop group, The Primeridian, was featured in the Chicago Sun-Times as part of their piece on Hip Hop’s roots stemming from Gospel music. It was definitely a cool feature, and a nice look for Simeon and Race.
“Rhythmically, a lot of the pioneers of rap were the pastors,” said Simeon, 34, also a teacher at the Digital Youth Network (for laptop/media usage) in Hyde Park. “There was a certain drawl and cadence they had in their sermon. With the words in their sermons they were basically rapping. Then the pianist or the organist or the drummer would be in synch. That’s what I heard early on.”
Check out the full piece here.