Pioneers of Hip Hip:
Kool Herc, Afrika Bambaataa,
Grandmaster Flash
Kool Herc
In August, 1973, Clive Campbell, better known as DJ Kool Herc, hosted a back-to-school party in a recreation room at 1520 Sedgwick Avenue in the west Bronx of New York that has earned the recognition as the first hip-hop party. Herc was one of the first to use two turntables and a mixer to switch between records. He particularly focused on music with pulsating bass and extended instrumental breaks that drove b-boys and b-girls to the dance floor to perform spectacular stunts that came to be known as breakdancing. This technique lead to the creation of the "breakbeat." Influenced by his Jamaican roots, Herc talked introduced Jamaican dub (primarily instrumental songs with heavy bass and drums and repetition of a chorus or hook) and "toasting," talking while the record plays. By the end of 1973 Herc went from DJing local parties to larger clubs and the Bronx's Cedar Park. Until 1977, he and his crew, the Herculoids, drew massive crowds and earned celebrity status.
(Source: www.bbc.com. "40 Years on from the Party Where Hip Hop Was Born.")
DJ Kool Herc
DJ Kool Herc
Afrika Bambaataa
Afrika Bambaataa became a popular DJ during the emergence of hip hop. In the mid-1970s, he left street life as a member of the notorious gang, the Black Spades, and started a youth group, the Zulu Nation, whose focus was music. That organization gave birth to several popular DJs including Jazzy Jay, Red Alert, Whiz Kid, and Afrika Islam. He later formed two rap crews: the Jazzy 5 and Soulsonic Force. Both performed the style of "round-robin rapping" with live music. In 1980 Jazzy 5 released Jazzy Sensation, and Soulsonic Force released Zulu Nation Throwdown, both were 12 inch singles, "proto-hip hop party anthems." In 1982 Bambaataa and Soulsonic Force release the "Planet Rock," a song that was a combination of techno electronic beat box rhythm, rap, and dance music. The song went gold and spawned the new "electro-boogie" music genre. Though Bambaataa has continued to record, his other work did not achieve the wide recognition of Planet Rock. He eventually began his own label and released Time Zone compilation. In 2012, Bambaataa was named a visiting professor at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, a role in which several times a year for three years, he spoke to students and performed at the prestigious Ivy League school. (As it preserves recordings, flyers, photographs, and other artifacts, Cornell is said to maintain the country's largest archive of hip hop culture). (Source: www.rollingstone.com)
Afrika Bambaata
Discography
Planet Rock (1982)
Looking for a Perfect Beat (1982)
Renegades of Funk (1983)
World Destruction (1984)
Unity (1984)
Planet Rock '96
Planet Rock 2000
Time Zone
(Source: www.rollingstone.com)
Filmography
Beat Street (1984)
(Source: www.rollingstone.com)
Afrika Bambaataa
Afrika Bambaata
Grandmaster Flash
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five
Grandmaster Flash along with DJ Kool Herc and Afrika Bambaataa is credited with developing break-beat DJing, the art of playing vinyl records and turntables like musical instruments which remixed sound and created what sounded like new music. The technique also involved scratching, cutting records, and focusing on the breaks. Grandmaster Flash began DJing in 1974 when he and his peers were too young to get into clubs and discos so they began having their own events in the South Bronx. Furious Five included Cowboy, Kid Creole, Melle Mel, Mr. Ness (aka Scorpio), and Rahiem. Cowboy coined the now famous line, "Throw your hands in the air and wave 'em like you just don't care." Melle Mel is revered for his phonetic and rhythmic precision. He is well-known for his anti-cocaine rap, "White Lines," and for the line from the song, "The Message," "It's like a jungle sometime, it makes me wonder how I keep from going under." Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five recorded their first record, Superrappin (1979) on the Enjoy label. Their next release, was Freedom, a 12 inch single on the Sugarhill label. From 1980 to 1983 the group had ten chart-topping releases. Disagreements over business matters caused a split in the group in 1984. They reunited in 1987 for a concert in New York's Madison Square Garden and released another album, On the Strength, in 1988. The artists have continued to record and perform individually.
(Source: www.rockhall.com)
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five Discography
Superrappin (1979)
Superrappin No. 2 (1980)
Birthday Party (1980)
Grandmaster Flash on the Wheels of Steel (1981)
Showdown (1981)
Flash to the Beat (1982)
The Message (1982)
Scorpio (1982)
Beat Street (1982)
Step Off (1982)
It's a Shame (1982)
Pump Me Up (1982)
Freedom (1983)
New York New York (1983)
It's Nasty (1983)
We Don't Work for Free (1984)
White Lines (1984)
Beat Street Breakdown (1984)
Hustlers Convention (1984)
Larry's Dance Theme (1985)
Style (1986)
U Know What Time It Is (1987)
On the Strength (1988)
Magic Carpet Ride (1988)
Step Off Megamix (1994)
Girls Love the Way He Spins (1996)
1, 2, 3, ... Rhymes Galore (1999)
Grandmaster Flash, Melle Mel, and the Furious Five: The Definitive Groove Collection
(Sources: www.rollingstone.com and Google Play Music)
Shine All Day (2009)
We Speak Hip Hop (2009)
Here Comes My DJ (2009)
