Making a holiday of hip-hop

The tours take in clubs where the first rappers performed

Some of the original pioneers of rap are making a new living as tourist guides in New York - showing visitors around the sites that "represent the origins of hip-hop people and events."

The tours - predominantly round Harlem and the Bronx - point out famous rap landmarks along the way, such as studios where key records were made and the places where early rappers lived.

The $75 tour is hosted by some the originators of hip-hop themselves - Reggie Reg of the Crash Crew, LA Sunshine of the Treacherous Three, and Grandmaster Caz of the Cold Crush Brothers.

"Everyone else is cashing in - why shouldn't we?" Rahiem - a member of one of the best-known groups, Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five - told BBC World Service's The Music Biz programme.

"Artists from the pioneer era have not really gotten their just due - as far as financially or as far as credit.

"We didn't treat it like a business because we loved it so much - it was fun to us."

'Whole new world'

The groups were formed at the beginning of hip-hop in the late 1970s - but because their sound was so new, the market for their music was undeveloped and it limited their opportunities to make money.

"Hip-hop has definitely opened up a whole new world for young black people in the ghetto," said Reggie Reg, who, as a member of the Crash Crew, was behind the hip-hop classic Breaking Bell.

Tour guide Rahiem was one of Grandmaster Flash's Furious Five

"Back in the days, a big-paying show for us was something like $4,000-$5,000 - that was like wow, big big big.

"These guys are getting $200,000 to do coliseums.

"It's just made a whole other avenue, and I think that's the beauty of it - there's no boundaries at all.

"They've even got hip-hop in Croatia."

Hip-hop's foreign appeal is proved by the presence of huge numbers of foreigners on the tour, especially from Britain and Germany.

"If they're the pioneers of hip-hop, why are we getting a tour by them? Why haven't they got all the money?" asked one British tourist.

"I think a lot of cultures and diversities in music all do become commercial.

"The only reason I'm into this kind of music is through commerciality, so in a way it's good for the industry."

Boom scene

Rap may only be two decades old, but it has come a long way in a short time - stars like Eminem, Jay-Z and 50 Cent are now selling millions.

The tours take people to places in New York they would not usually see

But for some of the artists, the tours are the only link they have to the music scene they started.

"I don't listen to hip-hop - new hip-hop - today," said LA Sunshine.

"I don't know if it's because I'm older, but the content and the quality leaves something to be desired.

"The direction that the music is taking is too harsh.

"I have kids now, and I look at it in a different light - I don't want my kids listening."