The Night Hip Hop Was Born: What Really Happened in the Bronx
The history of hip hop begins on one specific night: August 11, 1973, in the recreation room of an apartment building at 1520 Sedgwick Avenue in the West Bronx. An 18-year-old Jamaican kid named Clive Campbell — who the neighborhood would soon know as DJ Kool Herc — hooked up two turntables, grabbed a microphone, and played a back-to-school party his little sister Cindy had thrown to raise money for clothes. That party, charging a quarter for girls and fifty cents for boys, is now recognized worldwide as the birth of hip hop culture.
What makes the history of hip hop so wild is how fast it moved. In the span of roughly thirteen years — from that Sedgwick Avenue rec room in 1973 to Run-DMC’s “Walk This Way” in 1986 — an underground block-party sound became the most influential youth culture on the planet. Here are seven nights, records, and moments that tell the real story.
1. August 11, 1973: The Night DJ Kool Herc Invented Hip Hop
The history of hip hop has a real address: 1520 Sedgwick Avenue, Bronx, New York. That night Cindy Campbell rented the building’s rec room for $25 and handwrote invitations on index cards. Her brother Clive lugged his sound system down from their apartment and set up two turntables between the columns.
