Iconic MC KRS-One On The Day Hip-Hop Was Born

Hip-hop and it still don't stop.

August 11 marks the 43rd anniversary of what is recognized as the day the Bronx birthed the musical phenomenon we now know as hip-hop at a party held at 1520 Sedgwick Ave.

Debuting what he named the "Merry Go Round" — a technique involving the use of two turntables with the same record playing on each to extend "the break" of a song — DJ Kool Herc introduced his small section of the world to a style that would soon circle the globe.

Cindy Campbell, Kool Herc's sister, had rented the recreation room in their apartment building for $25 to put on a party to fund a Delancey St. shopping trip. The room could only fit about 100 people.

"It was only 25 cents for girls and 50 cents for the guys," Campbell told New York magazine. "I wrote out the invites on index cards, so all Herc had to do was show up. With the party set from 9 p.m. to 4 a.m., our mom served snacks and dad picked up the sodas and beer from a local beverage warehouse."

At the age of 16, Kool Herc set about acquiring records — his favorite songs including "Apache" by the Incredible Bongo Band and a variety of James Brown hits — and practiced his ground-shattering technique for most of the week before on his father's speakers.

To recognize the occasion of this, legendary MC KRS-One shared memories of growing up next door at 1600 Sedgwick, attending hip-hop-fueled jams in the park and the current state of the movement.

I was technically living in the building next to Kool DJ Herc and Cindy, but I was too young to attend any indoor jams. I was only 8 years of age in 1973.

But when some of these DJs like Kool DJ Herc came outside into the various parks around the West Bronx — one being the park that separated 1520 from 1600 — this is when I and other 8 year olds could hear and experience a live DJ.

I don't remember seeing Kool Herc actually spinning records in the park, but I attended so many of these free outdoor jams in the very parks where Kool Herc started that I am sure I must have experienced at least one of Herc's outdoor jams.

I do remember hearing the song "Apache" around this time playing in the parks, but no one was paying attention to the fact that we were actually birthing a new urban cultural movement.

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