The Birth of Hip Hop
The hip hop culture has its roots in the Bronx, borough of New York, in the early 70s. At that time, no movement really existed. Many scattered performances were developing in the streets of the Bronx with no global leader.
DJ Kool Herc, Jamaican–American disk jockey, started organizing dance parties at his home. His parties soon spread throughout the Bronx. Quickly attracting a lot of young people, Kool Kerc made a name in the district, organizing more and more parties, indoor and outdoor, always in the Bronx. DJ Disco Wiz and Casanova Fly, Herc’s henchmen, were hacking the electric power of the street lights in order to party in the basket fields of the Bronx.
This is the flyer of the Back to School Jam that took place August 11, 1973 at Kool Herc’s place. 1520 Sedgwick Avenue is an apartment building that was recognized on July 2007 as the birthplace of Hip-Hop. This is where the first parties organized by Kool Herc took place. It has been honored in June 2017 with an award. The moderate rent building is now standing on the newly inaugurated Hip Hop Boulevard, marking where it all began.
1- The Deejaying
Kool Herc created a new music with 2 turntables playing Disco music, hard Funk and other James Brown records combined together. By playing the drum beats of the songs alternately, he enhanced “the break”. This is the birth of Hip Hop Music. Without delay, a lot of young artists started Deejaying and creating new techniques around this new culture.
In these new artists, Theodore Livingston. In 1975, he is only twelve, practicing turntabling in his bedroom when his mother yells at him from another room. The young artist, now known as Grand Wizzard Theodore, puts his hand on the spinning record to stop the music and causes the “shigi” sound. So the invention of the scratching technique was an accident !
If the origin of the name Hip Hop is often disputed, some say that Keef Cowboy, member of the groupe Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, teased a military-friend by faux-marching to the sound hip-hop-hip-hop. Or the name might come from Afrika Bambaataa, African-American DJ who largely influenced the creation of the Hip Hop movement. At that time, the gangs made the law in the Bronx. Violence and brutality were at every corner. Lance Taylor (Afrika Bambaataa), who used to be a member of the gang P.O.W.E.R and the leader of the Black Spades, started an Anti-Violence Movement (now known as the Zulu Nation). He soon understood that using the new performances of the youth would help canalize their energy. So, inspired by DJ Kool Herc, he started hosting parties in the city. Turntabling, organizing dance contests, inviting MCs to animate the show, welcoming graffiti writers…
The four main pillars of hip hop appeared.
2- The Breakdancing
While DJs like Grandmaster Flash and Afrika Bambaataa began building music on Kool Kerc’s innovations, the breakdown inspires bboys and bgirls. Breakdance is a street dance largely based on drums and funk music. This dance holds a major part in the urban culture and is full of athletic moves. This discipline also thrived in the 70s with bboys like Trixie or Dancing Doug. If he was already dancing before DJ parties were organized in the Bronx, Lauree Myers, better known as Trixie affirms :
“When we did go to Herc's parties that's when I took it to another level.”
3- The Spraywriting
Third element composing Hip Hop, the Graffiti, or Spraywriting. It is a form of artistic expression that primarily involves illegally painting walls in the streets and trains in the city. There are many different types and styles of Graffitis, ranging from words to drawings. This activity is the most controversial of Hip Hop elements. Widely considered as vandalists, the graffiti artists need to draw fast and run fast. Generally ran in public places, this business often involves running from the police, especially when a huge part of the graffitis were spelling “A.C.A.B” (All Cops Are Bastards).
Graffiti already exists for a long time, the first “graffitos” dating from the ancient Egypt or Roman Empire. But the Graffiti we are talking about here doesn’t originate from New York but from Philadelphia. In the 1960s, the first known graffiti writers Cornbread and Cool Earl used black markers to tag their nicknames on all public property throughout the city. In 1968, the rail transport between Philadelphia and New York intensifies. The wagons are moving frames, exposing the paintings from one city to the other. A train to success. In 1970, Topcat 126 copies their practices and brings graffiti tagging into the big apple.
At this time, a bunch of buildings are popping up every week in the city. The youth wants to take over on these new walls and spaces. In the 70s, many issues of racial and social inequality were already taking place. The non white youth adopts this art as an expressive form of rebellion. One of the street art pioneers, Quik, explains to Widewalls :
“Graffiti was intended as a “voice” to be heard; as we sought a broader audience than our immediate community.”
In the first generation of graffiti artists, we can also cite Futura 2000 or Phase 2 who also largely influenced the discipline for decades. Everyone invents new styles, trying to make their tags more unique and noticeable. LEE 163 joins his letters together. Later comes the Stencil Graffiti with Blek le Rat in Paris. Groups such as United Graffiti Artists and the Fabulous Five start working together to make more elaborated canvas and to escape the scenes more discreetly.
This was all before graffiti became fashionable. At that time, graffiti artists were chased by the authorities. Only ten years later, a painting of Jean-Michel Basquiat, who started as a graffiti artist, was sold for over $110 Million.
4- The MCing
Last but not least, the rapping. If MCs (Masters of Ceremony) were originally at parties to animate the show and cheer the dancers, they were also here to communicate. To talk about the problems faced by the african-american community. Dancing and spraywriting were a great way to express the feelings, but rapping had no equal. Rap has its name from the slang word meaning “conversation”. Or maybe it stands for Rhythm And Poetry. Certainly both.
The 3 major components of MCing are the content, the flow and the cadence. The three are essential to deliver a message and get the listener to feel your melody and bounce their head. Rapping is the rhythmic spoken delivery of rhymes and wordplay usually over a beat. Rapping has its roots in Africa. Centuries before Hip Hop music existed, the griots (traditional communicator) of West Africa were delivering stories rhythmically, over drums.
At his beginnings, Grandmaster Flash was so focussed on his mix, breaks and scratching skills that he forgot one of the essentials. The mic. The occasion for some to propose their services. One day, Flash met Cowboy, an MC as charismatic as his word.
His entry on Flash’s scene inspired two brothers : Melle Mel and Kid Creole. Creole was really good at freestyling, but little was Mel who decided to work his texts before the shows. Quickly, his sharp feather offset his ad lib skills. He becomes the leader of Flash’s new vocal trio and inspires others to work on their texts, ad style figures and play with words.
The Last Poets were the first group to throw an album out in 1970. It coupled spare funk and aggressive delivery, combined with socially-conscious word. This is the basis of MCing. Social and racial awareness are the foundation to the vocal performance in Hip Hop.
It is hard to cover this whole rap period without talking about Kool G Rap, the Godfather of Gangster Rap, the Sugarhill Gang, first group to ever throw a rap album, the Treacherous Three, MC Hammer, the Funky 4+1, the Cold Crush Brothers…
Widely inspired by jazz, soul, funk and disco, the Hip Hop movement is multicolor. Created and lead by african-americans, it has a root in Africa, one in Latin America, one in Asia, another one in Europa… Hip Hop is a multicolor culture that assembles the people.
According to Kurtis Blow, an MC from the outset who started as a Master of Ceremony for Flash’s parties :
“I'm a firm believer that hip hop and rap is so malleable; you can shape it in any form. We have these fusions like rock n roll rap, reggae rap, country and western rap”
This is how Hip Hop, now a truly international cultural movement, had its start.
PEACE, UNITY, LOVE AND HAVING FUN
