THE THHM TIMELINE 60s & 70s

The Complete History of Hip Hop

Although widely synonymous with rap music today, hip-hop actually got its start as a full-on cultural movement in the 1970s. For the first few decades that the term was around, hip-hop wasn’t just about music: it also referred to art, style, dance, and philosophy.
1979
Aerosol Art
lbj signs civil rights act 1280 x 720 millercentorofpublicaffairs

Lee Quinones and Fab 5 Freddy Are Given a Gallery Opening in Rome

In 1979, graffiti artist Lee Quinones and Fab 5 Freddy were given a gallery opening in Rome by art dealer Claudio Bruni at his Galleria La Medusa. For many who lived outside of New York, it was their first encounter with the graffiti art form.

1960
World Events
civilRights1960

The Civil Rights Act of 1960

The Civil Rights Act of 1960 (Pub.L. 86–449, 74 Stat. 89, enacted May 6, 1960) established federal inspection of local voter registration polls and introduced penalties for anyone who obstructed someone’s attempt to register to vote.

1962
World Events

The Freedom Singers

A group of singers attending Albany State College (Albany, GA) organized an a capella group known as The Freedom Singers. Their songs and chants – brought to a national stage by activist/singer Pete Seeger – helped draw attention to civil rights issues and segregation and raised money for the fledgling Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), a group that would play a pivotal role in raising awareness and then defeating the Jim Crow laws in the segregationist South.

1962
DJing

Birth of the Breakbeat

James Brown recorded Live At The Apollo. Brown’s drummer Clayton Fillyau introduced a sound that is now known as the breakbeat. The breakbeat would later inspire the b-boy movement, as breakers danced to these beats at parties.

1963
World Events

March on Washington

In the wake of the violent attacks on non-violent protesters in Birmingham, Alabama earlier in the year, more than a quarter-million people attended the March on Washington event and gathered in front of the Lincoln Memorial. There, Martin Luther King delivered his “I Have A Dream” speech. The march and assembly on The Mall also featured musical performances from the likes of opera singer Marian Anderson, Joan Baez, Bob Dylan, and Mahalia Jackson.

1964
World Events
lbj signs civil rights act 1280 x 720 millercentorofpublicaffairs

President Lyndon Johnson Signs the Civil Rights Act of 1964 Ending Segregation

In the aftermath of a series of urban revolts in Philadelphia, PA, Jersey City, NJ, Rochester, and New York City, NY earlier that year, President Lyndon Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964 into law, effectively ending segregation in public places and banning employment discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, or national origin.

1964
World Events
cassius clay gold 1960 rome newyorkdailynews

Cassius Clay Earns the Moniker “The Louisville Lip”

After winning a gold medal as a light heavyweight boxer in the 1960 Olympics at the age of 18, Cassius Clay turned pro that same year and, in February, 1964, he won the heavyweight crown from Sonny Liston in a major upset. Clay’s rhyming/poetry skills had earned him the moniker “The Louisville Lip” and the night before the fight, he released a lengthy poem in which he describes the fight and how “Clay lands with a right/what a beautiful swing/And the punch raised the bear clear out of the ring/Liston still rising and the ref wears a frown/But he can’t start counting until Sonny comes down.”

1964
World Events
5percenters

The Five Percenter Youth Movement Is Launched in Harlem

Clarence 13X Smith a.k.a. “Allah” formed the Five Percenters in Harlem. Thousands of young Blacks and Latinos pledged allegiance to the philosophy of the Five Percenters. Their influence permeated throughout the streets of urban America, the school system, rap music, and the penal institutions. A former member of Elijah Muhammad’s Nation of Islam (NOI), Allah had studied under Minister Malcolm X at the Harlem Mosque in the early 60’s. He left the organization and went on to found a youth movement based on the core doctrine of the NOI and his own lessons, which were referred to as “Supreme Mathematics” and “Supreme Alphabets.”

April 1964
DJing

First Stereophonic Disco Systems

The first stereophonic disco systems made their debut at the 1964 World’s Fair in New York. These systems, featured in both the “Canada-A-Go-Go” and “Carnival-A-Go-Go” sound systems, were designed by audio engineer Alex Rosner, a young Holocaust survivor who stayed alive in Auschwitz by playing accordion with his father, a violinist, and entertaining the guards there and who, after the war, became an engineer in the U.S. As a hobby (and spurred on by his love of music), he went on to to perfect audio recording/playback technologies and develop the first stereo mixer for use in nightclubs.

1965
Emceeing
soniaSanchez

Black Power Poets Join Forces in Harlem

Black Power poets Amiri Baraka (aka the “Malcolm X of Literature”) and Sonia Sanchez joined forces in Harlem, NY to bring their works, which spoke to the reality of inner-city living to black communities, to America. These two poets, and others, went on to deliver their poems by reading them aloud to audiences inside and out, often accompanied by jazz or blues music and inviting participants to respond to their words in the call-and-response format so well known in black churches.

1965
World Events
malcolmX

Malcolm X Is Assassinated

In New York City, Malcolm X, an African American nationalist and religious leader, is assassinated by rival Black Muslims while addressing his Organization of Afro-American Unity at the Audubon Ballroom in Washington Heights.

1965
World Events
votingrightact 1965 britannica

Congress Passes the Voting Rights Act of 1965

After a riotous urban revolt in Watts – a poverty-stricken district in Los Angeles, CA – and the nationally-televised horror of the police response to the march for voting rights from Montgomery to Selma, Alabama, Congress passed the Voting Rights Act of 1965. This law intended to overcome legal barriers at the state and local levels that prevented African-Americans from exercising their rights to vote (as guaranteed under the 15th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution).

1965
World Events

Oscar Brown, Jr. Writes “Forty Acres and a Mule”

Chicago, IL-born poet, playright, radio broadcaster/journalist, and community activist Oscar Brown, Jr. wrote the song “Forty Acres and a Mule” for his performance in a concert in Washington, DC that commemorated the 100-year anniversary of the promise – later recanted by President Andrew Johnson – that had been made by Union General Sherman, where freed slaves would get a fresh start after the Civil War. “Forty Acres and a Mule” would go on to inspire rappers Kanye West (in “All Falls Down”) and Jay-Z (in “Say Hello”) for their modernized takes on the topic of reparations. Brown himself appeared at and performed from his catalog during a 2002 episode of HBO’s “Russell Simmons Presents Def Poetry”.

May 1966
DJing

Hank Spann “The Server” Inspires Early MCs

Hank Spann, AKA “The Server” possessed a deep voice, and his on-air rhyming (“two steps to the rear, and I’m outta here” was his daily sign-off) inspired many early-generation club MCs. Grandmaster Flowers’ MC – KC, The Prince of Soul – was one of the originators of talking over the DJ’s music. KC stated he “was just imitating Hank Spann from New York City’s WWRL radio station.” Harlem’s DJ Hollywood, the forerunner of the club scene in Harlem during the early 1970s, was known even better than KC for talking over the records he played.

In an interview for the documentary “Behind The Mic and On The Set: The Legends of New York Radio,” rappers Kurtis Blow and Melle Mel reminisced about Spann and how he figured into the evolution of early rap MCs – “The MCs were all trying to imitate Hank Spann”.

1966
Other
cassettetape Scotch27290

The “Audio Cassette” Is Introduced

In 1963, while manufacturers Muntz and Lear were introducing the 4-track and 8-track tape cartridges (respectively) to consumers, Dutch electronics giant Philips introduced a format based on a miniaturized (and self-contained) version of a reel-to-reel tape set-up – the “audio cassette”. Through its Mercury record label, Philips introduced pre-recorded cassette tapes to retail consumers in the U.S. in September, 1966, with full albums selling for $4.95 in the U.S. (about twice the cost of a blank cassette tape). Consumers were now able to buy easy-to-use recorder/players. The company also released a $150 retail player for the car. Within five years, music on cassette tapes would account for nearly 30% of total retail sales.
In an interview for the documentary “Behind The Mic and On The Set: The Legends of New York Radio,” rappers Kurtis Blow and Melle Mel reminisced about Spann and how he figured into the evolution of early rap MCs – “The MCs were all trying to imitate Hank Spann”.

