Kurtis Blow, Still Blowing

"In a rehearsal studio in the Echo Park neighborhood in Los Angeles, Kurtis Blow was limbering up and getting loose. Earlier this year, his left arm swelled up abruptly, requiring four surgeries to resolve what was eventually diagnosed as deep-vein thrombosis. Blow usually holds the mike in his right hand when he raps, but he had to get his left arm going, he said, "because it's my 'Throw your hands in the air' arm.""

"Blow's youngest son, Michael, the studio's owner, manned the d.j. deck, wearing a hoodie from Stanford, his alma mater. The rapper's eldest, Kurtis, Jr., nodded his do-ragged head to the beat and offered counsel alongside his mother, Kurtis, Sr.,'s wife of forty-two years, Shirley. (The Walkers, to use the family's civilian surname, also have a third son, Mark.) It has been forty-five years since the release of Blow's song "The Breaks," the first rap single to be certified gold."

Kurtis Blow warmed up in a rehearsal studio in Echo Park preparing for a Legends of Hip-Hop concert at the Peacock Theatre. Earlier this year his left arm swelled abruptly, requiring four surgeries and a diagnosis of deep-vein thrombosis, and he rehabilitated the arm to perform his signature 'Throw your hands in the air' moves. He is sixty-six and wore leather cargo pants, a track jacket, and a black baseball cap reading 'I AM HIP HOP'. His family supported him in the studio: youngest son Michael DJed, eldest Kurtis Jr. advised, and wife Shirley joined them. 'The Breaks' became the first rap single certified gold forty-five years ago, following his 1979 novelty hit 'Christmas Rappin'' and the era when rap moved from Bronx clubs to vinyl singles.

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