Hip -hop is a word to describe a cultural movement, that includes styles of dance and music. The music originated in the South Bronx of New York in the 1970"s.

The first DJ of hip-hop was a man named Kool Herc. He innovated previous turn-table techniques into new-school recording and play back machine, that kept the beat going through-out the whole song. Kool Herc’s real name was Clive Cambell. In 1955 he was born in Jamaica. He moved to N.Y.C. in 1971. Reggae music highly influenced his beats, but native New Yorkers did not like the Reggae beats. Now, without Reggae, he would make a beat on the turntables and recite a rhyme over it. His first gig was performing at one of his sisters parties in a rec room of a N.Y.C. high rise. After the party, many more people requested his services and became a party regular. In 1973 he performed the first block party.

Another innovator of hip-hop was Grand Master Flash. He was born in Barbados, but at a young age he was moved to the Bronx. He frequently attended the parties where Kool Herc performed. He improved on Kool Herc’s techniques so all the beats fit together and he started to “scratch” in songs which became the new style. Grand m

Notorious B.I.G., birth name Christopher Wallace, was born and raised in a rough and tumble Brooklyn, New York neighborhood. At the age of 17, Biggie dropped out of a high school for a well paying job, selling crack-cocain. He was in and out of jail. In the middle of a nine month jail sentence Biggie borrowed a 4 track tape recorder from a friend and made his first basic rap demo. Sean Puffy Combs took notice to Biggie and his tape and signed him to Uptown Records. His debut album “Ready To Die” in 1994, went platinum. Even with the fame and money Biggie could not stay out of trouble and was constantly surrounded by controversy.

aster Flash formed a new group called the “Furious Five.” They became the first big rap group. Their first single dubbed “Super Rappin” became the first big hip-hop success. But, it was Sugar Hills Gang, who released the biggest single called “Rappers Delight” in 1979. It was the first hip-hop single to be in the American top 40.

The original hip-hop culture was made up to three different components. They were Graffitti, in which people would write their names on walls with cans of spray paint, Break Dancing, and music. These major categories were fiercely competitive. Gangs or crews used these components to battle for their territory. DJ’s would make live mix tapes, that was a major key in establishing style in their territory. People would trade and copy the mix-tapes and would play the music outside on the battery powered cassette players called “Ghetto Blasters.” These mix-tapes were popular mostly in the Bronx but as people began to trade, they were popular in all the neighborhoods. Then Blacks and Hispanics in the military got a hold of the mix-tapes and expanded them from just in N.Y.C. to all around the world. They spread the hip-hop sound and style to various new groups of people.

Tupac Shakur was born in New York City and was raised solely by his mother because his parents had separated before the birth. Tupac habitually moved from place to place around the country. During his childhood Tupac lived close to the pover

Some topics in this essay:
Dan Quayle, Break Dancing, Vietnam War, Coast Rappers, Run DMC, Brooklyn York, Yorkers Reggae, Kool Herc’s, Hills Gang, Digital Underground, west coast, run dmc, tupac shakur, east coast, grand master flash, grand master, master flash, kool herc’s, drive shooting, coast star, charges dismissed,