October 15, 1966
World Events
BLACK PANTHER PARTY atlantablackstar

Black Panther Party for Self-Defense Is Founded by Two College Students in Oakland, CA

Two Merritt Junior College students – Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale – founded the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense in West Oakland, California. Better known as the “Black Panther Party”, the organization looked to expose ALL who exploit African-Americans – primarily, capitalists – and build a plan that provides for – and lift out of poverty and all its trappings – communities of color in the cities the Panthers served. In an interview for the documentary “Behind The Mic and On The Set: The Legends of New York Radio,” rappers Kurtis Blow and Melle Mel reminisced about Spann and how he figured into the evolution of early rap MCs – “The MCs were all trying to imitate Hank Spann”.

1967
Aerosol Art
blackArtsMovement

The Black Arts Movement

The Black Arts Movement – art organizations arising from the growth and strength of the Black Power movement – began to express itself via numerous examples of public art. These included the 20 ft. x 60 ft. outdoor mural “Wall of Respect,” painted by several artists (Sylvia Abernathy, Jeff Donaldson, William Walker and others from the Organization of Black American Culture’s local arts chapter) on the facade of a building at 43rd St. and Langley Ave. on Chicago’s South Side. It depicted a number of heroes of Black history and culture such as Malcolm X, Martin Luther King, Marcus Garvey, Muhammad Ali, Aretha Franklin, and a number of other luminaries.

1967
World Events
teacherStrike

Teacher Strike Shuts Down NYC Schools for Two Months

The teacher’s union shut down NYC schools over racially-charged community control. On the fall of 1968, more than 50,000 New York City teachers went on strike for a total of 37 days in three separate walkouts that kept more than a million students out of the classroom.

1967
Other
Frankie Crocker dating 2 mancrushes.com

“You get so much with the Frankie Crocker touch”

WWRL radio (“Super 1600”) in NYC DJ Frankie Crocker gained popularity with his local audiences via his use of boastful, rhyming intros and fills between songs he’d play on his show (e.g., “You get so much with the Frankie Crocker touch”, “Tall, tan, young, and fine. Anytime you want me, baby, reach out for me. I’m your guy. Just as good to you as it is for you”). His popularity paid off when he moved to the larger station WBLS-FM in the early 1970s, where he played an eclectic mix of music from the R&B, Soul, Jazz, and Reggae genres in his roles as radio DJ and program director. As a big-time radio staple, Crocker’s raps “served as much a model for the first-generation MCs as [they do] for the harder rhymes of Caz or the Funky 4+1.”

1967
Aerosol Art
Bomb It Cornbread 1967 Philadelphia blogspot

“Tags” of Writers Begin to Appear

Towards the end of the 1960s, signatures or “tags” of writers started to appear around the city of Philadelphia, PA, with the first documented name-writers being taggers such as Cornbread, Cool Earl, Kool Klepto Kidd, and Topcat 126. Often working as crews (more modeled after college fraternities than street gangs, different crews competed against each other, and then partied about their exploits. According to many sources, Darryl “Cornbread” McCray, then a troublemaker living in Philadelphia’s Youth Development Center, was often regarded as “father of modern graffiti” who began his career writing “Cornbread Love Cynthia” around town in order to woo his crush at the time.

1968
Aerosol Art
topCat

The Seeds of the NYC Writers Movement Are Planted

The seeds of the NYC graffiti movement were planted when a Philly-based writer moves to the Manhattanville projects just north of 125th street and begins using the tag TOPCAT 126 on walls in his new neighborhood.

1968
Aerosol Art
savage skulls group rapgenius

Stylized Text Tags Are Made

Stylized text tags made by one of New York City’s first graffiti artists – Julio 204 (a resident of Upper Manhattan’s Inwood, who lived on 204th street and was reportedly a member of the Hispanic/African-American “Savage Skulls” street gang) – began to appear around his neighborhood.

1968
World Events
mlkRfk

Assassinations of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Senator Robert Kennedy

In 1968, we saw the assassinations of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Senator Robert Kennedy. Soon after, violent protests took place in April in more than 100 cities across the U.S. Singer James Brown released “Say It Loud – I’m Black And I’m Proud,” a single that he hoped would serve to clearly express his identity as a proud black man and give his fellow African-Americans something to take to heart and sing out loud.

1968
World Events
pigmeat

Pigmeat Markham Releases “Here Comes the Judge”

“Here Comes the Judge” is a song and single by American soul and comedy singer Pigmeat Markham first released in 1968 on the Chess label. The record entered the UK charts in July 1968, spending eight weeks on the charts and reaching 19 as its highest position. The song originated with his signature comedy routine “heyeah (here) come da judge”, which made a mockery of formal courtroom etiquette. Due to its rhythmic use of boastful dialogue, it is considered a precursor to hip hop music.

1968
World Events
blackspadegang newyorkdailynews

Teen Gangs Organize to Fight Injustice

A teen gang, named the Savage Seven, hit the streets. Originating from the Bronxdale Housing Project in the Soundview section of the Bronx, NYC, Savage Seven later changed its name to Black Spades while under the leadership of their “warlord” Afrika Bambaataa. The Black Spades officially formed in Junior High School 123 on Morrison Ave. in Soundview. Originally a teenage street organization, the gang followed the teachings of Malcolm X and the Nation Of Islam and were also influenced by more “radical” groups, including the Black Panthers and the Weather Underground Organization. The Spades organized to fight against the racism, bigotry, and the spread of crime and drugs they experienced in their neighborhoods. They quickly spread to nearby housing projects and elsewhere throughout the Bronx.

1968
Aerosol Art
UniversityofNantee 1968 France

Arts and Politics Come Together as a Byproduct of Protest

Art and politics came together most noticeably as a byproduct of the student protests and strikes of May1968 in Paris, France. Protests by students at the University of Nanterre that had been quashed by the police led to protests of solidarity by students at the Sorbonne in Paris which spiraled into a general strike and a near shutdown of French President Charles de Gaulle’s government. Soon after, local revolutionaries, anarchists, and others expressed their displeasure with the status quo by painting/stenciling graffiti and hanging posters city-wide supporting the strikes and student uprising. Sloganeering reached new heights of creativity: quotes from French poet Arthur Rimbaud were painted alongside those of Russian revolutionary Mikhail Bakunin (“The passion of destruction is a creative joy”).

1968
Emceeing
lastpoetshiphop 01 milwaukeeindependent.com

The Last Poets Are Officially Organized

An ever-changing roster of revolutionary African-American and Latino poets and musicians began working together in NYC, with their first performances commencing shortly after the 1965 assassination of Malcolm X. They organized themselves formally in 1968 as “The Last Poets”. Following a get-together at Marcus Garvey Park on May 19, 1968 (on what would have been Malcolm X’s 43rd birthday), the group coalesced via a 1969 Harlem writers’ workshop known as East Wind. The British music magazine NME stated, “Serious spokesmen like Gil Scott-Heron, The Last Poets, and later Gary Byrd, paved the way for the many socially-committed Black [emcees] a decade later.”

July 1969
World Events
youngLords

The Young Lords Party Is Founded

A group of young Latinos mostly Puerto Rican students from SUNY-Old Westbury, Queens College and Columbia University. stood in the band shell in Tompkins Square Park, in the East Village, and made an announcement. They were founding a New York branch of a revolution-minded political party called the Young Lords.

