The history of hip hop is worth studying. The roots of the hip hop culture can be traced back to 1970s South Bronx, New York. Though it has nowadays become one of the most popular music genres around, generating millions of dollars in sales each year, there are still many unknown things about it.
With this in mind, we have compiled a list of 5 facts you may not know about hip hop, in a fashion similar to our list of the top one hit wonders of all-time. Read on to find out more about this fascinating subculture and its intriguing history.
No. 5: DOB: August 11 , 1973
On August 11, 1973, a young boy by the name of Clive Campbell, also known as Hercules, threw a back –to-school party, where he showcased his skills on the turntables. Nowadays, this date is widely regarded as the birth date of the hip hop genre. Its beginnings may have been humble, but hip hop has surely come a long way since then. Hercules is also the one who coined the term “break dancing”.
No. 4: The Origins of the Term “Hip Hop”
Throughout its early years, the genre we now call hip hop, pretty much evolved without having a name. The term hip hop came along when Keith Wiggins, one of the first MCs of the genre, was teasing a friend of his who had just joined the army, and it was the phrase he used to imitate the sounds made by a marching soldier’s cadence. Some way or another, the phrase made its way to the stage and it slowly grew until it was eventually used to describe the subculture as a whole.
See the rest of the history of hip hop on the following pages:
No. 3: Initially, the DJs Were the Stars
Public Domain Image: Public Domain
In the early stages of hip hop, the MCs or the rappers were not the center of attention. As a matter of fact, rapping didn’t become common until the late 1970s. In the beginning, it was the DJ who took the spotlight for his mixing abilities and who gained the applause of the crowd. The second biggest attraction? The break dancers.
No. 2: The First Records Used Live Bands, as Opposed to Sampling
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When the first bands and artists started recording their songs, sampling technology was too expensive for anyone without endorsement from a top label. Because of this, artists employed the services of small bands that could come up with the right sounds. The first rapper to start using the sampling technique was Kurtis Blow, in the early 1980s.
No. 1: The New York City Blackout of 1977 – The Main Catalyst for the Hip Hop Culture
In the scorching summer of ’77, New York City was left in the dark for almost 24 hours, during the most infamous blackout in its history. Assaults, arsons, and lootings all soon followed. However, despite the havoc unleashed in New York, for the hip hop culture, the blackout provided the breakthrough needed by numerous aspiring DJs. Poor kids who otherwise would not have been able to afford the necessary equipment, now had access to only high-end merchandise. Prior to the blackout, there were only 5 known DJs in the entire city. After it, there was one on every single block.
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