![]() Many consider the Golden Age of Hip Hop to be the late 80s into the 90s. The DNA of hip hop has bled into fashion and beauty, film, dance styles, even sports, and other forms of entertainment and expression. Some of the early creators saw this as the downfall of the culture, worried that its spread would dilute its impact, but they could not foresee the way it would take over the music industry and ultimately influence the entire world. Suddenly hip hop was not just for the rec rooms and gym jams - now it was for the radio, and very soon the revolution would be televised. Though the beginnings can be traced to that Jam in 1973, the first major rap record was released in 1980 and The Sugar Hill Gang’s Rapper’s Delight changed the game forever. The ingredients of this new culture, or what many historians call the “Pillars of Hip Hop,” were DJing, MCing, Break Dancing, Graffiti, and Knowledge of Self - meaning there were infinite ways to be a part of the movement, allowing for its rapid spread into mainstream culture. The natural competition that existed between DJs, MCs, and B-Boys was more collaborative than adversarial and led to the creation of a complex and democratized culture where the only barrier between being the best was beating the best. Many early artists, especially Afrika Bambaataa and the Zulu Nation, saw it as a way to shift the culture, mitigate the gang wars, and provide an outlet for young Black and Brown people to express their frustrations with the wider socio-political climate in which they lived. Hip hop, however, has always been more than just music. Formalizing the toast into rhyming lyrics, creating more sophisticated sampling from existing songs, and adding new musical compositions ushered in a new era of music history. Toasting was all improvisational “freestyling,” rapping brand new rhymes off the top of the head. Often, an Emcee or MC would toast while a DJ spun and this partnership is what led to the invention of rap. This tradition of talking rhythmically over the beat, encouraging partygoers to dance, and calling out their prowess as a DJ was commonplace. Herc and the other DJs were already “toasting” over the records they played. Afrika Bambaataa and the Zulu Nation, Grand Wizzard Theodore, and Grandmaster Flash were among those early pioneers who spun this idea into gold. Soon, this sound spread throughout the city and other DJs began to replicate his technique at their own parties. By only playing the “break” - or the percussive dance sections of popular records - and using two turntables to create a loop of the instrumentals, Kool Herc gave birth to hip hop. At a Back to School Jam hosted in the rec room of his apartment complex, DJ Kool Herc, a teenage Jamaican immigrant, singularly invented a new art form that would evolve into a global phenomenon. If you happened to be in the Bronx on August 11, 1973, and you had a few quarters in your pocket, you may have become a witness to a world-changing event. ![]() Dracula: A Feminist Revenge Fantasy, Really.Liberace & Liza Holiday at the Mansion (A Tribute).
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