Inspired by the Black Panthers and an earlier street-gang-turned-activist Young Lords group in Chicago, their purpose was to gain social justice for New York’s working-class Latino population, then largely Puerto Rican and treated with contempt by the city government. To gain the trust and cooperation of Latino communities — concentrated in the East Village, East Harlem and the South Bronx — they knew they needed to get their feet on the street, and they wasted no time. The next day they started a “garbage offensive” in East Harlem – the Barrio – pulling mounds of trash left festering by the city’s sanitation department into the middle of Third Avenue and setting the refuse alight.

1969
DJing
DJPeteJones Turntables

Pete “DJ” Jones Spins Doubles

Popular club DJ Pete “DJ” Jones, using some Sony microphone mixers (no cross-faders, and with a cue function) along with two turntables, spun two copies of the same record (typically 45 RPM singles) simultaneously, which allowed him to use the record’s “breakdown” parts to greatly extend the playtime of that song.

1969
DJing
Francis Grasso rutherfordaudio.com

DJ Francis Grasso Develops “Beatmatching”

DJ Francis Grasso, a popular soul music disc jockey from New York who worked at nightclubs including Salvation II, Tarots, and Sanctuary (in a former church at 9th Ave. at 43rd Street), used two turntables, headphones, and a good ear to develop a technique that allowed him to preview a record on one turntable while another one played on the second (with both records having songs with the same tempo, or “beat”). He called this technique “beatmatching” and it allowed him to seamlessly transition from one song to the next without missing a beat, records with matching beats, or tempos.

1969
DJing
GMFlowers blogspot

Grandmaster Flowers Opens for James Brown

Brooklyn DJ Jonathan Flowers AKA “Grandmaster Flowers” opened for James Brown at a concert at Yankee Stadium in New York. Greatly influenced by the “sound systems” in the islands of the Caribbean (where Flowers was born) and one of the earliest DJs to mix songs together into one continuous sequence, Flowers went on to motivate many other local DJs to improve upon his initial innovations. It was Flowers who first used the term “Grandmaster” to describe his spinning/mixing prowess.

1969
Break Dancing
jamesbrowngoodfoot themusicuniverse

“The Good Foot” Becomes “Breakdancing”

Although “The Hustle” was the most-popular dance at the time, after James Brown released his hit single “Get on the Good Foot” and premiered his soon-to-be-patented dance move to accompany the song (likewise known as “The Good Foot”), denizens of the dance clubs of the era (such as Harlem World at 116th Street in Harlem) would battle each other to see who could perform the dance in the most-athletic ways possible. The Good Foot, which was later called “B-Boy” and, shortly after that “Breakdancing”, or “Breaking”, was much simpler than the Breaking we see today.

1969
World Events

Sly & The Family Stone’s Stand

In a song that would be sampled by rappers including Ice Cube, LL Cool J, and the Jungle Brothers and later covered by the Jackson 5 and Tony! Toni Tone!, Sly & The Family Stone’s “Stand!” inspired listeners to rise up and take a stand on behalf of themselves, their beliefs, and their communities. If listeners were also inspired to get up and dance, all the better.

1969
Aerosol Art
graffitiGangs

Tagging Becomes a Sign of Gang Involvement

Some writers curtailed their activities when local street gangs expressed their dissatisfaction with the actions of non-gang-related writers who would tag walls and light poles inside their turf. Some of the writers were in gangs such as the Black Spades, the Ghetto Brothers, and the Savage Skulls. They led double lives, writing for their gangs as well as under their own monikers.

1970
Break Dancing
don campbell creator of Locking

Locking in Los Angeles

Don Campbell developed a special stiff-limbed dancing method called “locking” and put it on display at a club in South Los Angeles called Maverick’s Flat (“the Apollo of the West”). Other local dancers Scoo B Doo and Fred “ReRun” Berry joined in to further popularize the style.

1970
Aerosol Art
graffiti on icecreamtruck

Writers Begin to Establish Themselves in the NYC Area

Graffiti artists/writers began to establish themselves in the NYC area. Some were street gang members, tagging benches, walls, and bus stops with their gang’s names in order to mark their territories. Others simply wanted to promote their own art, adopting nicknames that indicated the building numbers of the streets on which they lived.

1970
DJing

James Brown’s Percussive Influence

James Brown released two songs that would further influence the drum programming in today’s rap music – “Get Up (I Feel Like Being a) Sex Machine”, with John Starks playing drum, and “Funky Drummer” with Clyde Stubblefield providing the propulsive percussion.

March 1970
DJing
robert moog wp

Robert Moog Creates the Minimoog Portable Synthesizer

While development of the first portable synthesizer began as a collaboration between inventor Robert Moog and musician/composer/Hofstra University professor Herbert Deutsch in June of 1964, it took several years and a number of prototypes before the release of the Moog Minimoog Model D, the first portable music synthesizer with an integrated keyboard. Early examples of the use of the Minimoog on funk/Hip Hop tracks include James Brown trombonist Fred Wesley’s 1974 track “Blow Your Head,” Public Enemy’s “Public Enemy #1,” several Bernie Worrell-driven Parliament/Funkadelic tracks, songs by Aaliyah, Digable Planets, Ice Cube, De La Soul, and many others. Robert Moog went on to develop another heavily-used electronic music instrument –“The Vocoder” – which synthesizes the human voice. Afrika Bambaataa’s “Planet Rock” is perhaps one of the most impressive examples of that instrument being used in early Hip Hop recordings.

1970
Emceeing

DJ U-Roy Charts with Toasting Style

DJ U-Roy invaded Jamaican pop charts with three top ten songs using a style known as “toasting”.

1970
Emceeing

The Last Poets Release Their Self-Titled Debut Album

The Last Poets released their self-titled debut album on Douglas Records, combining jazz instrumentations with heartfelt spoken word.

1971
Break Dancing

Aretha’s “Rock Steady”

Aretha Franklin released from the album Young, Gifted and Black a well-known b-boy song, “Rock Steady.” Later in the decade, The Rock Steady Crew dancers would go on to rule in the world of breakdancing, with members all across the globe.

1971
Aerosol Art
CornBread Graffiti lectrics.fr

Philly Tagger Cornbread Marks Himself in the Philadelphia Zoo

When it was mistakenly reported in the local press that he had been killed in a gang shooting, top Philly tagger Cornbread decided to do something spectacular to prove that he was not only still alive, he was at the top of his game. So taking his trusty paints, he snuck in to the Philadelphia Zoo and scaled the wall of the elephant area to paint his name on both sides of a large pachyderm. This stunt got him arrested, and even the cops at the local jail where he was being held wanted to get his autograph! He’d gain even further fame later when he braved to tag the jet airliner carrying The Jackson Five after landing in Philly prior to a concert there.

1971
Aerosol Art
taki 183 graffiti

“Taki” Becomes a Standout Tagger in Washington Heights

One of several graffiti writers working in the Washington Heights neighborhood of NYC (including “Greg” and not one but two “Phil T Greek”s), TAKI 183 was a young teen of Greek heritage. While working as a deliveryman around the city, he always brought along his markers to leave his tag throughout the area. His given name was Demetrius, but TAKI was a popular nickname in his culture and he lived on 183rd Street, so he chose that as his moniker. He was so prolific and unafraid to tag everything everywhere that he drew the attention of a reporter from the New York Times, who interviewed TAKI 183 for an article in the 7/21/71 edition of the paper, raising his fame and the art of tagging to new heights. TAKI 183 started a trend among graffiti artists to compete to have their names on as many walls and buildings around New York City as possible, but few were as prolific as him.

