Celebreak

Birthplace of Hip Hop on PBS’ “History Detectives”

Posted on February 23, 2009

Most hip-hop heads will tell you that it all started in the Bronx. And many will even tell you exactly where: 1520 Sedgwick Avenue. This is the location where DJ Kool Herc–the Godfather of Hip Hop–started throwing the basement parties which fueled hip-hop’s growth. And tonight, the spot will be featured on PBS’s History Detectives, a show “devoted to exploring the complexities of historical mysteries, searching out the facts, myths and conundrums that connect local folklore, family legends and interesting objects.”

I heard about this episode from the Bronx News Network. The details are as follows:

BIRTHPLACE OF HIP HOP
AIRING: Season 6, Episode 11
THE DETECTIVE: Tukufu Zuberi
THE PLACE: New York City
THE CASE:

A hip hop enthusiast from New York City has always heard that 1520 Sedgwick Avenue in the Bronx is the birthplace of hip hop.

The story goes that on August 11, 1973 DJ Kool Herc, a building resident, was entertaining at his sister’s back-to-school party, and tried something new on the turntable: he extended an instrumental beat (breaking or scratching) to let people dance longer (break dancing) and began MC’ing (rapping) during the extended breakdancing.

This, the contributor believes, marked the birth of hip hop. The music led to an entire cultural movement that’s altered generational thinking – from politics and race to art and language.

History Detectives sets out to examine an inner city environment that helped lay the foundation for a cultural revolution.

Hip Hop Tours in NYC

Posted on January 9, 2009

Whoa, check it out! You can go on a hip-hop tour in NYC to see the roots of all the 4 elements. They offer different tours such as the  ”Birth of Hip Hop”, a Bronx-based tour that takes tourists to the heart of hip-hop’s origins, and “Rappers Row”, a Queens and Hollis tour that takes you to the early landmarks of Nas, Marley Marl, Roxanne Shante and many others pioneers. 

The tours were stared by Debra Harris, a hip-hop head who wanted to show the rich history of hip-hop, a cultural movement she felt wasn’t always portrayed positively.

Hip-hop’s origins have been a resounding influence on the fashion and media businesses, which you see and get to actively celebrate on the Hush Tours trip. “H’us’h Tours stands for the ‘us’ in hip-hop”, Debra explains. “We live the hip-hop culture and I felt it was extremely important to give our youth both nationally and internationally a place to learn about the beginnings of the culture, while at the same time enabling our original hip-hop fans to reflect on year’s past”.

And the tours aren’t given by your average Joes. Grandmaster Caz, DJ Red Alert and Kurtis Blow are among the legendary tours guides. 

This is definitely on my list of things to do on my next trip to NYC