DJ Kool Herc throws a back to school party in an apartment complex at 1520 Sedgwick Ave, where he would go on to change music forever. Many records at the time, especially disco records have "breaks" in the middle of the song primarily consisting of an instrumental. DJ Kool Herc would be the first to extend these instrumental breakbeats by playing 2 breaks on 2 separate records one after another, the first to use a turntable as an instrument within itself.
Inspired by DJ Kool Herc's parties, which by this time had gained Bronx wide notoriety, Afrika Bambaataa, the former leader of the black spades gang aimed to use this new wave of music to unite people. He formed the group the Zulu Nation, drawing inspiration from Malcom X, Marcus Garvey and his own African heritage. He promoted hip hop early in its life as an alternative to street life for many young people. This support would continue as they would become a pillar of the early hip hop community.
A long time friend of DJ Kool Herc, Coke La Rock (Originally A-1 Coke) began performing with him at parties. He was at the first party DJ Kool Herc threw at 1520 Sedgwick Ave, but performed there by shouting out his friends. It wouldn't be until his fifth or sixth party so when he came up with "Coke La Rock" and around this time too he started to rhyme consistently at parties. By 1975 he and Herc had become a well known duo and some small clubs began, like "Black Door", "Harlem world", and "Disco fever"; this combined with DJ Kool Herc and Coke La Rock, Grandmaster Flash, and Afrika Bambaataa all competing for the biggest parties led to the Bronx became known as "The Boogie Down Bronx".
A 12 year old Grand Wizzard Theodore, inspired by the now popular block parties all around his Bronx apartment was playing records from his bedroom. When playing the Incredible Bongo Band's "Apache", he attempted to pause the record but by complete accident moved the record back and forth, causing a scratching sound. This sound piqued his interest and he continued to do it for the next few days. In 1977 he debuted this technique at the Sparkle club, where it would later be picked up by friend and mentor Grandmaster Flash.
Alongside Grand Wizzard Theodore, Grandmaster Flash was mastering his techniques when it came to DJing. Often playing at either his parents house or 927 Fox Street in Hunts Point, by 1975 he had perfected quick mix theory. Quick mix theory consists of cutting, scratching, and transforming to completely changing how the record sounds. The most prominent of these techniques was the backspin technique which allowed him to seamlessly connect breaks, forming the first breakbeats.
On the evening of 7/13/1977 a huge power outage struck New York City, plunging the entire city into darkness, and resulted in millions of people being affected over 25 hours. During the blackout widespread looting and vandalism broke out all across the city. One of the biggest results of this was that a whole new generation of aspiring artists were able to get their hands on premium audio equipment. This directly resulted in an influx in DJs, which led to more parties and more MCs, and is widely cited as one of the reasons hip hop was able to become as big as it is.
This website will be continued to be upbdated, but it is late and I'm just a dude.