that was, like, the favorite in our house, that was one of the favorite shows, "hee haw," you know? and all of those things, kind of, became the components of what became hip-hop music. [ melle mel ] ♪ from the poor man's range of the burning sand ♪ ♪ here i stand my weapon is a mic in my hand ♪ ♪ and though i strive to be the strongest man alive ♪ ♪ y'all sold out quicker than the iphone 5 ♪ >> melle mel: i started out as a break-dancer, so i used to break dance. you know, my brother used to, you know, do graffiti. he used to go out, so all -- in all of those individual elements, it wasn't really happening anywhere else. so, it was just something that could, could only have went on right in that area in the bronx. >> anthony: yeah okay, you may be thinking, "what about the sugarhill gang?" what about them? they were an industry band like the monkees or the archies, built to cash in quick on what was seen as a fad. and they did cash in. >> anthony: where were you when you suddenly realized, "holy shit there's -- there's money in this!" >> melle mel: well, that first record i ever heard was "king tim iii." the second and the most popular record was "rappers delight." i used to live on the fifth floor walkup. i walked out, somebody was playing it next door.