History: DJ Kool Herc invents hip-hop at 1520 Sedgwick Avenue
Clive Campbell, aka DJ Kool Herc, hosted a party in the rec room of his apartment building at 1520 Sedgwick Avenue in the Bronx. The party, billed as a “Back to School Jam” for Kool Herc’s little sister, is seen by many as the precise birthplace of hip-hop.
The party was the first time an audience heard the results of Kool Herc’s turntable experimentation, in which the up-and-coming DJ pioneered a technique of isolating the rhythm sections from 60’s and 70’s records, known as “the break,” and looping them on repeat or together to create something new.
During Kool Herc’s set, his friend Coke La Rock spontaneously grabbed a microphone and began calling out his friends’ names and rapping improvised lyrics over the DJ’s breakbeat.
