May 7, 2011

The Father of Hip Hop Music

Clive Campbell, aka DJ Kool Herc is credited for originating Hip Hop music.
      DJ Kool Herc moved from Jamaica to the Bronx, New York in 1967.  There he and his sister would throw back to school party's in the recreation room at the building they lived in, 1520 Sedgwick Avenue.  At these parties, Kool Herc would achieve a new and innovative method of DJing which would set the stage for hip hop music.  He extended the length of a short and percussive part on the record, the "break," the part that dancers liked best, by using two copies of the same record.  He would cue one record to start the "break," when the other finished.  The dancers of these break point were known as b-boys and b-girls.  During a break point, dancers would form a circle and the b-boys and b-girls would get into the circle and out move the preceding breakdancer.  Kool Herc later formed a collective known as the Herculoids and play for clubs and high schools.  More recently he appeared in the 1984 motion picture, Beat Street, playing himself.  In 1994, he also appeared on the Terminator X and the Godfather of Threatt's album, Super Bad.  According to DJ Premier fan blog, in early 2011, DJ Kool Herc became gravely ill and unfortunately is lacking health insurance.  Kool Herc has established a Fund for the developing of long term Health Insurance solutions.

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