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Herc & The Bronx B-Boys

Explore the origins of hip hop and its transformative impact on music, culture, and societal issues. From DJ Kool Herc's groundbreaking techniques to the emergence of emceeing and the Zulu Nation, discover how hip hop became a powerful force of expression and social change.

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Herc & The Bronx B-Boys

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  1. “Rap is something you do, Hip Hop is something you live”~ KRS-One Herc & The Bronx B-Boys

  2. Hip Hop Manifests via... • Postindustrialization • Communication and Expression/style • (re)Claiming space • Appropriation of text and technology • Social justice • Class and racial inequities • Lack of resources, structural racism, etc. • Youth identity formation, given a purpose/voice “we are here, we have something to give to the world” • Opposition to dominant culture (subculture?) • Anti-Disco? • Competition

  3. The 4(ish) Elements • Djing (and thus beatmaking) • Breaking=physical manifestation of hip hop • Bombing/Writing=communication through NYC...subways and trains as SCREENS • Pre-existed hip hop (1967, Cornbread from Philly), but absorbed into it • Emceeing • Beatboxing, Fashion, Business, Vernacular?

  4. Could hip hop music exist before hip hop culture?

  5. Caribbean Influence • Adaptation of soul • Jamaican Sound System • Sound Clash • Dub Music=Version • Toasting=Rap • Selectah=DJ • DJ=MC • Musical ownership

  6. Hebdige • Sound system= feedback loop w/ audience • “And it is at the sound system that the barrier between the fans and stars is least noticeable” (Hebdige p. 88) • The “original version takes on new life and meaning in a fresh context…. Everybody has a chance to make a contribution. And no one's version is treated as Holy Writ” (Hebdige p. 14)

  7. Other Influences

  8. Rose • Hip hop is a bi-product of: • Deindustrialization • Gentrification/Urban Renewal • City (near) bankruptcy • Class gaps • Limited means • Hip hop is about: • Fame/Status, Style/Identity, Appropriation/Critique Via Style, Turf, Competition

  9. DJ Kool Herc • Father of Hip Hop • From Kingston • Brought sound clash/system aesthetics to urban America and flipped it • Gave “jams”, first one Aug. 11, 1973 at 1520 Sedgwick Ave (Cedar Park) • “Merry go round” technique using the break or “get down” part of a record

  10. Herc Cont'd • Herculoids=Herc's crew • Became biggest DJ in Bronx • Known for his powerful system, the Herculords • DJs battled for territories • 1974 ish, Coke La Rock grabs the mic • ^First Emcee

  11. Park Jams

  12. B-Boys=Break Boys • Amongst many things Herc is credited as first to: 1) isolate the break 2) use two copies of the same record to create a loop 3) dig for non-pop records • ^^^the foundation of hip hop aesthetics^^^ • “Simply by being so bold as to make previous musical history the material of his own creation, Herc made the DJ an author, the originator…he freed music from its old context and integrated it within the ‘process of composition’” (Poschardt 1998, p.163)

  13. “Hip hop has always been articulated via commodities and engaged in the revision of meanings attached to them.” (Rose 1994, p. 41)

  14. Importance of what Herc did? • Changed how we listen to music (or were supposed to) • Brought out the energy of the break, and began to isolate it for the dancers • Found raw, edgy, and non-mainstream music, often with long Latin percussive elements in the break • Collectively identified as the “inventor” of hip hop

  15. “All of them was sitting in your house—they were all your mom's old and pop's old records,” says pioneering DJ Jazzy Jay, “Soon as Kool Herc started playing, every motherfucker started robbing his mother and father for records” The Breakbeats

  16. Herc's Breakbeats • “Give it Up, Turn it Loose” (1970) • “Apache” (1973) • “Bongo Rock” (1973) • “The Mexican” (1972) • “Scorpio” (1971) • “It's Just Begun” (1972)

  17. Rose Cont'd • “Hip hop remains a never-ending battle for status, prestige, and group adoration, always in formation, always contested, and never fully achieved” (p. 36) • Hip Hop's stylistic continuities: • 1) FLOW • 2) Layering • 3) Ruptures in line

  18. Hip Hop Years Pt. 1 • How was hip hop also anti-disco? • What is the Zulu Nation? • Why didn't DJs let other DJs know their beats? • Beyond exclusive beats and sound system loudness, how did DJ battles evolve into skills-based competition? • How did emceeing evolve within hip hop?

  19. Hip hop takes all other types of music (and culture) and MAKES it hip hop!!! It reinvents the past and reinvents ways of doing things to be original and have a unique style!!!

  20. Afrika Bambaataa • Former Black Spade • Started the Universal Zulu Nation • “Master of Records” and “Godfather” of hip hop • First DJ to get accepted in the “downtown” new wave/punk scene • First to call all 4 elements “hip hop”

  21. Grandmaster Flash • Innovator and “inventor” of techniques • Retrofitting technology • Musical collage through “cutting” 2 of the same records • (re)Composition

  22. NYC Blackout of '77 • NY77: The Coolest Year in Hell • Most of NYC has no power for one day • Significant for 2 reasons to hip hop: • 1) It brought a TON of media attention, mostly negative, to the South Bronx • This attention would eventually shine on hip hop • 2) Much of the looting happened at stereo stores and clubs. Within days there were new DJ/MC crews with nice equipment • DEMOCRACY because of ACCESS!!!

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