The Birth of Hip Hop

Born in Kingston Jamaica a kid named Clive Campbell immigrated to The Bronx, New York at the age of 12. There he gained the nickname Hercules for his style of play on the basketball court. Then he became obsessed with DJing. Hercules turned into DJ Cool Herc.

Kool Herc saw the clubs filled with violence or catering only to those who loved Disco, he heard radio catering to white teenagers, and decided he could throw a better party. Herc got the music, his sister Cindy brought the people. Shout out to Cindy, without her ability to promote parties they never would have gotten the fresh school clothes and more importantly hip hop would have never had the reach that it does today.

It was during one of these parties when Herc debuted his Merry Go Round technique. He could the “break,” or a short segment in a song with no vocals but heavy percussion and he could create a loop. It went crazy. People could dance to it. He called those people “B Boys & B Girls,” before breakdancing had a name.

Then he starts rhyming on the break. Simple “are you ready, rock steady,” but folks go crazy and that’s how Kool Herc invented hip hop.