HOL’ UP—HOL’ UP—HOL’ UP!!!! All celebrations, respects, salutes ad praises due to one of the “fathers” who helped start it ALL. Before “Hip Hop” was named Hip Hop, “the Bronx was burning” and turntables were just record players. Raise a glass, fist or peace sign as IFWT wishes a huge Happy Birthday to the Legendary DJ Kool Herc on his 60th!!!
Happy Birthday to the Legendary DJ Kool Herc who came to New York City from Jamaica, bringing together the force of his Caribbean roots and rhythms, turntables, huge speakers, and neighborhood parties to plant a few critical seeds in the Bronx. Clive “Kool Herc” Campbell helped lay the founding sound of the culture and was an organizer behind an epic day in Hip Hop history: August 11, 1973 at the landmark of Sedgwick and Cedar in the Bronx, the site of a highly recognized party where “the elements” of Hip Hop came together.
And just like a Hip Hop legend to keep the culture in his blood: this week we’re saying Happy Birthday to the Legendary DJ Kool Herc while just last week he was discussing his “Top 5” emcees, a list you surely might never guess! He’s certainly also come a long way from a health scare in 2011 that threatened his life. While sadly he doesn’t have the millions of dollars one would think he’d have as an architect of all this (SMH, another story!!!)—the community is what had his back and perhaps that’s most important. If you’ve ever had the fortune of meeting Kool Herc in person you’ve felt his cool, positive, funny and down to Earth spirit almost instantly. He continues to be a true embodiment of the power, unity, expression, and love that Hip Hop was built on.
Sidebar: You want to feel weird about the reality/illusion of time for a second??? While we celebrate a Happy Birthday to the Legendary DJ Kool Herc on his 60th, the legendary Slick Rick turned 50 this year and another legend—Dr. Dre also turned a milestone 50 years old recently!!!
Good looks Hip Hop…they said you’d only be a trend.
