Yes ladies and gents... I told you I was working on something and now its here.... I am honored and excited to be working on a project with the legendary DJ Kool Herc aka The Godfather of Hiphop!!! For those of you who don't truly know the history of this Hiphop Legend I have found some crucial info for you to refresh or educate you. If you or anyone you know are interested in submitting your music for this project please email me at missyb@coast2coastmixtapes.com or call 503.935.6450.
1520 Sedgwick Avenue. The address of Herc's family and the location of the recreation room where he would throw many of his first parties as the DJ.
Herc became aware that although he new which records would keep the crowd moving, he was more interested in the break section of the song. At this point in a song, the vocals would stop and the beat would just ride for short period. His desire to capture this moment for a longer period of time would be a very important one for hip hop.
Herc would purchase two copies of the same record and play them on separate turntables next to each other. He would play the break beat on one record then throw it over to the other turntable and play the same part. Doing this over and over, he could rock any house in NY. (Not to mention it being an early form of looping that would be made easier through electronic sampling.)
He would dig in crates and look everywhere to find the perfect break beat for his parties. He didn't care what type of music, because he only needed a small section of a song for his purposes.
His fame grew. In addition to his break beats, Herc also became known as the man with the loudest system around. When he decided to hold a party in one of the parks, it was a crazy event. And a loud one. At this time Afrika Bambaataa and other competing DJ's began trying to take Herc's crown. He helped coin the phrase b-boy (break boy) and was recently quoted as saying he was "the oldest living b-boy."
As competing DJ's looked to cut in on the action, Herc would soak the labels off his records so no one could steal his beats.
He appeared as himself in the film Beat Street.
Kool Herc played his last Old School party in 1984.
Most recently he has appeared on Terminator X's release "The Godfathers of Threat" and with the Chemical Brothers on their album "Dig Your Own Hole."
Similar to Bambaataa he does appear in Europe and New York from time to time.
Although he is not part of the hip hop vocabulary of most of those who listen to it these days (unfortunately), Kool Herc is the father of this underground sound from New York that found its way to becoming a worldwide phenomenon.
Kool Herc lives on...and in the words of Jay-Z "...thank God for Kool Herc with out him I probably woulda got merced.."
Source: http://www.oldschoolhiphop.com
Labels: dj, godfather, herc, kool, legend, missyb, mixtape, music, submit
