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1973. The US government were neglecting inner city communities all around
this country. But one thing that a lot of people don't talk
about when they talk about hip-hop is the birth
of hip-hop, the reason we are here right now, is because
of a woman. Not a man, not an emcee. It's because of a woman.
Back in the day, Bronx, New York. Corruption, housing problems, gang warfare.
All aspects of negativity you could imagine.
Total destruction was going on. Children were dropping out of school.
Havoc, chaos, drugs, gangs. Cindy Campbell on the way to work everyday
would notice that things were not good. Her brother Clive, who doesn't like being
called Clive, he was at home and would DJ all the time.
He'd DJ little parties, and back then in '73 there was no hip-hop, people.
So Cindy goes home one day and says, "Instead of DJ-ing, practicing at home,
cutting up the breaks, go out to the park, set up the equipment in the park.
At least give the kids something to do." Cindy was able to convince Clive to take his
equipment out to the park. Bronx, the corner of 179th Street and Cedar
Avenue is Cedar Park. He goes, he sets up his equipment.
August 11, 1973, he starts playing music and back then he would needle drop.
I don't know if you y'all know about needle dropping.
The youth right now are blessed with technology and iPods, and mixers and sounding boards.
Herc would needle drop. His name was Cool DJ Herc.
He set up his equipment, and he started playing the breaks,
the beginning parts of the jams of the songs -- soul, funk, disco. There was no hip-hop.
Now the boys and girls that came to the park, they're dancing to the breaks.
Herc's needle dropping. Playing the breaks.
They're dancing to the breaks. The boys and girls are dancing to the breaks.
Break dancing. But "breaks," that's a long word. B.
Those boys that were dancing to the breaks. Break-B, B-boys. B-girls. Element number three,
the dancer. The B-boy. The B-girl. They started dancing. Now at the same time,
word got out throughout the Bronx. Especially in the Bronx River housing projects,
there was a gang called the Black Spades. Kevin Donovan, another big guy. He's still big.
He heard, "In the Bronx, Cedar Park, someone is
DJ-ing in my Bronx. Let's go see what's going on."
He walks into the park. He notices black boys and black girls, and
Puerto Ricans, and some Jewish kids, all in the Bronx having fun.
No violence. No crime. It was a temporary escape from the realities
of living in a inner city. Especially Bronx, New York, 1973.
Kevin Donovan witnessed positivity, witnessed people having fun in the worst times.
Ronald Reagan was out in the Bronx and he said this was worse than the Blitz,
than the aftermath of the Blitz, which was a war.
It was horrible. Kevin went home. He started to -- rather than
fighting, rather than being part of any form of violence --
he started thinking. "I cannot believe that everyone was having
a good time." Due to an entry in a poetry competition, he
was given an opportunity to fly out to Africa.
Kevin Donovan went to Africa, and he spent some time with the Zulu Tribe in Africa.
He thought he learned, he understood his heritage.
He came back. He came to the Bronx again. 1520 Sedgwick Ave, Herc was DJ-ing at the Rec Park.
November 12, a few of months later, 1973,
he changed his name from Kevin Donovan to African Bambaataa.
On November 12, he started hip-hop.
He established -- he coined the words, "this is 'hip-hop' on the foundation
of peace, love and having fun." You have the graffiti writers -- element number
one. The DJ -- element number two. The B-boy and
B-girl -- element number three. So Herc had Coke La Rock. Afrika Bamaataa
had his people, Herc also had the Hercoloids, African Bambaattaa,
Soulsonic Force, Zulu Nation, and when they started DJ-ing at places,
his emcees, and they weren't called "emcees" at the time,
grabbed the mic because they wanted to give shout outs.
"Yo, Herc is on the one's and two's. He'll turn it out without a doubt."
And the people that were dancing and having fun during their escape from their realities
heard "Cool Herc is in the house and will turn it
out without a doubt." What?! So all of a sudden the audience started
giving a little bit of attention to the person grabbing the mic, and the person grabbing
the mic would notice the people in the audience were looking at the person grabbing the mic.
"Hey, they're looking at me! Y'all having a good time? Yeah. Whoa. Somebody say Ho!"
Yo, so they would go, "Ho!" and these little shout outs,
these little shout outs would go from one sentence to two sentences to three sentences to birth
the fourth element of hip-hop -- the emcee. 0:06:28.680,0:06:35.680 1975-76, we get the third mastermind pioneer DJ. Anyone? Flash. Grandmaster Flash,
Joseph Saddler, he had the Furious Five. In the 70's Cool Herc and the Herculoids,
African Bambaattaa who coined the term hip-hop on November 12, 1973,
establishing hip-hop on the foundation of peace, unity, and having fun, and Grandmaster Flash
and the Furious Five. Those three would start hosting house parties,
block parties, parties in the park. And hip-hop started growing. Graffiti art, the DJ,
the B boy and B girl and the emcee. Next year.
This month next year we celebrate forty years of hip-hop.
My hope is that kids that who are blessed with technology and can turn on the radio
and listen to the same artists in LA that are being played in Chicago and New York
and elsewhere. Hip-hop has a foundation; it has a history,
and those of us who were teenagers in the 1980's that are pursuing education,
we are the hip-hop scholars now, and it's our duty to create hip-hop schools
and create curriculums where children can understand the foundation of hip-hop.
Four elements -- Graffiti art, the DJ, the B boy and B girl, and the emcee.