Star Trek’s Influence on the Music Industry, Hip-Hop Edition
Image courtesy of StarTrek.com
StarTrek.com is wasting no time in pumping out fresh new content for its revamped website. They published a piece yesterday from freelance writer, editor and DJ Tamara Palmer called “‘Star Trek’ Mixtape 2: Electric Boogaloo”. The piece is a follow-up to another of Palmer’s, from earlier in the summer, called “Pure Energy: The Ultimate 'Star Trek' Mixtape”. Both pieces highlight Star Trek’s cultural influence on the music industry, and where the first piece “Pure Energy” had more of an electronic and techno feel, yesterday’s piece focussed more on hip-hop.
In the piece, Palmer explains each of the songs she included in the “mixtape”, and links to the original versions. She also included a special half-hour continuous DJ mix, which she recorded live on turntables for the article. Palmer collaborated with the Beat Junkie Institute of Sound for help with song selections and the final mix.
Included in the mix are, among others, Dr. Octagon, ScHoolboy Q and Kendrick Lamar, Beastie Boys, Digable Planets, and a real treat at the end - a very disco take on the original Star Trek theme, by none other than Todd Rundgren and Utopia. All of which is to say that the whole set is very worth a listen, but be warned - like the latest season of Discovery - the content is very much not safe for work.
This article was written for the podcast Daily Star Trek News.
Alison Pitt is the writer, producer, and host of Daily Star Trek News, on the Roddenberry Podcast Network. A veteran Star Trek podcaster, she started her career on the weekly show Priority One: A Roddenberry Star Trek Podcast in 2015. She has appeared on panels at Star Trek Las Vegas, WonderCon, and San Diego Comic Con.
