Fifty years ago, one of the most influential parties ever thrown occurred on August 11, 1973, in the recreational hall at 1520 Sedgwick Ave., Bronx, New York. At this party, DJ Kool Herc first experimented with the technique of identifying and extending that part of the record that would cause those at the party to trip over themselves to get to the dance floor. What Kool Herc had done was to identify what would later become known as the “breakbeat.” The breakbeat, or breakdown, was that section of the record that was most rhythmic and caused the partygoers to want to move. Early DJs would use the breakbeats from records of notable funk and soul groups such as James Brown, Parliament Funkadelic, and perhaps the most widely used breakbeat of all, “Apache,” by the Incredible Bongo Band. Later the use of these breakbeats would come to be known as sampling.

Years after, that event would widely be considered the birth of Hip-Hop, a musical genre described by Chuck D, lead MC of the seminal rap group Public Enemy, as the “CNN of the ghetto.” So explained not only for the genre’s origins but also because it is an art form born of the streets that gave a voice to the voiceless and would let the world know what was happening in forgotten America. This genre has grown from its humble beginning to become a multibillion-dollar industry, and, along the way, it has transformed itself countless times, from party rap to conscious rap to gangsta rap. From every region in the US, Hip-Hop has migrated and evolved. Today Hip-Hop has transformed our world; from commercials to movie soundtracks, the “culture” is thriving.

DJs, MCs and graffiti art

However, despite its undebatable popularity, many still fail to fully appreciate the depth of this art form and continue to view the music only as beats and rhymes. But for those who do not fully understand, let me kick some knowledge and drop some science. From its origins, the Hip-Hop culture consisted of four pillars. DJ’ing (Aural); MC’ing (Oral); Breakdance (Physical), and Graffiti (Visual).

Disc Jockeys

The DJ existed before Hip-Hop. It’s an acronym for the word disc jockey. The DJ’s job initially was to play recorded music for an audience, either on the radio or live for an audience. But the Hip-Hop DJ took it to the next level by making playing records an art form called turntablism. The most influential DJ of the early Hip-Hop movement was Grandmaster Flash, founder of Grand Master Flash and the Furious Five. Flash is widely credited with revolutionizing turntable techniques such as the Quick Mix Theory. This technique revolutionized breakdancing and rapping by extending the drum breaks that Kool Herc discovered through the use of two turntables and two identical records. This technique spawned cutting and scratching and used the turntable and the record as instruments. In addition, MCs were now given an extended beat to rhyme over.

Other notable DJs include the Kool Herc, as mentioned earlier, Grand Wizard Theodore, who is widely credited with inventing scratching, and Afrika Bambaataa, creator of the Universal Zulu Nation, which helped to spread Hip-Hop culture around the globe.

Masters of Ceremony

The MC is the acronym for the Master of Ceremonies. The MCs began as hosts at Hip-Hop parties, who, through their call-and-response shouts, would encourage the break dancers to get on the dance floor. Influenced by original spoken-word artists, such as Gil Scott-Heron and The Last Poets, MCs began to do rhythmic call-and-response with the audience. This technique eventually morphed into the poetic form of rapping we know now. Early notable MCs include Melle Mel from The Furious Five (rappers of the song “The Message” credited with being the first socially conscious rap song), The Sugar Hill Gang (credited for “Rappers Delight,” which put the world on notice that rap music was here to stay) Grand Master Caz (credited with being the writer for Big Bank Hank’s verse on “Rappers Delight”), Funky 4+1, The Cold Crush Brothers, Kurtis Blow, Sequence (an all-female rap group) and Count Coolout.

Dancers

Breaking is the dance element of Hip-Hop, performed by dancers called B-Girls or B-Boys, birthed in the late 1970s in New York, breaking blended movement styles such as jazz and martial arts with various dance styles including Caribbean, Latin American, and African. B-Girls and B-Boys got their name because they danced over the DJ’s “breaks” at Hip-Hop parties in the Bronx. One of the most notable B-Boy crews was the Rock Steady Crew.

Artists

Graffiti is Hip-Hop’s visual element. The modern form of graffiti or “graff” began before Hip-Hop music and dance, but it quickly became a part of the culture as many graffiti artists grew up in the same area as other Hip-Hop artists. Many graffiti artists were also MCs, DJs, and break dancers. The earliest pioneer of graffiti art was Darryl McCray (Cornbread), who is said to have started tagging (painting graffiti) in the early 1960s.

As we near the 50th anniversary of Hip-Hop, this article only serves as a primer to the history of an art form that can most commonly be likened to jazz in terms of its various styles, the authentic nature of its creation, and its influence on the world. To grasp the actual effect of this culture, I would need to write an additional 50 articles or more, and even then, I would only be scratching (no pun intended) the surface.

Until next time we’ll leave you with a bit of homework. If you want to learn more about the origins of Hip-Hop, the art form, and culture, don’t sleep on the following:

Songs

The Message — Grand Master Flash & The Furious Five
Rappers Delight — The Sugar Hill Gang
Rhythm Rap Rock — Count Coolout
The Sequence — Planet Rock-Afrika Bambaataa
and the Soul Sonic Force

Film

Wild Style
Krush Groove
Something from Nothing: The Art of Rap
Beat Street

Books

“Can’t Stop Won’t Stop: A History of the Hip-Hop Generation”
by Jeff Chang

Peace!