Celebrating 50 years of Hip-Hop with a Living Legend: Robert “Kool” Bell

An interview with the Kool & The Gang Founder by Frita Walker.

Feature photo: Robert Kool Bell – 2023. Photo credit – Joshua Argueta

2023 marks the 50th anniversary of Hip Hop with August 11, 1973 being the exact date DJ Kool Herc created continuous break-beats by working on two turntables during a party in the Bronx, New York. I was excited to sit down with one of the last original members of the two-time GRAMMY-winning, seven-time American Music Awardee group Kool & The Gang to discuss the celebrationg, their hip-hop samples, and Kool’s fundraisers.

Enjoy our conversation below, and comment how hip-hop has made an influence in your life.

Frita: Mr. Bell, thank you for taking the time to share with us and our readers. One of the first things that we definitely want to talk about is that hip-hop is turning 50. Kool & The Gang have been sampled over 1,899 times, you’ve had such an influence in the history of hip-hop and made such an influence. Kool & The Gang have been sampled by Big Pun, Tupac, and Mary J Blige just to name a few. How do you feel about that?

Mr. Bell: Well, we feel very good about that. Those numbers are quite outstanding. 1800 you said? I guess Questlove really has been keep track of all that.

Frita: Yes, sir. Make sure you’re getting your checks.

Mr. Bell: Yeah. Well, it’s a good feeling that a lot of the hip-hop community, and being that we are celebrating 50 years, has sampled our music. I meet some of the guys out there from time to time and they speak about how we influenced them. A lot of our music from the seventies is where a lot of the sampling has been done because we didn’t have any lead singers back in the seventies. We were more like a funk band and our horns was like our lead singers. So it was easy for them to grab guitar parts. “Well, let me get this drum part. I’m going to get this Bass Lick, et cetera.” Except for Will Smith with “Summertime.” He used “Summer Madness,” and didn’t change a thing. He just rapped on top.

Frita: But “Summertime” is another classic! And knowing all those different artists, what do you think was the biggest influence that you had on them? Because, Kool & The Gang was a fusion of funk and jazz, you blended so many sounds together. What do you think was some of the biggest influences that you’ve had on the generation?

Mr. Bell: Well, I think what you just mentioned; the funk side of it, the jazzier side of it. “Summer Madness” with Will Smith. And then of course, “Summer Madness” was the first Rocky movie. “Summer Madness” has been used quite a bit for a lot of different things. Little pieces they take of “Jungle Boogie” or “Funky Stuff.” It is a blessing that we influence them and that they know that it’s us. Sometimes they don’t know that it’s us until their parents tell them.

Frita: Well, I grew up on music, “Joanna,” and all of those. I’m a seventies, eighties baby, so I grew up on all of your music. This is a privilege for me, so I appreciate it. [I’m going to tell my age right now because I’m putting my glasses on.] In your opinion, how do you think the music industry has really changed from when you started?

Mr. Bell: Well, the seventies was the time of vinyl, cassettes and CDs that moved into the eighties. Then came the nineties and the two thousands, and now we’re talking about streaming. I’m old school. I’m not up on that streaming stuff like that.

Back when music came out, the whole of it was to get the album with the album cover – a whole package. I’m hearing vinyl may be slowly coming back, but with streaming these days, all you get is the music. It’s the time we are living in.

Frita: So what are some of your songs you feel like you may have had some of the biggest challenges with?

Mr. Bell: Well, I wouldn’t say challenges because we created most of all our music, and we would just get into the studio and feel that groove and come up with the music and then name it later. One song that got sampled a lot was “NT.” Now, when we called it “NT,” we figured, we couldn’t think of a title at the time, so “NT” stands for no title. But “NT” is a popular sample song. We had few names like “Chocolate Buttermilk” or “Raw Hamburger” when we were younger. It was just throwing names out there; “Funky Granny,” “Funky Man.”

Frita: Okay. So since you all definitely had your own distinct sound, what would you suggest to artists coming up on how to create that sound? Like how to make their own signatures?

Mr. Bell: Well, I would suggest that they try to be original. Today, so much music sounds alike. Try to find a gap in there. Like Bruno Mars and Anderson Paak have come up with a nice feel for creating their own sound. Today, they sound like what we might have sound like in the seventies with the Ohio players, but they still have a distinct sound. When you hear it, you know it’s them. So being able to bridge that gap and I take my hat off to them.

Frita: Yeah, your influence is all around the world. And when we look at artists, we definitely want to look at what they do outside of the music, and you’ve done a lot of humanitarian things. Can you share some of those endeavors and what inspired you?

Mr. Bell: Well, one is our fourth annual Kool Kids Foundation, it’s what my wife came up with before she passed. I lost my wife years ago, but my sons, Hakim and Muhammad, and Marc Goldberg have all been a part of the project. What she wanted to do was bring music back into the schools. So with these fundraisers, we’re donating money back to the schools. In the past, there was a music class where we donated a piano; there was also a marching band we donated drums, et cetera to.

