By Kool Herc & The Pioneers
It was 36 years ago to this very day that a young Clive Campbell aka DJ Kool Herc and a handful of kids in a small, sweltering rec room of 1520 Sedgwick Avenue on August 11, 1973 started a music and cultural revolution that changed the world forever!
It began from very humble beginnings in The Bronx. Cindy Campbell (Herc’s kid sister) decided to throw an end of summer, back to school jam. Her big brother, DJ Kool Herc, performed the ground breaking art form of the Merry-Go-Round, playing the same 2 records, isolating the funkiest percussion sections, extending those 5 second break beats into 5 minutes of dance fury.
He tapped his Jamaican roots where Island Djs at yard party’s would toast DJ Kool Herc individuals…Herc used the Mic to move the original Bronx house party crowd with photo by Joe Conzo shout-outs over the records, which began the element of Emceeing.
Herc's parties featured a new style of dance where people would up-rock or hit the ground to go off. Herc named these dancers “b-boys”. Soon DJ Kool Herc had to move the party outside from 1520 Sedgwick Ave. to Cedar Park.
(Joe Conzo)
Herc hot wired the base of a street lamp to juice up his Herculord speakers. Three thousand people showed up in complete darkness that summer night. Hip Hop would never be contained in-side again.
(Charlie Ahearn)
"August 11, 1973 changed the world. We wanted to celebrate the creativity, spirit and the magic of that night by unveiling limited edition product on this very date that includes rare images of DJ Kool Herc, The Herculords Speakers Driving Down Sedgwick Ave and Dj’s Spinning Vinyl at Cedar Park,” Ricco said of the images.
Ray Ricco and Kool Herc own the clothing line Sedwick & Cedar. They recently unveiled a new line that features vintage images from the early days of Hip-Hop. For more information visit: http://www.sc73.com/