Celebrating 50 years since the birth of Hip-Hop in 1973

11 August 2023 , 21:14

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Celebrating 50 years since the birth of Hip-Hop in 1973

Hip-Hop is a musical genre that has defined American culture for 50 years. Today, on the anniversary of its creation, the genre - and the amazing artists that have contributed to it- are being celebrated across America.

On August 11th 1973, a young woman called Cindy Campbell from the Bronx threw a back-to-school party at her apartment's recreation centre and to keep costs manageable, she asked her 18-year-old brother, Clive, to be the DJ. Clive is now well known as DJ Kool Herc. As well as creating the breakbeats which were made up of funky drum solos, DJ Kool also incorporated announcements, rapping and dancers - who he called "break-boys" and "break-girls" - into his sets.

The Black Eyed Peas perform during the Warped Tour at Randalls Island (Getty Images)

From then on, hip-hop was injected into American culture, and transformed our society. It provided a voice for Black and Latino communities and has evolved with us over the course of generations, inspiring other industries including business, entertainment, education, fashion, tech, politics, sports and more.

Popular Hip-Hop artists include Salt 'n' Pepa, Tupac, Lauryn Hill, Erykah Badu, Run DMC, Drake, Nicki Minaj and many other beloved artists from our past and present, and there's no doubt there'll be more to come in the future.

DJ Breakout performs onstage during the Grandmaster Flash & Friends "Birth Of A Culture (Getty Images)

The 50-year mark commemorates the iconic block party that flexed his efforts at, and he has since been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in the Musical Influence Award category.

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Hip-Hop has become a cultural movement and while incorporating the same key elements that DJ Kool used, it also involves dancing — breakdancing in particular — graffiti and more: it's visual, sonic art and physical art. There are many different reasons as to why the genre was called hip-hop and many people have tried to pin down where the term came from.

DMX performs onstage during the Bad Boy Family Reunion Tour (Getty Images North America)

Talking to USA Today, assistant professor of Hip-Hop and the global south at University of Virginia and a performance artist, A.D Carson explained that many people believe it came from The Sugarhill Gang's 1979 track Rappers Delight. "Many folks make make the case that it's the first words of the song 'Rapper's Delight,' the first words are 'hip-hop.' Others say that 'hip' is intelligence and 'hop' is movement, so hip-hop is "intelligent movement," he said.

Lauren Gordon