Hip Hop Turns 50
“The musical and cultural movement that would become known to the world as hip-hop began on Aug. 11, 1973, inside a recreation room at 1520 Sedgwick Ave., a 102-unit residential apartment complex in the Bronx borough of New York City. Yet when Cindy Campbell decided to throw the now legendary party credited as the big bang of rap music, making history was the last thing on her mind; she simply wanted to raise money to buy new clothes for kids for the upcoming school year. And she knew the best person to draw the type of enthusiastic crowd needed: Cindy’s 18-year-old brother, Clive “DJ Kool Herc” Campbell.”
So begins writer Keith Murphy in his piece for the LA TImes Hip Hop 50, a feature on the 50 years of hip hop celebration that has already begun. Though I’m still too young to have remembered this specific moment in hip hop history, I was eventually a big hip-hop fan throughout my life, and so I’ve decided to mark this ocassion with probably the oldest, best known hip hop/rap songs of all time. Enjoy this classic and I’ll bet you even remember most of the words, too!
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