KingsOfKings
♟️ GRANDMASTERS ♟️
Malcolm X, Hip-Hop and The Audubon Ballroom: An Oral History
The Audubon Ballroom has served as a venue to display the arts, the scene of one of America's greatest tragedies, and one of Hip-Hop's earliest performance venues.
THE AUDUBON
The Audubon Theatre and Ballroom, most commonly referred to as The Audubon Ballroom, was a theater located at 3940 Broadway at West 165th Street in Washington Heights, just above Harlem. Built in 1912 by producer William Fox of Fox Film Corporation fame, the Audubon, as it is affectionately referred to, has been called the William Fox Audubon Theatre, The Beverly Hills Theatre, and The San Juan Theatre. The Audubon held about 3,000 people, and over the decades it has been used for religious services, union meetings, and the annual New York Mardi Gras Festival, which was held there in the 1950s
When religious and civil rights leader Malcolm X, formerly a member of the Nation of Islam, separated from that organization, he founded his own group, the Organization of African American Unity (OAAU). This group held its weekly meetings at the Audubon. On February 21, 1965, Malcolm was assassinated at the Audubon as he was beginning a speech. In the wake of the shooting, the building was forced to shut down, and the owners were unable to pay their personal property taxes. The building was acquired by the state of New York in the late 1960s and continued to operate, showing films and hosting events. The San Juan Theater, as it was called at the time, became an important landmark for the Latino community, showcasing many popular Latin American films. The Audubon officially closed its doors to the public in 1980
Among the events hosted at the Audubon were many Hip-Hop parties thrown in the late 1970s before Rap made its way to records. The Treacherous Three, DJ AJ, Johnny Wa & Rayvon, Grand Wizzard Theodore & The Fantastic 5, Busy Bee, DJ Hollywood, and Afrika Bambaataa & The Soul Sonic Force were among the many to play the Audubon. However, it was Grandmaster Flash & The Furious 5 who sold out the historic venue and played there several times. As teenagers in the late 1970s, many performers and party-goers were not well-versed in the history of Malcolm X and the tragedy that occurred at the Audubon a little more than a decade before. As well-known as Malcolm X is in popular culture today, he was still taboo in the 1970s, even among African Americans.
THE PLAYERS
Some of the key players at the Audubon were: Grandmaster Flash, Grandmaster Melle Mel, Scorpio, Rahiem, Disco Bee, Dynamite & Cooleone, MC G.L.O.B.E. of The Soul Sonic Force, Sha Rock of The Funky 4, Lil Terri (inventor of "everybody say hoo"), Mr. Hyde of Dr. Jeckyll & Mr. Hyde, The Harlem World Crew, Keith LeBlanc (drummer with Sugar Hill Records), and Kool Moe Dee.
GRANDMASTER FLASH & THE FURIOUS 5
Grandmaster Flash:
The Audubon was the pinnacle of our career. Before the Audubon, we did all the parties, venues, and schools, and my manager at that time, Ray Chandler, rest in peace, said that he wanted to take us to this building. This building was the biggest street party that we'd ever done. I remember going in and looking at the fire sign, and it said that the maximum amount that it could hold was 3,500 people. He told me that we could play there if I gave him three months to promote it."
Grandmaster Melle Mel:
When we played the Audubon, that was the first time that a Hip-Hop act played there. The Audubon seated one thousand people comfortably; that was with chairs and everything. We played the Audubon three or four times, and we packed it. With people going in and out, there were probably three thousand people there.
quotes
I remember the night Grandmaster Flash premiered the backspin at The Audubon. That was when I knew that I was gonna take this seriously, and do it for the rest of my life.
- Kool Moe Dee to The Foundation, 2003
Scorpio:
The Audubon wasn't a popular spot before we played there. In fact, they were about to tear it down. There was no action, and nothing was really happening, but when we started playing there, it brought more revenue and then other people started renting it out. By us playing there, it actually preserved the life of that spot for years. We were the first group to actually pack it and sell it out, and this is before Rap records, so we sold it out with no record. We were just those dudes, ghetto celebs, that could pull a crowd from Manhattan, The Bronx, and Queens. Spanish, Jamaicans, and musicians from other genres of music started to play the Audubon after we sold it out.
Rahiem:
The Audubon was popular for a short period from 1978-1980 for early Hip-Hop events. After Grandmaster Flash & The Furious 5 sold out the Audubon, the Hip-Hop scene began transcending the hood, and we started getting booked for multiple performances on the same day. I recall, prior to us recording any records, there was a point where we were doing 3 shows a night!
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