The entire Hip Hop cultural phenomenon as we know it today can be traced back to one back-to-school “jam”. The “jam” was held in the rec room of a building at 1520 Sedgewick Ave in the South Bronx, New York City, on August 11th, 1973. Clive Campbell, known to everyone as Kool DJ Herc, and his sister Cindy held the back-to-school “jam” to raise money for school. The reason why Hip Hop Celebration Day exists today is because of what Herc did that day.
He had been working on a new technique where he would loop the drum breaks, or the “best part of the song” over and over again. He did this because he noticed that it was during the song breakdowns where everyone would break out their best dance moves. He figured he could keep that momentum going longer by looping the breaks. This is how “breakdancing” became part of hip hop culture.
Plenty were there to take notice, be inspired by, and join in and improve upon Herc’s creation. Although the name, “Hip Hop” wouldn’t be coined until a few years later, the foundation was laid that day. 52 years and many iterations later, Hip Hop is a global phenomenon.
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