Jazz-Funk pianist Herbie Hancock is quite arguably the Godfather of Hip-Hop ; his 1983 Electro-Funk composition "Rockit" is oftentimes cited as an early sonic blueprint for the then budding genre. I can still vividly remember the first time I heard Hancock's music, on an RS 500 [Greatest Songs of All Time] sampler CD around the age of 12-15. It was "Watermelon Man" from his sprawling four-track Head Hunters album (1973) assisted by back-up The Headhunters ; more or less a progressive and slowly deconstructing re-make of Herbie Hancock 's own 1962 composition, which was originally inspired by "the cry of the watermelon man making the rounds through the back streets and alleys of Chicago . The wheels of his wagon beat out the rhythm on the cobble stones." President Obama & The First Lady amongst DC 's finest inducted Herbie Hancock , Martina Arroyo, Billy Joel , Shirley MacLaine, and Carlos Santana at the 36th annual Kennedy Center ...