For the then-fourteen-year-old, the next logical step was to purchase a sampler and start producing beats of his own. It was the period of rap music spilling over into the early Zeros that Volpe credits as the most influential time for him, musically speaking. “I first started listening to hip hop in the late Nineties-a lot of East Coast, New York hip hop, stuff like that,” he recalls. Who could forget the years marking the turn of the century when East Coast rappers like Nas, Busta Rhymes, Jay Z, and 50 Cent were dominating the airwaves with their self-assured lyricism, heavy hooks, and sharp wordplay?įor hip hop producer Michael Volpe, or Clams Casino as he is better known to his fans, the story starts here. It is where many of the genre’s seminal artists emerged during New York’s infamous block parties of the Seventies-old-school legends like Grandmaster Flash, Afrika Bambaataa and the Sugarhill Gang-and where so many of rap’s defining landmarks continue to transpire. The East Coast will forever remain the rightful home of pure, uncut rap music.

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