Kool DJ Herc Totally Explained

Everything about Kool Herc totally explained

Clive Campbell (born April 16, 1955), better known by his DJ name DJ Kool Herc, is a Jamaican Hip-Hop DJ who is widely regarded as the founder of Hip-Hop music. He is the originator of break-beat DJing, where the breaks of funk songs—being the most danceable part, often featuring percussion—were isolated and repeated for the purpose of all-night dance parties (AMG (External Link

)). Later DJs such as Grandmaster Flash refined and developed the use of breakbeats, including cutting.

History

While growing up in Kingston, Jamaica, he saw and heard the sound systems firsthand at neighborhood parties called dancehalls (Chang 2005). He moved to the Bronx, New York at the age of 12 and began to throw free neighborhood parties. While attending Alfred E. Smith High School he spent a lot of time in the weight room. That fact coupled with his height spurred the other kids to call him Hercules. In August 1973, he and his sister, Cindy, started hosting back-to-school parties at their building, 1520 Sedgwick Ave; the parties were popular as teenagers would come to the parties in the recreation room and dance.
   It was at these free neighborhood parties that DJ Kool Herc defined his style that would lead to the hip-hop movement. Herc would get two copies of the same record and focus on a small part of each record, called the break. As one record reached the end of the break, he'd cue the other record back to the beginning of the break, thereby extending a relatively small part of a record into a long "five-minute loop of fury" The neighborhood parties became too big for his building and moved from Sedgwick Avenue to the nearby Twilight Zone club; hip-hop began to spread around the city.
   Kool Herc also contributed to developing the rhyming style of hip-hop. At first, Herc would just call out the names of his friends over his sound system, but he'd eventually rap lyrics over his music. Herc encountered discrimination in his new home in the Bronx, which led to him dropping his native Jamaican accent in order to be more accepted in the hip-hop world (Chang 2005).
   He is also well known for his massive, high-quality, high-volume sound system, against which even superior DJs couldn't compete (Toop, 1991). Herc first used reggae records and was toasting to the music like Jamaican artists U-Roy and I-Roy. But he started using funk records due to popular demand.
   Kool Herc and his MC crew The Herculords "started a movement which recycled the creativity of black American jive jocks back into the USA" (Toop 39). The relationship between hip hop and reggae became more important again with reggae artists and rappers collaborating with each other, from Yellowman and Afrika Bambaataa to KRS-One and Shabba Ranks. Hip hop and reggae still influence each other in both directions.
   During the later part of the decade, Herc was stabbed at one of his own parties, sidelining him during most of the 1980s as hip hop spread throughout the country (AMG). During the 1990s, he made several appearances, gave interviews, and appeared on The Godfathers of Threat by Terminator X (a DJ with Public Enemy). He still DJs around the world.
   Herc is featured in Jin's music video, Top 5 (Dead or Alive), and in a bonus track titled "Sacrifice" on Substantial's album of the same name.
   In an 1989 interview with Davey D, Herc said, "Hip Hop, the whole chemistry of that came from Jamaica." In the interview, Herc talked about the first modern day rappers and the lyrics they had. He said "Well the rhyming came about..because I liked playing lyrics that were saying something. I figured people would pick it up by me playing those records, but at the same time I'd say something myself with a meaningful message to it."((Davey D (External Link

)).
   DJ Kool Herc is mentioned in the song "It Dosen't Matter" by Wyclef Jean in the lyrics:
"Foundation like Kool Herc, or DJ Red Alert goes bezerk, The needle ain't skip the record jerked, Cause y'all jumpin' too hard". He is also mentioned in the Nas song "Who Killed It?".
   He is also mentioned in The Roots' song "Web": "Kool Herc ain't never get a royalty check"
   Kool Herc appeared in the movie Beat Street as himself.
   "Kool Herc: The Origin of Hip Hop" (Youtube (External Link

))

Legacy

In Summer 2007, New York state officials declared 1520 Sedgwick Ave, the building where Kool DJ Herc began his career, as the "birthplace of hip-hop," making it eligible for national and state registers.

Sources

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