This year, it seems like every corner of pop culture is celebrating hip-hop's 50th anniversary. Whether its members of the rap community itself or non-music media commemorating its history, the world has a lot to look back on, especially today. 50 years ago, on August 11, 1973, DJ Kool Herc hosted the first Rec Room Party with his sister Cindy Campbell. In the basement of 1520 Sedgwick Ave, in the Morris Heights area of the Bronx, New York, birthed the genre's fundamentals and its community. They probably didn't know it at the time, but a simple turntable innovation, some crowd engagement, and a jubilant time amid intense social struggle and racial inequality resulted in one of the biggest revolutions- and now zeitgeists- in cultural history.
Furthermore, Clive Campbell, better known as DJ Kool Herc, would use his turntable to only play the instrumental breaks of songs, mostly just featuring the drum parts. These included classic funk tunes, some rock and roll of old and new, and soul jams. Among the 300 people at the party, a couple of his friends started to rap over these drums, and well, the rest is history. When he hit larger venues and the art form began to spread, the concept of the "break," which also gave way to b-boys (or breakdancing) and the MC, became hip-hop's foundation.
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DJ Kool Herc's Life-Changing Party
After DJ Kool Herc and many others came Afrika Bambaataa, Grandmaster Flash, Kurtis Blow, and so, so many more. However, this event didn't just influence the simple artistry and proliferation of a music genre. Now that rap is so popular and so molded and warped and creatively incorporated into many other art forms, it can be difficult to reckon with its inception. This wasn't a party for just having a good time and messing around: people sought escape and refuge from housing issues, racial discrimination, and societal hardship.
Out of those pools of Black struggle, heritage, creativity, and self-sufficiency, hip-hop became the largest rec room party ever, and not in a literal sense. To this day, the genre may have changed significantly, but it's still firmly planted in its roots of circumstance, expression, and sonic freedom. Perhaps you might think this is reading too deeply into it, but with 50 years of proof behind us, hip-hop is much more important than just its music. So, to put things simply: thank you, hip-hop, for everything. Your forefathers and new blood will forever live on, and while there is still change to be done, your power shows that it's always possible.
