![]() Cornell, a leader of the powerful predominantly Puerto Rican Ghetto Brothers gang, was appointed as the third staff leader to head up what the vice president, Benjy “Yellow Benjy” Melendez, named the South Bronx Defensive Unit.Ĭan't Stop Won't Stop : A History of the Hip Hop GenerationĬan't Stop Won't Stop chronicles the events, the ideas, the music, and the art that marked the hip-hop generation's rise from the ashes of the 60's into the new millennium. “So the South Bronx was one of those centers where poverty and disenfranchisement loomed really large, and there was also a proliferation of gangs.”Ĭhang richly details the turf warfare and gang violence that eventually culminated in the death of the 25-year-old peace counselor, Cornell “Black Benjie” Benjamin. “Post 1968 and all the advances of the civil rights movement,” says Reece, “but there was still a lot of urban poverty and disenfranchisement in the communities.” The South Bronx had been home to a lot of communities and people of color, Latinx, Caribbean, African Americans, she points out. The vacant lots, abandoned apartment buildings, and mass displacement paved the way for poverty, gang violence, turf wars, drugs and arson. The communities calling the area home experienced almost complete obliteration in 1955 as apartment buildings, homes and businesses were demolished. In the 1960s, New York City’s northern-most borough was recovering from the devastating effects of city planner Robert Moses’ Urban Renewal project, which had condemned and then destroyed a vast swath of neighborhoods to make way for the construction of the Cross-Bronx Expressway. The Smithsonian Anthology of Hip-Hop and Rap is a first-of-its-kind multimedia collection chronicling the growth of the music and culture from the parks of the Bronx to solidifying a reach that spans the globe. Smithsonian Anthology of Hip-Hop & Rap / Various - Box Set NMAAHC, photo by Al Pereira, © Al Pereira ![]() ![]() Photographer Al Pereira captures the crowd response, fans of 2 Live Crew performing in Miami, Florida, in an image preserved in the collections of the National Museum of African American History and Culture. “That spirit of community, which we all talk about as the roots of hip-hop, really originates in that block party concept,” says Reece, who defines block parties as a “community gathering where people come together to hangout, to talk, to celebrate, and just have fun together.” Readers may also wish to checkout the museum's highly acclaimed 2021 multimedia collection, Smithsonian Anthology of Hip-Hop and Rap, exploring the genre’s national and worldwide influence stemming from its early days in the parks of New York City.ĭwandalyn Reece, the museum's associate director for curatorial affairs, says the history of block parties as an urban phenomenon began in Black neighborhoods as a tool to bring people together. On August 12, 2023, the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC) pays homage to the famous rec room jam session with its own star-studded “Hip-Hop Block Party," featuring some of the genre's most influential D.Js, artists and cultural influencers. “After the block party, we couldn’t come back to the rec room,” Herc explained to Jeff Chang, author of the award-winning 2005 book, Can’t Stop Won’t Stop: A History of the Hip-Hop Generation. ![]() So Herc decided to headline a free party on the block. The dance eventually poured outdoors into the neighboring Cedar Playground and that night when the music genre hip-hop was born, simultaneously the historical jam session became the first in a series of popular block parties.īy the following summer, Herc, the burgeoning DJ from Jamaica, who owned the loudest sound system in the neighborhood, had garnered fame and a local and loyal following. In his award-winning 2005 book Can't Stop Won't Stop, music historian Jeff Chang recounts the story hip-hop's origin at a "Back to School Jam" that took place Augat the apartment at 1520 Sedgwick Avenue in New York City. The indoor space, which held only enough room for a few hundred people, was packed tight with high school kids entranced by the soul and funk mixes Herc played over his Kingston, Jamaican-style sound system. By the night’s end the brother and sister duo had grossed $300 after charging an entry fee of 25 cents for the ladies and 50 cents for the fellas. The party’s purpose was to help Campbell raise funds for the purchase of a “fresh” back-to-school wardrobe. It all started in the recreation room she rented inside of her apartment block at 1520 Sedgwick Avenue in the West Bronx, New York.Ĭampbell and her brother, Clive, an aspiring disc jockey going by the name DJ Kool Herc, threw a " Back-to-School Jam" that lasted into the early morning. On the night of August 11, 1973, Cindy Campbell became the First Lady and Mother of Hip-Hop.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |