The 11th of August 1973 is famously known as the day the hip hop culture was birthed. It can indeed be seen as an august moment for the hip hop movement and it's future. On this day at 1520 Sedgwick Avenue in the Bronx, New York City, the then eighteen year old Jamaican-born DJ, Kool Herc, was playing at his sister's birthday bash, and, as he plied his usual trade on the decks, he developed a technique famously known as 'The Merry Go Round'. Back then funk and disco records typically contained a short and improvised break in instruments, and when Herc noticed the crowd's energetic response during these momentary breaks, he extended them in a groundbreaking way which would redefine rap — by playing two copies of the same record on two turntables. These elongated breaks also injected some form of adrenaline rush to street dancers, and prompted them to show off their skills buoyed by the resulting euphoria. Herc labelled these dancers the Breaking Boys (later shortened to B-Boys), and the choreographic moves were aptly referred to as "street dancing" and "break dancing, which formed part of earlier hip hop crazes. At the above-mentioned party, and indeed in other events and parties they hosted, Herc's friend and partner-in-rhyme, Coke La Rock, made announcements and shout-outs on the microphone, while his partner on the decks spun and scratched the records, that is, in the background of Herc's deejaying. This also explains the phenomenon of MCiing in relation to the culture. But La Rock took his public announcement duties to more creative heights: he began to make these announcements and throw shout-outs in rhyme scheme and other figures of speech. This new addition in his repertoire as an MC would prompt some connoisseurs of rap to view him as the first rapper in the history of hip hop. In the mid 1970s, inspired by Herc's innovative style and improvisation on the ones and twos, erstwhile gang member, Lance Taylor, began deejaying at block parties in the Bronx, employing the same ''Merry Go Round'' technique invented and popularized by the Jamaican-born ground-breaker. Taylor would later earn a trip to Africa after winning a writing contest, and this visit would prove a major turning point in terms of how he viewed life and how it influenced his artform in terms of production and content. The first of these changes was to rename himself Afrika Bambaata, in tribute to the continent of Africa and as homage to twentieth century Zulu chief who famously led an armed rebellion in 1906 against the forces of oppression. To this day in Hip Hop circles, Afrika Bambaata remains the epitome of rap in particular, and hip hop in general. This is not even mentioning that their content, which was largely black consciousness, and heavily preached social justice and implored social change, would influence acts and cats like Public Enemy, Arrested Development, KRS-One, just to name the three out of a plethora of rappers who spread positive message through change. This is to highlight how hip hop is also a form of protest/conscientizing art, and a catalyst for social change, especially in the ghetto. With his worldview's shift influenced by his African experience where his witnessed, first hand, black people's way of life and other cultural aspects here, Bambaata evolved the Black Spades from a notorious street gang to a cultural organisation which mirrored black people's lived experiences; he would also rename the group Universal Zulu Nation. The late rapper and former member of the Grandmaster Flash and The Furious Five, Cowboy, coined the term Hip Hop in 1978. However, it was Bambaata who popularised it into the mainstream media. Between 1979 and 1980, the Hip Hop world saw the emergence of The Sugarhill Gang, who released 'Rapper's Delight', a song whose lyrics were borrowed from budding rapper, Grandmaster Caz, as well as Kurtis Blow, the first rapper to be signed to a major record label and whose single 'The Breaks', is the first to be certified gold. In the early 80s, Hip Hop exploded into the mainstream with burgeoning acts like Run-DMC and the legendary LL Cool J taking the centre stage. In addition to that, hip-hop influenced films like Style Wars and Wild Style underlined Graffiti and Breakdancing as creative expressions and elements inherent in the Hip Hop culture. In other words, hip hop was now also making itself known through film. THE BIRTH OF SOUTH AFRICAN HIP-HOP. In 1983, the same year in which Style Wars was released, a kid named Emile Jansen from Cape Town had already started breakdancing a year earlier with his friends, and the youngsters would go on to form Black Noise in 1986, a Hip Hop group considered as one of the earlier pioneers of the South African rap game. It was also in the same year that veteran musician, Senyaka, rapped on a song called Jabulani MC from his debut album, Ntate Senyaka. Two years later, the socially conscious and politically charged hip hop group, Prophets of Da City, formed in Cape Town, dropped their debut album 'Our World' in 1990; providing the world of hip hop with their unique way of expressing the culture. Meanwhile, in the east of Johannesburg, a crew which dubbed itsself Karamo, emerged with a distinct South African sound that blended bubblegum, disco and rap, the end product being a singular hip hop sound. Fast forward to 1996, in the new democratic South Africa, DJ Blaze and Bionic began to host Saturday afternoon hip hop events at Le Club. In 1997, a compilation album 'Muthaload', which features Jozi's hip hop heavyweights, was released thanks to these events. Amu's hit song from the above-mentioned compilation, Skillz, singlehandedly inspired a generation of rappers from all over Mzansi. These include Gauteng-based Skwatta Kamp and Pro (formerly known as Prokid), the late Hip Hop Pantsula (HHP) from the North West, and Proverb who hails from the Northern Cape; just to highlight a few acts from a potentially very long list. Inexorably, South African hip hop industry has evolved massively over the past two decades. Rappers went from gathering in small circles and spitting rhymes and/or battling to each other, to earning commercial success and recognition both domestically and abroad. Some music critics have said that the Amapiano explosion in recent years has led to the demise of hip hop, a notion which obviously lacks a semblance of substance. What many outside the fold don't understand is that hip hop is not just a style of music, but a global cultural movement that has thrived for fifty years in the global arena, and about fourty years in these shores. In point of fact, it is not the first time the obituary of local hip hop has been touted about with the appearence of every new dance genre, but hip hop always rears it's head through newer and younger generation rappers. However, rap in particular, and hip hop in general, remain the mainstay it is because it is a way of life more than anything, and not just a passing fad.
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