The borough would go on to boast Kool Keith, KRS One, Big Pun, Fat Joe, and Cardi B, among many others, as acts who have innovated the Bronx’s place in hip-hop culture. īronx-born artists such as the Funky Four Plus One, Grandmaster Flash, Afrika Bambaataa, Melle Mel and Kurtis Blow became pioneers of the genre in the 1970s, and helped define hip-hop in the '80s. Breaking as an art has continued to flourish and will soon be an Olympic sport. With moves drawn from martial arts, gymnastics, and modern dance, "breaking, popping, and locking" would see b-boys and b-girls become as important as music to hip-hop as an art form. These young graffiti artists brought the color and life of their borough to the rest of the city, as painted subway trains provided moving canvases and controversy.īy the time the park jams were happening, some graffiti crews had expanded into competitive dance. In 1975, the Bronx Boys Rocking Crew (or TBB) fostered another element of hip-hop when they organized late night tagging sessions. Herc took classic records and popular hits, broke down the beats, and invited MCs to chime in over them invoking the Jamaican style of delivery, talking or chanting, usually in a monotone melody, over a rhythm known as "toasting" in reggae. "Hip-hop wasn't called hip-hop in the ‘70s, was called 'going to the jams,'" Sha Rock continued.Ī few years before the park jams took off, DJ Kool Herc’s August 1973 rec room party put hip-hop as we know it on the map. These jams featured breakdancing, DJs mixing, and MCing - all key elements of hip-hop that emerged from house parties and underground venues into a city-wide consciousness. "No matter what was going on around us in New York City at the time, we looked forward to the park jams." "Kids with little or no resources created something out of nothing," the Funky Four Plus One’s MC Sha Rock told ABC News said of hip-hop's origins. It’s not a coincidence that the Bronx was also woefully unserved by the city government, resulting in bleak economic conditions. Mass immigration from Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic in the 1950s made the Bronx the first majority Black and Latino borough in NYC by the mid-'70s. Press play on the Amazon Music playlist below - or visit Spotify, Pandora and Apple Music - to take an auditory tour of the best of the boroughs. Without the contributions,style and unique cultures of neighborhoods within Brooklyn, Queens, Manhattan and Staten, the artform would not have developed into the juggernaut it is today. What’s clear when we look at each borough, is that the culture and art of hip-hop would not exist if not for New York. Even the suburbs can boast major contributions - Long Island is the home of Public Enemy and Erik B & Rakim head north of the Bronx to Westchester County, and you'll enter the home of the late rapper DMX. Staten Island is, of course, home to the one and only Wu-Tang Clan and its diverse cosmology. And because he is so often referred to as a West Coast rapper, it’s easy to forget Tupac Shakur was born in Manhattan. Elements of each of these developing artforms culminating in the music of the Beastie Boys. Manhattan also plays a role in hip-hop’s evolution as a playground where rappers intermingled with punks, rockers and the thriving art scene throughout the ‘70s and ‘80s. Marcy Projects alone would give us Christopher Wallace a.k.a. On her 2005 track "Lighters Up" Lil' Kim declares Brooklyn "Home of the Greatest Rappers." It’s hard to argue. and Salt-N-Pepa, to LL Cool J and Nicki Minaj - is often made. The case for Queens - home of Def Jam Records and a host of GRAMMY-winning and nominated rappers from Run-D.M.C. The city's northernmost borough is the home of groundbreaking artists from OGs Grandmaster Flash and Slick Rick, to contemporary stars including Cardi B. DJ Kool Herc threw a rec room party in 1973 that put hip-hop as we know it in motion. The "Boogie Down" Bronx is the origin point of hip-hop history. New York is indisputably the birthplace of hip-hop, but which of the city's five boroughs has dominated the genre continues to be a spirited debate among its scholars and natives.
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