This piece was originally published at THUMP in April 2016.
All roads lead back to Kraftwerk, at least that's how the conventional narrative of electro music goes. However, Greg Broussard, known best as The Egyptian Lover, knows a little secret about the Teutonic techno titans that originated that swinging robotic sound.
Given the German group's palpable influence on American hip-hop in the early 1980s, it's interesting to hear him insinuate that they may have borrowed from his sound. Kraftwerk were spending a fair amount of time in Los Angeles during those days, some of it at Warner Bros. offices. According to a friend of Broussard's who worked for the label, they overheard "Yes Yes Yes" by Uncle Jamm's Army, the rap crew that he was a member of.
"They loved it and they were writing stuff down," he says. "I wonder if I inspired them."