The other thing is my Champagne, called Le Kool Champagne.

Frita: And made Oprah’s top 10 list for Valentine’s Day this year.

Mr. Bell: Yes. We also got one called the First Ladies too for Valentine’s. It’s something I’ve been doing for the last five years. I was touring in Europe and France at the time the idea came about. We had about 18 shows, all sold out and the promoter asked me, “Well, would you like to have a champagne on this tour at the concerts?” I said, “Well, I don’t think my fans want to buy a bottle of champagne at a concert. They want t-shirts and caps – stuff like that. But what I would like to do, is get it on the shelves.” He looked at me puzzled, “What do you mean on the shelves?” Took him for a spin.

I came up with the name “Le Kool Champagne”. I wanted it to have that French vibe to it. And we actually cut a deal where they harvest Dom Perignon and Cristal all the way up in Dizy, a village near Epernay, champagne country. And we’re doing pretty well. We closed the deal with Norwegian Cruise Lines and will try to get it there in time for Valentine’s Day 2024.

I’m also working with Dusty Baker. He won the World Series with the Houston Astros. We have a project called Kool Baker Global and we are doing solar energy projects in Africa.

Frita: Nice. That’s really beautiful.

One of the other things that we definitely want to discuss is the future. I know you have your sons involved with the Kool Kids Foundation. Where do you see the future of your legacy or where do you want that legacy to go in terms of the music?

Mr. Bell: Well, the things that we have done, we have been involved with various charities even before my wife came up with Kool Kids Foundation. We have supported many Boys and Girls Clubs. We also try to stay on a certain level in some of our music. I lost my brother about over a year ago, and the last album that we did together was called Perfect Union. The single from that was called “Pursuit of Happiness.” He was inspired when President Biden was nominated for the presidency and they played “Celebration.” My brother is one of the key writers of “Celebration.” His speeches started talking about the perfect union, and the pursuit of happiness. That’s what the project was called; Pursuit of Happiness and seeing maybe one day we’ll all come together and it would be a perfect union. Talking about that for hundreds of years.

So I don’t know where that’s going to go, but we’ll like to be a part of the fact that we tried. Like we had, “Who’s Gonna Take the Weight?”, “Love and Understanding,” and “Higher Planes of Understanding.” That was more of a message in music as well as “Get Down On It” or “Joanna.” So that’s what our participation for what we’re doing in the music business and in in the world. We’ll be known for that.

Frita: What would you tell young people today to help push that message forward so that we do have more of a coming together? What would you suggest that we do as young people today because a lot of things have happened, they have separated us, but we still fight to be together?

Mr. Bell: To continue to fight to be together and to deal only with the positive things. There have been different movements like Black Lives Matter and the whole educational fight. Don’t dwell in the negatives. Pray that one day the streets will be safer and people will work together. I mean, people in general — Black, Spanish, Japanese, Chinese.

Frita: Yeah. I totally agree. With all that you do and all that you’ve accomplished, how do you stay grounded? You seem very balanced. How do you maintain all of that and still have a center?

Mr. Bell: Well, you got to on that. Our parents always told us – and most of the original members of Kool & The Gang are not around anymore – but they told us to always stick together and work together. There’s only two left, myself and George Brown. But over the years, I got guys who’ve been with me for 20-30 years. Next year Kool & The Gang will be celebrating 60 years. We started back in 1964.

Frita: Wow.

Mr. Bell: We were youngsters 13, 14, 15 years old, but that’s how long we’ve been around. And that’s a blessing within itself. Living with and learning how to work with people. I think the blessing of being able to travel around the world, whereas you become more of a knower than a reader. You read a story about what’s going on in Japan or Berlin or wherever, when you go there, then you deal with the experience, not just reading about it. You’re right in the hood, you’re dealing with it. That’s a blessing to be able to travel around the world and see other cultures and how people live. And of course, they love my music – everyone loves music – so that’s a blessing within itself.

Frita: Yes, also it speaks back to your music being so inclusive with the different sounds and people realizing the richness. I think as artists, when you create you out some of you ‘the person’ into that music too.

Mr. Bell: Yeah. It’s like my partner, George Brown and the song “Too Hot.” That was a real life experience. He was 17 with a high school sweetheart. Love was so brand new. He backed that with another song called “Jones vs Jones” because they had a voice, and another called “Mr. Joe.” So sometimes the song is about life experiences.

Frita: And we all have those common experiences.

Mr. Bell: Yeah, that’s true.

Frita: Well, Mr. Bell, I appreciate this conversation so much. Are there any last words that you want to leave with our Soigne’ + Swank audience?

Mr. Bell: Well… stay positive, be honest to yourself in terms of things that you want to do, and don’t give up if it doesn’t happen the first time for you or the second time. I have a saying, “You live and learn and then you learn to live.” You reach a level of success when you learn to live. Some experiences can lead you down the wrong road and others can be successful. So just don’t give up.