1971
Aerosol Art
cay 161

The 116th Street Subway Station and Bethesda Fountain Are Tagged

In an activity later made famous in Norman Mailer’s book on the topic (The Faith of Graffiti), two artists (CAY 161 and JUNIOR 161) painted – from top to bottom – the walls of the 116th Street subway station. That same year, after braving the climb up an angel’s wings, CAY 161 also painted the wing on the angel in Bethesda Fountain in Central Park.

1971
Aerosol Art
fdt

Frank Del Toro Brings Aerosol Writing to Commuter Trains Throughout NYC

South Bronx, NY-based Frank Del Toro, originally a senior member of the Ex-Vandals writing crew (first established in Brooklyn and branching out thereafter), brought his FDT56 artwork to commuter trains all through NYC. He helped to revolutionize aerosol writing with his efforts, and teams of writers began to spring up all over the area.

1971
Aerosol Art
phase2

Lonny Wood Rises to Fame with “Bubble Letters”

Beginning his career in 1971 as an aerosol writer with a particular fondness for the local subway train cars that ran through his Bronx neighborhood, Lonny Wood – AKA “Phase 2” – rose to fame locally when he began to use “bubble letters” when writing his name, helping his tags stand out from the rest. This pseudo-3D style caught on quickly, with other local artists adapting this style and customizing it to their own likings. Phase would modify his lettering – puffing it out, adding flourishes, etc. – with each application so it would appear differently each time a train car with his tag on it would roll by. By the mid-70s, he’d become a much-requested artist for local party flyers as well, joining the fledgling graffiti art collective United Graffiti Artists in 1975, where his work attracted much attention in the media.

April 1971
Emceeing

“The Revolution Will Not Be Televised” is Considered the First Rap Single

“The Revolution Will Not Be Televised” was a song – in reality, more of a poem intoned over a drums/bass rhythm track – originally recorded by performer Gil Scott-Heron for his 1970 album “Small Talk at 125th and Lenox” – with a title based on a popular “Black Power” slogan from the 1960s. The song was a response to a spoken word track found on “When the Revolution Comes” by Black Nationalist group The Last Poets that was included on their debut album – one that opens with the line “When the revolution comes some of us will probably catch it on TV”. In a hotly-debated contention, some historians consider this the first “rap” single – a claim not denied by the late Scott-Heron. – Whether it was or it wasn’t, it has been featured prominently on many rap records since, including tracks from Common, KRS-One, Snoop Dogg, and others. Let Freedom Sing.

1971
World Events
bankrupt NY Neighborhood

New York City is Nearly Bankrupt

In the early 1970s, New York City was nearly bankrupt. The resulting cuts in basic services, combined with the construction of an expressway that cut through the heart of the area, led to increased poverty, crime and general chaos. These birthed the many street gangs that formed to protect what was theirs in the various neighborhoods in which they lived.

1971
World Events
hoeAvenue

Hoe Avenue Peace Meeting

Neither law enforcement nor social agency could end the escalating bloodshed of street gangs in New York. It was a 1971 gathering of 40 of New York’s biggest gangs in a Bronx Boys Club to broker a peace treaty that would virtually eradicate gang violence in the Bronx overnight. The peace treaty forged by one of those gangs (the Ghetto Brothers, led by Yellow Benjy, after member Cornell Benjamin AKA Black Benjy – a “peace counselor” on a peacekeeping mission – was killed and his mother pleaded for peace in the name of her slain son), with many of the others in the area, was put in place. Following that, the gangs found themselves expressing their differences and challenging each other not with acts of violence, and instead through music, dance parties, and competitions. From those and the subsequent house parties, the resulting peace made attendance in other parts of the city a bit safer. It grew the seeds of some of the elements that comprise Hip Hop culture.

1971
DJing
DJFrancisGrasso discopatrick

DJ Francis Grasso Acquires First DJ Mixer

The first real DJ mixer was custom-designed by Alex Rosner for DJ Francis Grasso at the Haven Club. Though it was never available at retail, the red-painted “Rosie” featured two turntable inputs along with a microphone input and the ability to assign either of the sound sources to a headphone output – a step up in ease-of-use, even for talented DJs such as Grasso.

1971
DJing
bozakcma102dl

First Stereo DJ Mixer by Alex Rosner Becomes Widely Available

The first widely available stereo DJ mixer, the Bozak CMA-10-2DL (based on a design by Alex Rosner), hit the market and made a huge impact in clubs around the country. The CMA featured a rotary design that included bass and treble EQ, panning, and a crisp sound based on the design and engineering created by Rosner that had already elevated mixing in clubs to a new standard.

1972
DJing
technics sl 1200 mk2 turntable

The Technics SL-1200 Turntable Arrives

While earlier DJ turntables, driven by belts or rubber wheels, were the standard before 1972, the advent of the Technics SL-1200 direct-drive turntable, which also included a handy pitch control that allowed users to speed up or slow down the records by as much as 8%, gave DJs a platform that provided them with the reliability, stability, and flexibility they needed to advance their abilities to a new level. The SL-1200 and subsequent models became the industry standard for record spinners, with production continuing for nearly 40 years.

1972
Emceeing
DJ Hollywood

DJ Hollywood Introduces Hip Hop Style Rapping

While working as a popular DJ in NYC-area clubs (including the Apollo), Anthony Holloway (AKA DJ Hollywood) worked to differentiate his shows by adding short lyrical/musical call and response vocal enhancements to his live mixes. Although not the first to use syncopated singing in this way, his ability to string together lyrical rhymes into an extended, continuous vocal to flow along with the music he was playing gave birth to what’s called “Hip Hop Style” rapping.

1972
Break Dancing

Dance Innovations out of Oakland, CA

The development of creeping, hitting, animation, and ticking began in and around Oakland, CA. The doll on a music box scene from “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang” (1967) was an inspiration for these movements. Black Messengers form and pioneer “Posing Hard” (later known as Hitting) the next year.

1972
Aerosol Art
nyc graffiti subway

Aerosol Art Becomes More Elaborate with 3-D Lettering

Aerosol writing became more elaborate – lettering grew in size and became more curvaceous, colorful, and even abstract. Signature “tags” became pseudo-3D lettering, and writers were bolder where they applied their artwork. Their focus was more on fame than on whatever legal/parental issues that they might have had to deal with.

May 1972
Aerosol Art
United Graffiti Artists named 1973

20 of the Best-known Taggers Get Their Own Workspace

After viewing street gangs’ work on the “Writer’s Corner” they established at 188th Street and Audubon Ave, City College sociology major Hugo Martinez, working with a federally-funded grant via Queens College to study street gangs, approached several NYC-area taggers (referred by members of the Young Galaxies gang) to see if they’d be interested in changing their venues from the city streets to a fully-equipped workshop. About 20 of the best-known taggers, including BAMA, Henry 161, Stitch 1, Snake 1, Cat 87, Coco 144, SJK 171, and others, joined forced to become the UGA, or United Graffiti Artists. Through this collective, graffiti artists brought their talents to galleries and more conventional canvases. UGA obtained various commissions, including decorating luxe city apartments, retail stores, and painting the backdrops for the Joffrey Ballet’s production of the choreographer Twyla Tharpe’s ballet “Deuce Coupe.”

1972
Aerosol Art
M2U3ZjM5OWMtYWExNS00YzUxLTgwNDAtZDBlYjE4YTNjMjE2 r2 3 screen shot 2020 04 27 at 4.34.54 pm

Competing Art Collectives Form in Other Areas in the City

In addition to the Writer’s Corner group, more competing art collectives formed in other areas around the boroughs. In Brooklyn, you’d find work by groups including Magic Inc., WAR (Writer’s Already Respected), the Vandals, and the Ex-Vandals (started by Undertaker Ash, with “Ex” standing for “Experienced”). In the Bronx, groups such as The Concourse, The Ebony Duke, The Independents, and The Union competed for attention. In Brooklyn, since the streets are named and not numbered, writers came up with more stylized scripts to help personalize their names.

