A boombox is a large portable radio and cassette player. The bigger the box, the more D-sized batteries it consumed. It usually had one large or multiple speakers in the front and one or two tape decks. Multiple tape decks allowed the user to play one tape and record or dub using the other deck. The dual or large speakers had ultra bass and high decibels allowing the music played to be broadcasted. The boombox also had a radio, an amplifier, equalizer, and some came with a microphone jack. The popularity of the boombox in the ‘70’s rose in conjunction with the popularity of rap and hip-hop.
The purpose of the boombox was to let everyone hear what you were playing. In early rap, the DJ was equal to or greater than the rapper. Rappers made songs about their DJ and the boombox allowed anyone to DJ the neighborhood or park. Walking the street with a boombox playing music from Run D.M.C., Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five, or Doug E. Fresh made everyone turn and look at you to see where the beats were coming from. The microphone allowed users to rap over the beat, emcee, or give shout-outs.
Just like the custom belt buckles and gold rope chains, the boombox is a black culture icon. The boombox died along with the full-size floor stereo components and vinyl records. We enjoyed music out loud together back then. Now we wear headphones and limit public music playing to concerts. Back in the day, recording off the radio or dubbing a tape for friends wasn’t against the law like it is now. Those were good times. Just like LL, back then, I couldn’t live without my radio.