The Bronx is widely known as the birthplace of hip-hop, but many people say it was Brooklyn and Queens that started it all. No matter which borough hip-hop was born in, it all came from New York City in the early 1970s. Hip-hop’s foundation was being laid brick by brick when DJ’s were spinning at block parties and in burned out and abandoned buildings. These pioneers laid the foundation that helped the hip-hop culture become the influential force it is today.
In the South Bronx, Jamaican born Clive Campbell a.k.a. DJ Kool Herc was hosting parties in his building on Sedgwick Ave. Herc’s sound system was only a guitar amp and two turntables. Marcus Reeves, a journalist and author of Somebody Scream! Rap Music’s Rise to Prominence in the Aftershock of Black Power, was quoted as saying, “Kool Herc brought the idea of the Jamaican sound system to America.” Herc was also the innovator for a technique known as “breaks or breakbeats”. How he did this for example, was play James Brown’s “Give it Up or Turnit A Loose” on two turntables while spinning one of the records back to the break repeatedly. As this began trending throughout the borough, Bronx DJ’s helped further pioneer the underground movement we know today as hip-hop. Sampling (using a snippet from a previously recorded song), was invented as well as other key elements through trial and error. Most of the time, these techniques were discovered by accident.
Pete “DJ” Jones was one of the most influential Brooklyn DJ’s from the early 70s. He was known as the mobile king. He helped flourish the careers of KC The Prince of Soul, JJ the Disco King, Lovebug Starski along with many others. Disco DJs were the ones who would say words such as “hip-hop” while spinning. Jones was using 7 inch records at the time, which were usually about two to three minutes long. He would start playing them over and over because he noticed that the crowd was getting bored. The record labels were on top of this and started putting out 45s, which allowed the beat part to be played in the beginning of the record. These instrumental parts of the records allowed Jones to ad-lib and rap as he was playing. He tried to sound like Frankie Crocker, a famous radio DJ in New York during the 70’s and Ken “Spider” Webb, another well known radio DJ. Jones did this to get the crown going, not realizing that this would be the start of a something bigger than he could ever imagine.
DJ Hollywood, a Queens native, is known as the first rapper in hip-hop, according to Kurtis Blow. Hollywood was known for his free-styling technique, which he never wrote any lyrics down and spit rhymes straight off the top of his head. One of his most quotes sayings was, “Throw ya hands in the air and wave them like you just don’t care.” Hollywood, like Grandmaster Flowers, was also a part of the disco scene and he had quickly become one of the most in-demand performers of hip-hop. Hollywood also performed much of his work live, but in 1980 he did release a single titled, “Shock Shock The House” with CBS Records. It was until the mid 1980s that Hollywood was one of the top DJ’s in the game.
DJ Afrika Bambaattaa, another Bronx native, came into the scene in the mid to late 70‘s. Like DJ Herc, Bambaattaa used the breakbeat technique with his own style of DJ’ing. He was known for taking world music such as, West Indian, salsa and rock music and infused those beats. Bambaattaa also created the first hip-hop crew called Universal Zulu Nation on November 12, 1977. His plan was to develop a youth movement that was based on the creativity of a new generation of youths with and authentic and liberating worldview. Later on in 1982, Bambaattaa and another hip-hop icon, Fab FIve Freddy worked together in Manhattan clubs. His best known song was his 1992 track called “Planet Rock” which he sampled an electric piano from Kraftwerk, a German group.
Brooklyn’s own Grandmaster Flowers was one of the earliest DJs to start mixing records in sequence at the same time. With a background in disco and funk, he would often hold block parties in Brooklyn. It is said that Flowers had major influence over Bronx DJs Grandmaster Flash and Afrika Bambaattaa. Flowers was to Brooklyn what DJ Herc was to the Bronx. Flowers never reached the height of his successors due to an unfortunate struggle with drugs and passed away in 1992.
The Disco Twins, from Queens, were another group of contributors to the hip-hop movement. They were inspired by D.J. Plummer, Maboya, Grandmaster Flowers and Pete D.J. Jones. Then, it was more about the DJ. They first started out by playing a birthday party in the early 70’s and had their music go through a guitar amp. They gained an interest in this and started playing house parties. The Disco Twins started out using two turntables that were not very close to each other. Going around the table and spinning from behind their back was some of their trademark moves. The techniques the Disco Twins used were much different from those of the new school. It was much more difficult to do those types of things with a larger deck.
Theodore Livingston a.k.a. Grand Wizard Theodore from the Bronx, was also known for incorporating breakbeats into his music. He added his own technique called “Scratching” (moving the record back and forth while playing). He discovered this technique in his bedroom while speaking to his mother and thought doing this would be a great percussive sound for his arsenal.
Joseph Sadler or better known as Grand Master Flash, who is best known for his song, “The Message”, which he recorded with The Fabulous Five. Flash was credited for inventing “cutting” which consisted of playing the same record on two turntables at the same time and cutting back and forth between the two to create a sound or phrase. Also, he was known to invent “backspinning” which was used to pull the record back to make it repeat.
All the aspects of todays hip-hop culture were derived from these fundamental stages during the 1970s in the Bronx, Brooklyn and Queens. Without these pioneers laying the foundation and opening doors, hip-hop would not be the monster it is today.
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