1972
Aerosol Art
supercool 223 Graffiti

Writing Becomes a Serious Artistic Enterprise

At this point, writing had become a serious enterprise, with quality becoming more important to some than quantity, and groups of graffiti writers took more time and care when crafting their signature pieces. In the Bronx and Manhattan, there were two principal approaches to creating these works. One group (including writers such as Phase 2, Riff 180, and Super Cool 223) specialized in “pieces” (short for “masterpieces”) that featured trademark characters, slogans/lettering and, often, entire scenes akin to murals from past masters. The others – known as “hitters” and “bombers” – stuck with their plans to spread their simpler signature tags to as many train cars, billboards, and buildings as time and paint supplies would allow.

1972
Aerosol Art
nycGraffiti

“Graffiti Pollutes the Eye and Mind”

After reading a New York Times editorial describing the city’s graffiti problems, and seeing NY City Council president Sanford Garelick’s statement that graffiti “pollutes the eye and mind,” which was followed by his callout to citizens to band together in an all-out war on this “pollution”, Mayor Lindsay declared the first “war on graffiti” in late June 1972. Anyone caught on municipal property with an open aerosol paint can was fined and jailed. That’s The Joint.

1973
Emceeing
Kool Herc Herculords partyFlyer

Kool Herc & The Herculords

DJ Kool Herc asked his friend/musical partner Coke La Rock to utter some improvised rhymes to please the crowds at parties. Coke La Rock and Clark Kent form the first emcee team – joined by dancers Sau Sau and Tricksy – and were the group known as “Kool Herc & The Herculords”. That was the first time 3 of the 4 elements of Hip Hop came together: The DJ (Kool Herc), the MC (Coke La Rock), and the B-Boys: Trixie, Wallace DEE, and Dancin’ Doug.

August 13, 1973
DJing
DJKool Herc PartyFlyer

DJ Kool Herc Deejays at 1520 Sedgwick Ave.

DJ Kool Herc deejayed his first party (to celebrate his sister’s birthday and earn a little “going back to school” money) in the basement of the apartment at 1520 Sedgwick Avenue, Bronx, NY (with a 50-cent admission for guys, 25 cents for girls). Using a borrowed, double-amped, two turntable sound system, Herc wowed the 100+ people in attendance by stretching the “break” parts in the songs he’d selected, using two turntables simultaneously and mixing in both records before the break ended. His friend Clark Kent brought Herc a second copy of the Incredible Bongo Band’s “Bongo Rock”, which he then mixed into an extended dance break. Many of Hip Hop’s original DJs/MCs claim to have witnessed this seminal event.

1973
DJing

Herc Coins the “Merry Go Round” and “Break Boys”

Kool Herc had created a new music phenomenon wherein he played the same record on two turntables. He then took the small “Break” in the song—which was usually a drum or horn solo—and repeated it over and over. This was called “the Merry Go Round”. It was also the first time these Dancers came together and were dancing and started “going off” on just the “Break” in the song. That’s where Herc and Coke started calling them “B-Boys” or “Break Boys”. This is also when “Burning” started to evolve into B-Boy dancing.

1973
Break Dancing

Hevelo, Where the First B-Boys and B-Girls Go Off

In late 1973, Herc took his music to the Hevelo Club on the other side of Jerome and Burnside. The Hevelo became the place where B-Boys started to really “go off” each weekend. People came from far and wide to see them. This is where they first started to “go to the ground” and do more complicated dance moves. These dances were done in a big circle. They wowed the crowd.

At the Hevelo you now had more people B-Boy dancing: Teenie Rock, The “Nigga Twins” (now referred to as the Legendary Twins), Clark Kent, SaSa and the Amazing Bobo, James Bond, Rossy, Chubby, Chip the Hustle King, and Eldorado Mike. You also had the first B-Girls: Dancin Doll, Ailleen, Gracie, Duesy, Kimmie, and Janet. These were the first Pioneers of B-Boy and B-Girls.

1973
Break Dancing
zuluKings onbench wp

The Zulu Kingz Breakdance Crew

Local gang-leader/community activist/dance party host Afrika Bambaataa started one of the first Breakdance crews, known as the Zulu Kings, who specialized in “Old-Style Breaking” consisting mostly of floor work, or Floor Rock, which involved many extremely complicated – and very fast – leg moves. The Zulu Kings won many dance battles and talent shows and also performed at various clubs around New York.

November 1973
Emceeing
afrika bambaataa

Afrika Bambaataa Brings Uses Hip Hop Culture For Social Change

In late 1973, former gang leader Afrika Bambaataa chose to devote more of his time to his work as a DJ focused on the burgeoning Hip Hop culture, participating in many park jams, block parties, and clubs. Now the leader of a more-peaceful organization known as the Universal Zulu Nation, Bambaataa gained fame for his parties at the Bronx River Center, particularly for his choice of music, with his sets including “deep cuts” from Soul (James Brown), Funk (Sly & The Family Stone, George Clinton’s “Parliament Funkadelic”, Rock (The Monkees and others), and reggae tracks from Jamaican “toasters” such as Uroy. Bambaataa and other DJs in his crew – Cool DJ Dee (and his brother, Tyrone the Mixologist) and MC Lovebug Starski – recognized that music, dancing, and art could be used as tools to address social injustice.

1973
Other

Martial Arts Influences African-American Culture

Although Bruce Lee’s hit martial arts film “Enter The Dragon” wasn’t the first kung fu film to attract African-American audiences in the U.S., it served as an example of the genre’s impact on the lives of young black males and how inner-city youths were entertained at the time. Kids of all ages responded well to the kung fu films, with the “one man against the world” theme often found in these films resonating well with the young male audience.

1973
Aerosol Art
graffiti1973

Quality in Art Becomes More Important Than Quantity

By now, writing had become a serious enterprise, with quality becoming more important to some than quantity. Groups of graffiti writers were taking more time and care when crafting their signature pieces. Two principal approaches to creating these works were established: one group specialized in “pieces” (short for “masterpieces”) that featured trademark characters, slogans/lettering and, often, entire scenes akin to murals from past masters, and the other group – known as “bombers” – stuck with their plans to spread their simpler signature tags to as many train cars, billboards, and buildings as time and paint supplies would allow.

1973
Aerosol Art
soulArtists

The Soul Artists Set Up Shop

Artist/musician Marc Andre Edmonds (AKA ALI), having survived the severe burns he suffered several years before, when the cans of paint he was using to tag subway trains in tunnels accidentally touched a live “third rail” and exploded, teamed with long-time friends and cohorts (including FUTURA 2000, COCA 82 and BILROCK 161) to form a legitimate art-making group called the Soul Artists. Setting up shop in a storefront at 107th St. and Columbus Ave., members would meet at this workshop each day to participate in one of the city’s legal “beautification projects”. Additionally, every Monday night writers from all over the city would come to share their stories and talents, meeting other writers and their fans, along with people better known in the fine art and photography worlds. Everyone in attendance shared their passions each had for their art form.

September 1973
Aerosol Art
UnitedGraffitiArtists UGA

United Graffiti Artists Become Legit In The Art World

From 1972 through ’76, United Graffiti Artists (UGA) transitioned the writers from trains and walls to canvas and galleries. Graffiti became less crime, more art. A show at the Razor Gallery in Soho NYC staged from Sept. 4-20, 1973 was arguably the first of its kind, highlighting UGA’s success as an “aboveground” (vs. underground) collective, despite the fact that UGA’s membership included some of the most-talented street and train graffiti artists of the time.

