Why August 11 Matters In Hip-Hop History | New York’s Power 105.1 FM

There are numerous elements that led up to the birth of Hip-Hop. Yet, the culture was officially created at a party held inside an apartment building in The Bronx, N.Y. on this day 51 years ago. On August 11, 1973, Clive Campbell, aka DJ Kool Herc, and his sister Cindy Campbell hosted a back-to-school block party from the recreational room of 1520 Sedgwick Avenue in The Bronx. Kool Herc was the first DJ to use two turntables to separate the breakbeats of popular songs at the time, James Brown’s “Give It Up or Turnit a Loose” and The Incredible Bongo Band’s “Bongo Rock” — a technique he dubbed “The Merry-Go-Round” technique. “Hip-Hop started when my father brought a PA system and didn’t know how to hook it up,” DJ Kool Herc said in a 1989 interview with Davey D. “I was messing around with the music and I started out by buying a few records to play at my house. When I was doing that I saw a lot of kids playing outside in the backyard. My sister asked me to give a party one day. Actually, she wanted me to play at a party [1520 Segdwick Ave] and I...