OT: Happy Birthday Hip-hop!

Submitted by UESWolverine on

Hip-hop celebrates its 44th birthday today. I guess it started when Kool Herc was messing around with some turntables and a mixer. Check out Google today to get a change to 'DJ' - it's kind of fun:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/comic-riffs/wp/2017/08/11/google-creates-a-truly-epic-interactive-doodle-to-celebrate-hip-hops-44th-birthday-jam/?utm_term=.3a9588470d2f

Since one of the 4 pillars of Hip-Hop is DJing, I was curious what the best DJ performance you've ever seen live was? My vote goes to DJ Jazzy Jeff. I've seen him a few times over the years and the guy is ridiculous. He blew my mind the first time I saw him and he was using three turntables. I still remember the routine. And since then, he's only got better. 

 

 

UESWolverine

August 11th, 2017 at 10:15 PM ^

I figured there would be a lot of Mix Master Mike votes. I tried hard not to like him. I was bummed he took Hurricane's spot, but man - he is so good live. Not even sure how he did half of that stuff back then without the technology we have now. 

Everyone Murders

August 11th, 2017 at 10:46 PM ^

You can make an argument for Louis Jordan having started this form. Listen to Beans and Cornbread or Saturday Night Fish Fry if you don't believe me. It's fundamentally an old and powerful form.

jmblue

August 12th, 2017 at 12:47 AM ^

It's a little hard for me to believe that there is such a precise date ("August 11, 1973") for the invention of a whole musical genre.  I think we're drifting from fact into legend here.

UESWolverine

August 12th, 2017 at 2:01 AM ^

Don't lose sleep over it. When you rescue a puppy, it's nice to give it a birthdate.

It literally took years from this 1973 date before any hip-hop artists even releases a song - but by the time those first songs were released in the late 70s ealy 80s, the hip hop culture was in place (DJ, Rapper, Dancers, Graffiti). This date is symbolic of the beginning of that culture and represents the day Kool Herc threw his first party. 

Mr. Yost

August 12th, 2017 at 9:35 AM ^

Read about it...while it's likely not THE date, it's definitely one of THE dates seeing as how it's Clive Campbell's aka DJ Kool Herc sisters birthday and he was DJ'ing her party in the Bronx. Kool Herc spent the summer developing his new style with breaks in songs and his buddy had a mic and was jokingly making fun of their friends in rhymes... Some of the originators of hip hop were at the party and it really started there.

Maize and Blue…

August 12th, 2017 at 12:04 PM ^

Where 4 MK1200s was the normal set up. There are/were plenty of absolutely incredible DJs out there. Mixing is a true art that isn't fully appreciated from knowing beats, measures, and how pitch affects energy levels.