1973
Emceeing
the nuyorican poets cafe1

The Nuyorican Art Movement

Beginning its life in the Lower East Side (NYC) apartment of writer, poet, and Rutgers University professor Miguel Algarín (along with his friends/co-founders Lucky Cienfuegos, Miguel Piñero, and Bimbo Rivas), members of the Puerto Rican-American art, music, poetry, and writing collective known as the “Nuyorican” art movement launched a “Nuyorican Poets Cafe” series. As the membership in the group grew (moving into its own building on East 6th Street in 1975), so did its influence on the emerging rhythmic poetry/Hip Hop music scene.

1973
Other
mr.magic discoshowcase

Mr. Magic Launches “Disco Showcase”

Bronx-native John Rivas – a part-time electronics technician and radio broadcasting student AKA “Mr. Magic”, launched ‘Disco Showcase’ on pay-for-play network WHBI-FM in NYC, playing disco and breakbeats from 2-4AM. It became the first rap (pre-Hip Hop) radio show.

1973
Other
Afrika Bambaataa 6 Laura Levine Afrika Bambaataa

Zulu Nation Is Officially Formed

The Zulu Nation was officially formed by a student and local gang leader at the (now closed) Adlai E. Stevenson High school in the Bronx named Kevin Donovan. Donovan later changed his name to Afrika Bambaataa Aasim in honor of an ancient Zulu chief.

1974
Break Dancing

The Jackson 5’s Single “Dancing Machine”

The Jackson 5’s single “Dancing Machine” – released in February, 1974 – goes on to hit #1 on the Cash Box and #2 on the Billboard Hot 100 charts (hitting #1 on the R&B charts). Billboard Magazine ranked it as the #5 song for all of 1974. Selling over 3 million copies, live performances of the song also popularized the astonishing “Robot” dance technique (first perfected by LA-based Soul Train dance regular Charles “Robot” Washington in the late 1960s), with singing/dancing sensation Michael Jackson first performing the dance during a Jackson 5 performance of “Dancing Machine” on the March 11, 1973 episode of “Soul Train”.

1974
DJing
grandmasterflash josephSadler

Joseph Sadler Earns the Nickname “Grandmaster Flash”

Joseph Sadler, an aspiring DJ from the Bronx, used his knowledge of electronics learned at Samuel Gompers Vocational High School in the Bronx to construct a “cue monitor” for his DJ set up that allowed him to hear one record through his headphones while the other record was playing through the main speakers. This technological advantage, combined with his impressive hand-eye coordination that let him immediately switch from the same track spinning on two turntables through a mixer (thus extending the beat ad infinitum). It earned him the nickname “Grandmaster Flash” and the appreciation of local party crowds, which led to a regular spot at the Back Door venue.

1974
DJing
flashFlyer

The Culture Spreads

DJ’s working in the NYC clubs would record their performances and then use those pre-recorded “mixtapes” as stand-by entertainment if needed. These tapes where also sold on the street, through independent record dealers, or through mail order. Without mainstream media outlets to rely on, DJs mainly relied on word-of-mouth to increase their street credibility and the reach of their music.

October 1974
DJing
tdkTape

Word-of-Mouth and Mixtapes

DJ’s working in the NYC clubs would record their performances and then use those pre-recorded “mixtapes” as stand-by entertainment if needed. These tapes where also sold on the street and through independent record dealers or through mail order. Without mainstream media outlets to rely on, DJs mainly relied on word-of-mouth to increase their street credibility and the reach of their music.

1975
DJing

DJ Grandwizzard Theodore Invents “The Scratch”

As the story is told, 13-year-old Theodore Livingston – AKA DJ Grandwizzard Theodore and an apprentice under Grandmaster Flash – accidentally invented ‘the scratch’ while trying to hold a spinning record in place in order to listen to his mother, who was yelling at him for playing his music too loud in his room. In an interview with Troy Smith in 2005, Theodore recalled that the two singles he was using at the time were “Passport” and the Incredible Bongo Band’s “Bongo Rock”.

Theodore would also develop and master the “needle drop” technique that allowed him (and future DJs who’d copy the technique) to locate the exact spots on a record where the best breakbeats could be found, allowing him (with a mixer) to switch back and forth between these two simultaneously-running musical passages.

March 1975
DJing
DRB PeteDJJones Flyer 1978

Pete DJ Jones and his Protege Rocky Bucano (AKA Kool DJ Rock)

Standing 6’8”, Pete DJ Jones stood tall behind his mixing board at the popular Bronx nightclub known as the Stardust Ballroom. So when his teenage protege Rocky Bucano (AKA Kool DJ Rock) – himself also 6’8” tall – stepped in to take over Jones’ set at the club (he’d later become the regular DJ along with his Come Off Crew), it was a truly smooth transition.

September 1975
Aerosol Art
hugoMartinez

A 3-week Gallery Show Receives Backlash

In the three years since the UGA collective was formed in NYC, over 100 artists contributed their efforts to producing Studio Graffiti. As a result, the group’s work cried out for a formal gallery show. Organizer Hugo Martinez, working with curator Peter Schjeldahl and the Artist’s Space run by NY State’s Committee for the Visual Arts, staged a 3-week show which resulted in many art sales and further fame for the group. Unfortunately, many artists were angry that they were not “seeing any of the green.” They would later revolt, trashing the collective’s studio workshop and roughing up Martinez.

1975
Break Dancing

Granny & Robotroid, Inc.

Granny & Robotroid, Inc. wa founded by Deborah “Granny” Johnson (aka The Bay Area Granny). This was the first professional Bay Area Boogaloo/Robottin dance group, and the one that created and choreographed a new style of dance they called “Struttin”.

1976
DJing
bronxRiverCenter

DJ Afrika Bambaataa vs. Disco King Mario

DJ Afrika Bambaataa performed at the Bronx River Center. Bambaataa’s first battle against Disco King Mario sparked off the DJ battling that is now embedded in the culture.

1976
DJing
1976 DiscoFever

Disco Fever Dance Club Becomes a Hip Hop Hotspot

Albert Abbatiello and son Sal opened a dance club in the South Bronx called Disco Fever. While business was slow at first, when young Sal began to invite some of the more-popular local DJs to host parties on Tuesday nights at the club, the place soon became a local hot-spot. It was a place for both fans and purveyors of rap music to come and be seen/heard, and the Hip Hop theme quickly expanded to every night at the club. Grandmaster Flash was the principal DJ there beginning in 1977, and the venue would serve as the launching ground for a number of important artists including Kurtis Blow (who’d also release his first record on the in-house label – Fever Records).

1976
Emceeing
1976 Sha Rock

MC Sha-Rock Uses the Echo Chamber To Multiply Her Rhymes

Born in Wilmington, NC while raised in The Bronx section of NYC, Sharon Green joined the emerging local Hip Hop scene in 1976 as a break dancer (“b-girl”) before trying her hand as an MC and rapper as part of the pioneering rap group known as The Funky 4+1 (previously known as the Brothers Disco), with Sharon adopting the name Sha-Rock. Historically known as the first female rapper to land (as part of the Funky 4+1) a major record deal, their first single was released on the Sugarhill label in 1979: “Rapping and Rocking The House”. Affiliated with the Afrika Bambaataa’s Zulu Nation, MC Sha-Rock inspired the use of an echo chamber to multiply her rhymes, creating a style of rapping that would be emulated by a number of rap acts going forward.

1976
Break Dancing
tbb

The Bronx Boys Go Off!

By 1976, B-Boy dancing that had previously been solely/exclusively done by African American youth was out of the box. Our Boriqua Brothers began picking it up and taking it to another level. This was the introduction of TBB (The Bronx Boys) getting into the B-Boy culture and starting to do their own moves—which initially emulated the “Go Off” moves of the Original B-Boys.

