Editor Amanda Sweeney explores one of the biggest cultural movements in music history and salutes its ancestors .
FOR THE LOVE OF HIP HOP
FEATURE
Editor Amanda Sweeney explores one of the biggest cultural movements in music history and salutes its ancestors .
Hip hop has grown over the years and been claimed by many nations but its roots are well and truly in the South Bronx , NY . In the 1970 ' s hip hop was born on the streets and quickly became the sound of the people . It was more than music , it was art . It grew from block parties , where the Ghetto Brothers would plug amplifiers into the lampposts on 163rd Street and Prospect Avenue , using music to break down racial barriers . DJ ' s would sample tracks from all genres of music creating vibrant mixes . DJ Kool Herc , dubbed the ' father ' of hip hop was one of the first to do this , adding shout outs to the community as he played . Break-dancing , emceeing and graffiti art grew with the movement making these three elements the life lines of hip hop ' s roots .
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five have been credited with coining the term ' hip hop ' after making fun of a friend who had joined the army . They ' d chant ' hip hop hip hop ' to mimic the marching of soldiers . Later this term was used in their stage shows and after they released a number of collaborations with disco artists , the main sound of the time , they became known as ' hip hoppers '. The term was meant as an insult but soon became a title for this fresh new movement .
Hip hop music has always been a powerful medium for protesting the law and many used the art form to express their distrust of the establishment , often calling out police brutality and racism . Street gangs were prevalent in the poverty of the South Bronx . Much of the graffiti , rapping , and b-boying at these block parties were all artistic variations on the competition and one-upmanship of street gangs . Sensing that gang members ' often violent urges could be turned into creative ones , Afrika Bambaataa founded the Zulu Nation , a loose confederation of street-dance crews , graffiti artists and rap musicians . Zulu Nation , now in its 44th year , strongly promote that hip hop was created to provide ' peace , love , unity and having fun ' for those in the ghetto and eventually onward to all those supportive of the culture .
The New York City blackout of 1977 saw widespread looting and arson , with a number of looters stealing DJ equipment from electronics stores . As a result , the hip hop genre , barely known outside of the Bronx at the time , grew at an astounding rate from 1977 onward .
In 1979 The Sugarhill Gang used the term in the opening line
25