In 1984, University of Chicago radio station WHPK had become the first in the midwest to launch a hip-hop show, and within a couple years it was the Chicago scene’s megaphone. [Darrell] Roberts learned about the station from a neighbor who’d found WHPK while scanning the FM dial during a WBMX commercial break. “He said he heard some rap,” Roberts says. “He said it was unusual—because he heard cursing on there.”
Fighting for Chicago’s place in hip-hop history
Darrell “Artistic” Roberts of Chi-ROCK Nation has worked to document the culture he loves for more than three decades—and now he’s finally publishing a book.
By Leor GalilOn the cover: photo by Kim Kovacik. For more of Kovacik’s work, go to kimkovacik.com
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