1976
Break Dancing
kidFreeze

Kid Freeze, The Inventor of Many Moves

Bronx-born Clemente Moreno began breakdancing at the tender young age of 9 in 1976. Known as “Kid Freeze,” he is perhaps best known within the b-boy community as the inventor of the “continuous head spin” and many of the first “power moves” found in early break dancing such as “the windmill”, the “elbow spin”, and many others. Kid Freeze started out with the acrobatic dance troupe from Queens known as the “Dynamic Rockers” (later becoming their CEO) and would later go on to found the Street Masters Crew in 1984.

1977
Break Dancing

The Electric Boogaloos Are Founded

The Electric Boogaloos are a street dance crew responsible for the spread of popping and electric boogaloo. The name “Boogaloo” came from a song called “Do a Boogaloo” by James Brown, which was also adapted as a Boogaloo street dance done from Oakland, CA. They were founded by Boogaloo Sam in Fresno, California in 1977. Their original name was the Electric Boogaloo Lockers but “Lockers” was dropped the following year.

1977
Break Dancing
1977 rock steady crew

The Rock Steady Crew Is Founded

The Rock Steady Crew (one of the most-respected b-boy crews in history) was formed when two predominantly Latin-based dance groups – one from The Bronx (Jimmy Dee and JoJo Jimmy Lee) and the other from Manhattan – join forces, adding other notable members, including Richie “Crazy Legs” Colon (who joined in 1979, becoming the group’s President in 1981), Baby Love, Prince Ken Swift, Buck 4, Kuriaki, and Doze.

1977
DJing
1977 gli pmx 7000 dj school

GLI PMX 7000 Mixer Is Released

The GLI PMX 7000 Mixer was the first US-made mixer to incorporate a horizontal cross fader (labeled the “transition control”) which allowed for quicker transitions between records. The affordable GLI product was one of the first mixers aimed at “the everyday DJ”. That same year, the first British mixer with a horizontal cross fader – the SMP101 mixer, made by Citronic – was released.

1977
World Events
1977 ny blackout

Blackout in New York City

The blackout that gripped New York City in July launched many episodes of looting, arson, and other criminal acts in the affected areas, with most of these crimes taking place in the city’s poorest neighborhoods. Triggered by lightning strikes on a major electric substation, the two-day blackout allowed for mass looting of electronic stores, with thieves walking away with vast quantities of turntables, mixers, and other sound reinforcement equipment. This, perhaps unintentionally, resulted in the rapid growth of Hip Hop partying city-wide. In an 2007 article for Slate Magazine, Grandmaster Caz told the story of how, when the power went out during a party they were holding in a park (they’d plugged their equipment into a nearby outlet and, mistakenly, thought that they’d caused the blackout locally!), they joined the crowds helping themselves to equipment from local businesses and took home a new mixer.

1977
Aerosol Art
bilRock

The Rolling Thunder Writers Were Formed

Looking to harness the best of the local talent and overcome the curse of “The One Tunnel” (the one, back in the early 70s, where ALI was nearly burned to death), artist BIL-ROCK 161 (AKA “SAGE” and “GRUNT”) started the Rolling Thunder Writers (RTW) in 1977 and immediately set about to turn the cars on the #1 Broadway train line into works of art. These mostly Upper West-Siders were influenced by pop art (instead of other graffiti) seen via album covers, underground comics, and psychedelic art, and brought these cues to some amazing examples of train art. RTW membership would ultimately include some of the best-known artists of the time, including REVOLT, ZEPHYR, HAZE, IZ THE WIZ, RASTA, MIN-ONE, QUIK, CRUNCH, RICH2, PADE, REGAL 192, BOE, SACH, KEL 139, EL 3, and others.

May 1977
Emceeing
Markgreengrandmasterflash2

DJ Battle Between Young DJ Mark Green (AKA DJ L.C.) from NJ and Two Crews in the Bronx

Rapping crossed over from NYC to Bergen County, New Jersey as the result of a DJ battle between young DJ Mark Green (AKA DJ L.C.) and two crews in the Bronx. Green had been working his trade at a rec center in Englewood, NJ when he was approached by a promoter who invited him to a battle held at a high school in the Bronx. After his opening solo set, the first local crew came on aided by two rappers, with the second using four. Watching those performances made him realize what was missing from his act. The next day, Green wrote his first rap. He became so good at it, he was later approached by radio DJ “Golden Voice” Gerry Bledsoe to be the first guest DJ on the October 15, 1977 episode of his WPIX-TV show “Soul Alive”. Green also inspired several others to follow in his footsteps, including Guy O’Brien (AKA Master Gee) who later took what he learned from Green and became a star rapper in his own right as part of the Sugarhill Gang. Green eventually attended college and pursued a career in the music business.

August 1977
DJing
kool herc Sparkle Flyer

Grandwizzard Theodore Performs at NYC’s Sparkle Club

Grandwizzard Theodore, having perfected his “scratching” technique and wowed the crowds at the local block parties where he played. He put it on public display in a club setting for the first time during his set at NYC’s Sparkle Club.

1978
DJing

Rap Battle at Police Athletic League

Grandmaster Caz (AKA Casanova Fly) and Afrika Bambaataa engaged in a rap battle at the local Police Athletic League, a place that regularly hosted B-Boy/breakdancing parties.

1978
Aerosol Art
dondi

The Second Generation of Writers Arise

By now, graffiti artists had spread their creations far and wide, using a toolbox of custom applicators, paints and color palettes and featuring a variety of new/combined/hybrid styles. A second generation of artists – including Lee Quinones, Zephyr, Lady Pink, Dondi and Quik – began to raise their visibility alongside legendary innovators such as Fabulous 5, Wanted, Ebony Dukes, and the Death Squad.

1978
Aerosol Art
1978 BuddyEsquire Makerofhiphop Flyers

“Buddy Esquire” Offers his Talents to Local NYC Club Promoters

Beginning his career in the arts as a tagger in 1972, and after adopting the working name “Buddy Esquire”, self-taught artist Lemoine Thompson offered his talents to local NYC dance party organizers. He targeted promoters so they could promote their events with flyers several notches in quality above the typically hand-drawn/lettered examples found on poles, walls, and windows in the area. Over the next several years, Esquire would produce hundreds of eye-catching announcements, typically collages built around publicity photos of the evening’s featured performers. Local party promoter Van Silk was quoted – “We could tell if we was gonna have a good show or a bad show by how people treated the flyers. If a person folds up a flyer and puts it in their pocket – and if you don’t see no flyers on the floor – you’re gonna have a good show.”

1978
Fashion
1978 pellepelle mark Bucanan

Pelle Pelle, The Official B-Boy Gear

Pelle Pelle – the street gear line made by Auburn Hills, MI designer Marc Buchanan – established itself as a maker of quality leatherwear. It became part of Hip Hop history via the introduction of baggier clothing and windbreakers, letting Hip Hop dancers and other performers move more easily.

1978
Emceeing
1978 coldcrushbrothers

The Formation of The Cold Crush Brothers

Another great rap crew – The Cold Crush Brothers – was formed in the Bronx, initially comprised of DJ Charlie Chase, The Original DJ Tony Tone, Supreme Easy A.D., Whipper Whip, Mr. Tee, and Dot-A-Rock. Impressing crowds with their singing and chanting skills, they quickly earned the respect of both fans and other local rap crews. Whipper Rock and Dot-A-Rock soon moved on to become part of DJ Grand Wizard Theodore & The Fantastic Five. Mr. Tee left shortly thereafter, with the group adding Grandmaster Caz, Almighty Kay Gee and J.D.L. to fill the vacancies in the line-up. The Cold Crush Brothers and The Fantastic Five became keen rivals.

