Hip-Hop (Bronx)

1955 · New York City

Born Clive Campbell in Kingston, Jamaica, in 1955, DJ Kool Herc emigrated to the Bronx as a teenager and carried a sound-system sensibility from his island childhood into New York's recreation rooms and parks.

1957 · New York City

Born in the South Bronx in 1957, Afrika Bambaataa was a DJ, producer, and community organizer who reframed the new music as a force for peace among rival street factions.

1958 · New York City

Born Joseph Saddler in Bridgetown, Barbados, in 1958 and raised in the Bronx, Grandmaster Flash turned DJing into a precision discipline.

1959 · New York City

Born Kurtis Walker in New York in 1959, Kurtis Blow became the first rapper signed to a major label when Mercury released his work in 1979.

1961 · New York City

Born Melvin Glover in the Bronx in 1961, Melle Mel was the lead voice of the Furious Five and one of the most forceful MCs of the first hip-hop generation.

1963 · New York City

A pioneer hip-hop DJ from the Bronx born in 1963, Grand Wizzard Theodore is widely credited with inventing the scratch, the technique of rhythmically rubbing a record back and forth under the needle.

1978 · New York City

Formed in the Bronx in the late 1970s around Grandmaster Flash, the Furious Five paired his turntable mastery with five MCs including Melle Mel and the Kidd Creole.

1979 · New York City

Assembled in 1979 by producer Sylvia Robinson for her New Jersey label Sugar Hill Records, the trio of Wonder Mike, Big Bank Hank, and Master Gee recorded the first rap record to become a mainstream commercial hit.

1979 · New York City

Released in 1979 on Sugar Hill Records, "Rapper's Delight" by the Sugarhill Gang was the breakthrough that introduced rap to a mass audience and the pop charts.

1979 · New York City

Released in 1979 on Enjoy Records, "Superappin'" was the first recorded single by Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, capturing their live routine for vinyl shortly after "Rapper's Delight" opened the market.

1980 · New York City

Released in 1980 by Kurtis Blow, "The Breaks" was among the earliest rap singles to be certified gold, a milestone for a music still dismissed by many as a passing novelty.

1980 · New York City

Issued in 1980 on Mercury, the self-titled debut by Kurtis Blow was the first rap full-length released by a major label.

1980 · New York City

Released in 1980 on Sugar Hill Records, "That's the Joint" by Funky 4 + 1 showcased one of the Bronx's celebrated early crews, distinguished by the presence of Sha-Rock, a leading woman MC of the scene.

1980-02-07 · New York City

Released in February 1980 on Sugar Hill Records, the Sugarhill Gang's self-titled debut album followed the runaway success of "Rapper's Delight." It was one of the earliest full-length rap albums, extending the party-rhyme formula across a record at a time when most rap lived on single twelve-inches.

1980-08 · New York City

Released in August 1980 on Sugar Hill Records, "Freedom" was the first hit single for Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five on their new label, built around a buoyant party chant.

1981 · New York City

Released in 1981 on Sugar Hill Records, this single was among the first commercial records assembled entirely from turntable technique, with Grandmaster Flash cutting and scratching between multiple records in real time.

1982-06-03 · New York City

Released in June 1982 and credited to Afrika Bambaataa and the Soulsonic Force, "Planet Rock" fused the Bronx party aesthetic with electronic synthesizers and a drum machine, drawing openly on the sound of Kraftwerk.

1982-07-01 · New York City

Released by Sugar Hill Records on 1 July 1982 and credited to Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five featuring Melle Mel and Duke Bootee, "The Message" reoriented rap toward unflinching social realism.

1973 · New York City

Afrika Bambaataa founded the Universal Zulu Nation in the Bronx as a hip-hop awareness organization that turned street-gang energy toward DJing, rapping, breaking, and graffiti.

1973-08-11 · New York City

On 11 August 1973, DJ Kool Herc played a back-to-school party in the recreation room of 1520 Sedgwick Avenue, an event widely treated as the birth moment of hip-hop.

1979 · New York City

The 1979 release of "Rapper's Delight" on Sugar Hill Records was the commercial event that pushed hip-hop out of the Bronx and onto pop radio worldwide.

1982-06-03 · New York City

The release of "Planet Rock" in June 1982 by Afrika Bambaataa and the Soulsonic Force introduced synthesizers and the drum machine into hip-hop, drawing on European electronic pop.

1982-07-01 · New York City

The release of "The Message" on 1 July 1982 marked the turning point at which hip-hop embraced social commentary, with Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five describing the hardships of the inner city over a stark electronic track.

1973 · New York City

An apartment building in the West Bronx completed in 1967, 1520 Sedgwick Avenue is celebrated as a birthplace of hip-hop because its recreation room hosted DJ Kool Herc's parties in 1973.