"New York Summer Heat" — Tony Adamo (spoken-word)
Our heat series keeps asking what heat does to memory and music. Here’s the sixth feature – a selected submission from the community.
𝐀𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐩𝐢𝐞𝐜𝐞
Bronx, 1970s: hydrants misting into the sky, stoops thumping bass, stickball in fever air, subways with no breeze. Tony Adamo’s spoken-word ode runs the boroughs—Harlem to Jones Beach, stadium lights to fire escapes—then lands on a genesis moment: a hot summer when block parties, basements, and a DJ named Kool Herc helped set Hip-Hop in motion. It’s a city heat index scored to jazz, boombox, and memory.
𝐋𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐲 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐲𝐨𝐮
🪡 “Yo brother, it’s hot out here!”
🪡 “Man, let’s breathe together—this is it.”
𝙉𝙚𝙬 𝙔𝙤𝙧𝙠 𝙎𝙪𝙢𝙢𝙚𝙧 𝙃𝙚𝙖𝙩
Yo, listen up, I’m painting a picture in the heat of the day,
’70s in the Bronx had many special days—
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Blocks slick with summer heat, where the sun holds high,
kids spill laughter like water from a hydrant’s misting high in the air,
and they all yell each other’s name:
𝘠𝘰 𝘣𝘳𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳, 𝘪𝘵’𝘴 𝘩𝘰𝘵 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦!
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Happy fantasies of spray and play,
tagging walls with chalk lines, dreams in bright array.
New York stoops hum with basslines, a boom box plays on the corner—
you don’t mind the heat from your dancin’ feet.
𝘔𝘢𝘯, 𝘪𝘵’𝘴 𝘩𝘰𝘵 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦… 𝘐 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘴𝘩𝘢𝘥𝘦.
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Jazz and Hip Hop collide like thunder on hot pavement in Harlem’s way.
In New York, the stoops of summer hold love, pain, and secrets.
𝘔𝘢𝘯, 𝘐 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘈𝘊 𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘢𝘸𝘢𝘺.
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Shade trees whisper history as pigeons learn to fly,
dominos clack in the shade of an old oak’s spine.
Playing the numbers, dancing on a slate—OTB money won,
now you have the bread for that hot date.
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𝘔𝘢𝘯, 𝘪𝘵’𝘴 𝘴𝘸𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘺 𝘩𝘰𝘵, 𝘪𝘵’𝘴 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘷𝘺,
but a six-pack of Black Label buried in ice
will cool you off when you be throwin’ street dice.
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Lovin’ Spoonful memories flow on the breeze—
𝘚𝘶𝘮𝘮𝘦𝘳 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘊𝘪𝘵𝘺, a rhythm you feel with ease.
It’s summer hot in the city building, which holds the heat.
Sleeping on the fire escape at night might cool you down,
but the street noise keeps you awake.
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A gypsy cab hums by, painted blur in the glare.
City kids having fun at summer camp,
and some cool off at Jones Beach.
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Stay cool, keep movin’
—stickball on, keep the fever alive:
hit after hit, swing after swing, dreams survive.
No air in the subway lines 1, 2, 4, 5, and 6—
Bronx to Manhattan, where the stories mix.
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Sweat beads drip in the train tunnels’ bowels,
people on their way to somewhere and nowhere
on a smokin’ red hot summer day in NYC in the 1970s.
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A cold chocolate Yoo-hoo to quiet the thirst
that remains in your throat all day.
Night games glow under stadium lights’ electric kiss—
Yankees and Mets fans feeling the summer nights’ heat in the stands.
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Italian ices melt on tongues, red and bright.
Bronx summer memories flicker in the neon night.
So let’s hear it for the five boroughs—
Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, The Bronx, and Staten Island.
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And how ’bout Mayor Lindsay’s and Beame’s hot summer headlines
that grabbed you in the heat as 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘕𝘦𝘸 𝘠𝘰𝘳𝘬 𝘛𝘪𝘮𝘦𝘴 had its say.
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The hot burnin’ summer brought Hip-Hop to the streets—
so dig, the party Bronx basements where Hip-Hop was born
on August 11, 1973.
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DJ Kool Herc, the Father of Hip-Hop,
who pioneered the sound and techniques of Hip-Hop of today—
he was the first to spin the music of Hip-Hop
on a summer night’s heat.
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𝘔𝘢𝘯, 𝘭𝘦𝘵’𝘴 𝘣𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘰𝘨𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳—𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘵.
I need a hot tub full of ice on Arthur Ave
so the Block Party can jam on this wet, humid New York Night.
