Dj Kool Herc and Hip-hop’s 1st Lady to Curate Museum in Jamaica
New York, NY ~ In the current state of hip-hop, it’s a possibility that if you was to ask a random listener of the genre, “Who created the music art form”, you would probably be surprised by the answer! The answer; depending on age, region, and in some instances, the socio-economic upbringing of a person will yield a result that would leave you clueless of their conclusion. Well, first things first, to comprehend the origination, you must first consider the formation. Hip-Hop ~ a revolution of expression developed by the inner-city African American community in the Bronx. The text book answer given is far from the factual evidence that presents itself when digging in the crates of information that exist. The hip-hop genre has an heavy influence on just about every aspect of life today, and it all began as a means-to-a solution in Bronx, New York.
Travel with me to the year 1973, where a young DJ named Clive Campbell (Known as DJ Kool Herc) began experimenting with break beat portions of records and he began to infuse instrumentals with rhymes to create what we know today as rapping. The opportunity came to maturate itself when his younger sister, Cindy Campbell, (affectionally known today as The 1st Lady of Hip-hop) needed extra cash for school clothes and came up with an idea to have her big brother host a party to raise money.
The rest is history! The infamous “Back to School Jam” took place on August 11, 1973 at their apartment building, 1520 Sedgwick Ave in the Bronx. To this day, the dwelling on Sedgwick is known in history as the place where a culture got its beginnings.
Dj Kool Herc found that between the breaks and the reintroduction of the chorus, street dancers and disco goers where induced by the rhythm and euphoria of the heavy driven drums rhythms. DJ Kool Herc captured the sound by setting up two turntables while spinning the same records to emphasize the break. The reaction and hype quickly spread throughout the Burroughs, and before long, crews were coming from miles around to rock the sets with M.C. showdowns and dance battles. The evolution of hip-hop was born. Although many believe Brooklyn is where hip-hop began; many fail to realize that Dj Kool Herc brought the concept to New York from his native Jamaica.
The genre of hip-hop has been cataloged as having a major influence on Reggae music; however, it is the other way around. Reggae has a rich tradition that dates back to the 1960’s. The founding MC’s of the late 70’s and early 80’s such as Afrika Bambatta, and Grandmaster Flash credit their flow and delivery to Jamaican techniques and developments that had an influence on their style and delivery. If you pay close attention to almost every hip-hop artist today performing live, you can see a rendition of Coke La Rock working along s DJ Kool Herc — Hence, a “hype man” pumping the crowd. Think about the punch-ins used by mainstream artist, this technique was adapted from the Jamaican Dub Artist style of inserting sound effects to add emphasis to note.
Fast forward
The dream of opening a museum in Jamaica came to life after Dj Kool Herc and The 1st Lady took a trip back to their native land for the first time in nearly thirty years. In a billboard magazine interview `February 2020, Dj Kool Herc elaborated on the strong influence Jamaica has on today’s hip hop, “because we are the ones who bought the style and the technique to America, which became hip-hop,”“When I was looking around [Kingston throughout the weekend], I saw that Peter Tosh and Bob Marley had museums,” he told the outlet. “Well guess what? I created something, so therefore, I have a contribution myself and it would add to the Jamaican economy with tourism.”
Cindy went on to add, “The island of Jamaica is a core tourism Mecca and the museum could be a place where people would want to go to learn about history.”
At press time, we have no further information on the groundbreaking ceremony; however, the Wazzup Tonight crew will be on location to help DJ Kool Herc and The 1st Lady at the glorious ribbon cutting ceremony~ Big UPs
For More Information visit www.djkoolherc.com
