Kurtis Blow The Breaks #HappyBirthdayHipHop

🎂 51 years of Hip-Hop 🎶
From Kool Herc’s Bronx block party to worldwide domination — the culture lives forever. 🖤
#HipHop51 #HappyBirthdayHipHop

On this important day that marks the “birth” of hip hop, I think it’s important to remember the words of Grandmaster Caz,

“Hip hop didn’t invent anything, it reinvented everything”

#HappyBirthdayHipHop
#ThankYouHerc
#Andyadontstop

Kool Herc's "Back To School Jam" to raise money for his sister school supplies. It is somewhat arbitrary that we mark this as the birth of hip hop, it's really because this is the oldest flyer we have. But something magical happened and the date deserves to be remembered.

6) #HappyBirthdayHipHop
The #BackToSchoolJam on Aug 11th 1973, had #bboys, a graffiti influenced flyer, DJ and and MC, #CokeLaRock, (the MCs didn't rhyme back then, they did more call & response). All these things came together and people noticed it was bigger than just a party. It's #HipHop!

DJ Kool Herc and his crew with me in NYC, 2013

5) #HappyBirthdayHipHop
#DJKoolHerc's innovation was to cater to the #bboys and play songs with the breaks, often cutting off the song after the break is over, moving on to the next song with a break. He probably didn't use 2 turntables, making it sound choppy, but his playlist appealed to everyone.

James Brown - Give It Up or Turn It Loose

The Jimmy Castor Bunch - It's Just Begun

Bob James - Take Me To The Mari Gras. This song is commonly known as "The Bells" in hip hop circles, as in LL Cool J's "Rock the Bells".

Michael Viner's Incredible Bongo Band - Apache

4) #HappyBirthdayHipHop
Songs with particularly long breaks became popular with the #B-Boys and the #DJs, like #DJKoolHerc, took notice. Songs like: #JamesBrown #GiveItUpTurnItLoose, #JimmyCastor #ItsJustBegun, #BobJames #TakeMeToTheMariGras, #IncredibleBongoBand #Apache, etc

3) #HappyBirthdayHipHop
The unsung heroes of #HipHop history are the #BBoys, aka #Breakdancers. When a long #break happened during a song at these parties, they drop to the floor for these intense dances for that 15 to 30 breakdown.

Pete DJ Jones

Grandmaster Flowers

2) #HappyBirthdayHipHop
The block parties that would evolve into #hiphop had a long tradition in #NYC. #DJs like #PeteDJJones and #GrandmasterFlowers predate #KoolHerc by years. Flowers was so popular, he opened for #JamesBrown at #YankeeStadium in 1969.

1) #HappyBirthdayHipHop
My parents lived at #HuntsPoint in the #SouthBronx #NYC from 1969 to 1971, they were friendly with members of the #YoungLords, they would tell stories of how the police were afraid to come to the neighborhood after dark and the witnessed early #HipHop block parties.