Game Changers: The Conscious Culture Volume 1 Issue 6 | Page 16

:
History of Hip Hop The Beginning
by Dr. Kelly Glow www.kellyglow.com
Ask any rap fan from the
Hip-Hop generation, born
between 1968-1980, what
is the birthplace of Hip Hop
and you will probably hear
them say that it started in
Bronx, NY around 1973.
The physical address, 1520
Sedgewick Avenue in the
Bronx, to be exact, is the
official location where leg-
endary DJ Kool Herc would
throw the first of many
parties for his local commu-
nity. Now, I agree that there
was a rising youth culture
developing in the streets
of New York City during
those times that would
eventually become known
to the masses as “Hip Hop”.
However, I also believe that
there are some strong cases
to support the idea that the
movement of Hip Hop was
much broader beyond the
Big Apple.

First things first,
many people often confuse
Hip Hop culture with rap
music and entertainment.
When you first understand
that Hip Hop is a lifestyle,
a culture, and a state of
mind, then you can begin to
acknowledge the existence
of Hip Hop outside of New
York City. Hip Hop arose
out of the decline of the
Civil Rights Movement,
the Black Power Move-
ment, and the Black Arts
Movement of the 1960s.
The was a new generation
of Black and Brown youth
in the early 1970s, who
were faced with dire social
conditions such as: police
brutality, violence, drugs,
gangs, chronic joblessness,
loss of affordable housing
and community demolition.
In the early 1970s, access
to discos, dance studios,
recording studios and music
education programs were
non-existent to inner
city youth. Non-White
ethnic groups such as
Puerto Ricans, Jamai-
cans, Mexicans, and
African-Americans
began to band togeth-
er around a certain
unwritten, moral code
based upon the com-
mon oppression that
they shared.
15 - Game Changers Magazine May/Jun 2017

There is evidence
of this movement of street
youth culture across the
Unites States. Aerosol and
graffiti writing has been doc-
umented as early as 1960 in
the streets of Philadelphia,
PA. In 1969, author H. Rap
Brown, talks about his ex-
periences of “rapping” and
“playing the dozens” on the
streets of Baton Rouge, LA.
The dance form, “Poppin”,
originated in Fresno, CA.
Another dance form, “Lock-
in”, was popularized by the
group Electric Boogaloo in
Los Angeles, CA. “Break
Dancing” is attributed to
groups such as The Rock
Steady Crew in New York,
NY. The movement existed
across the nation, but, Busy
Bee Starski, DJ Hollywood,
and Africa Bambaataa were
the first to give it a name
and actually coin the phrase
“hip-hop”.

Local disc jock-
eys such as DJ Kool Herc,
Grandmaster Flash, and
Africa Bambaataa became
notorious for having the
best block parties around
the Bronx. The parties drew
in the best dance crews,
the best artists, and the
best rappers around town.
Collectively, graffiti artists,
deejays, break dancers, and
rappers would make up
the foundational elements
of what we call “Hip Hop
Culture” today. Those block
parties, or “Jams” as they
would call it, were a bold
vision of Africa Bambaataa
and The Zulu Nation, for
people to come together in
the name of Peace, Love,
Unity and Having Fun. This
would garner the attention
of the media, who would
produce news stories about
this thing called “Hip Hop”,
and the rest is history! So,
in my opinion, Hip Hop was
not created in the Bronx,
but it definitely grew in the
Bronx.