1978
Emceeing
audobonBallroom

The Audubon Ballroom Tape

An MC crew consisting of Grandmaster Flash (Joseph Saddler), Melle Mel (Melvin Glover), Kidd Creole (Nathaniel Glover), Cowboy (Keith Wiggins), and Scorpio (Eddie Morris, who also went by the name of Mr. Ness) performed a memorable concert at the Audubon Ballroom in Harlem. Tapes of this show are considered to be among the earliest Hip Hop recordings ever made.

April 1979
Emceeing
1979 muddclub basquiat

Holman Invites the Fab 5 to his New Club

Michael Holman, a former freestyle dancer who toured with the art rock band The Tubes in the 1970s, moved to New York from the San Francisco Bay area in May of 1978. He started staging events at a venue called The Mudd Club, known for themed installations that combined music, art and fashion. After reading about a graffiti outfit calling themselves “The Fabulous Five” – headed by an artist calling himself “Fab 5 Freddy” – and sensing that this form of art would soon be an important aspect of Pop Culture, Holman invited The Fabulous Five to join them at one of their salons. On April 29 1979, Holman staged an event called the “Canal Zone Party”, bringing new forms of music and art together and introducing both to the downtown art scene. Notably, another local writer, who went by the name of SAMO AKA Jean-Michel Basquiat, heard about the event and asked to be part of it.

1979
Emceeing
1979 lee quinones

Lee Quinones and Fab 5 Freddy Are Given a Gallery Opening in Rome

In 1979, graffiti artist Lee Quinones and Fab 5 Freddy were given a gallery opening in Rome by art dealer Claudio Bruni at his Galleria La Medusa. For many who lived outside of New York, it was their first encounter with the graffiti art form.

1979
Fashion
kangol

Big Bank Hank from Sugarhill Gang Introduces the Kangol Bucket Hat

Big Bank Hank from Sugarhill Gang introduced the Kangol Bucket Hat, an established line of headwear crafted in Great Britain. The brand was made even more popular in 1985 when a teenaged LL Cool J donned a fire engine red version on the back cover of his record “Radio”.

March 1979
Emceeing
grandmasterflash furious5 sepia

The Furious 4 Becomes The Furious 5

Grandmaster Flash added the talents of Guy Williams (AKA Raheim) and evolved the Furious 4 into what would be one of the most influential rap groups ever – Grandmaster Flash & The Furious 5.

1979
Emceeing
billboard1979

Jive Talking NY DJ’s Rapping Away in Black Discos

Billboard Magazine – in an article titled “Jive Talking N.Y. DJs Rapping Away In Black Discos” – provided readers with more information on this new trend by DJs consisting of rhyming and call-and-response voice-overs to the music they were playing. “Rapping” was now making national news, and DJs/rappers including Kurtis Blow, Eddie Cheeba, and DJ Hollywood were all featured in the article.

1979
Emceeing

“King Tim III (Personality Jock)”, First Commercially Released Hip Hop Single

Roy and Jules Rifkind’s Spring Records’ first Hip Hop/rap release – “King Tim III (Personality Jock)” by the popular funk/disco group the Fatback Band and found on their album titled Fatback XII – hit the streets, with many considering it to be the first commercially-released Hip Hop single. The “Tim” in the title refers to the group’s lead vocalist, Tim Washington.

1979
Emceeing

“Spoonie Gee” Releases the Earliest Form of Gangsta Rap

With the release of a single that contained some of the earliest elements of what would be called “gangsta rap”, Harlem’s Gabriel Jackson – AKA “Spoonie Gee” – worked with his uncle, the record producer/record store owner Bobby Robinson, to record and put out “Spoonin’ Rap”. First recording a record that included jailhouse references, the use of echo on the vocal track, and delivered in an old-school, boasting style familiar to those who favored Jamaican-style MCs, Spoonie would then switch gears and produce a more romantically-themed single titled “Love Rap”, earning him the label of “The Love Rapper”.

September 1979
Emceeing

“Rapper’s Delight” is the First Commercial Hit Record

Cold Crush Brothers manager/security expert Henry “Big Bank Hank” Jackson was approached by singer/record label owner Sylvia Robinson to see if he’d be interested in joining a rap group she was forming. While not an actual rapper, he accepted the offer and then approached Grandmaster Caz for help, asking Caz to compose some lyrics and lend Hank others from his renowned rhyme book. These lyrics were then used by Sylvia, Hank, and his bandmates in the newly-named Sugarhill Gang – along with backing tracks lifted from Chic’s “Good Times” – to create a new song called that would be released as a single that September called “Rapper’s Delight”. Neither Caz nor Chic received credit or royalties for their contributions.

1979
Emceeing

Kurtis Blow Releases “Christmas Rappin’”

Billboard reporter Robert Ford, while investigating the preponderance of flyers in Queens promoting local Hip Hop shows, was introduced by DJ Run (Joseph Simmons) to his brother/manager Russell Simmons, who took Ford to several parties. The talent and energy he found there motivated Ford to propose making a rap record with DJ Hollywood and his marketer-in-chief Eddie Cheeba. Simmons suggested another route – why not work with Kurtis Blow and local producer/musician Larry Smith (both part of Simmons’ portfolio)? Ford, accepting the offer, took a set of lyrics he’d written (with the help of fellow writer J.B. Moore) and went into the studio to record “Christmas Rappin’”. The record became one of rap’s first international hits, with Blow going out on tour before returning to the U.S. to break the record here. From this, Blow got a deal with Mercury Records and released his first big hit “The Breaks” in March 1980.

1979
Emceeing
runDMCandKurtis

Joseph Simmons AKA “DJ Run” is Hired by Kurtis Blow

A young DJ – Joseph Simmons, AKA “DJ Run” – was hired by popular rapper Kurtis Blow to work the turntables at his shows. As the DJ’s skills improved, Blow felt comfortable enough to ask him to join him on a tour, but an unfortunate accident broke Run’s wrist and sidelined him, with Kurtis replacing him with another Hollis, Queens DJ and musician, David Reeves AKA “Davy DMX”. He went on to accompany Mr. Blow on tours through 1983.

April 1979
DJing
boomBox

The Boombox “Ghetto Blasters”

Although the original “boombox” – an all-in-one portable music playback system that incorporated a radio, tape player, audio amplifier, and hi-fi speakers – was introduced by the Dutch electronics giant (and inventor of the cassette tape) Philips in 1966, it was products produced by innovative and market-savvy Japanese electronics brands such as Panasonic, Sony, JVC, and others that made these products must-haves in the mass market, particularly in the urban areas of major cities in the U.S.. Its ubiquity in Black/Hispanic communities led to these systems being called “ghetto blasters” and their use in public – much to the annoyance of people from outside the area who may have been exposed to these high-volume performances – prompted some cities to regulate their use or ban them entirely from public places.

December 1979
Emceeing

“Funk You Up” Is Widely Considered as the First Rap Record by a Female Recording Act

The second single released by Sugar Hill records (after “Rapper’s Delight”) was “Funk You Up” by an all-girl Hip Hop trio from Columbia, SC that called themselves The Sequence. Formed earlier that year by high school chums Angie Brown (“Angie B”) Stone (lead vocals), Cheryl “The Pearl” Cook, and Gwendolyn “Blondie” Chisolm, the group earned a spot on the label via an impromptu performance backstage at a Sugarhill Gang concert. “Funk You Up” is widely-considered as the first rap record by a female recording act.

Related
Timelines

Get THHM news to your inbox!

Add your email address and get updated on THHM news, events, exhibits, education, and more!

"*" indicates required fields

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Visit the Shop

Visit the THHM shop for amazing Hip Hop swag.

Donate

Donate to support the museum and future of Hip Hop.

Copyright © 2024 - The Hip Hop Museum | Powered by Growth Skills

Scroll to Top