By D.L. Chandler
As RapFix continues its Black History Month coverage, we've decided to profile three pioneering legends of hip hop. These trailblazers belong in the annals of black music history.
The Creator
DJ Kool Herc (born Clive Campbell)
The Kingston, Jamaica, native is widely credited as the creator and "father of hip-hop" and the claim is well supported by historians of the genre. While he never grew to prominence as a recording artist or as part of the machine, Herc's contribution to the basic framework of hip-hop music lasts to this day. The DJ borrowed heavily from his homeland's dancehall tradition of "sound systems" and the art of "toasting" which meant to simply talk boastfully over a record a DJ would play. Herc incorporated that party style of DJ'ing into his own sets when he began to spin in and around New York City in the early '70s. Herc's most notable contribution is the introduction of the term "breakbeat" and the later terms "break boys" and "break girls" - which later became shortened to "b-boys" and "b-girls". When Herc played a party, his focus on the record he would spin would be the break or instrumental segment, which would be the favorite section of the dancers in attendance. Read More...
