Hip-hop began in the Bronx during the 1970s as a culture built around DJs, MCs, breakbeats, block parties, dance and visual style rather than as a conventional recording genre.
DJ culture and the break
DJs such as Kool Herc extended the most rhythmic sections of funk and soul records, creating longer breaks for dancers while MCs developed spoken routines over the beat.
From parties to records
Grandmaster Flash, Afrika Bambaataa and other pioneers expanded DJ technique and neighborhood networks before “Rapper’s Delight” brought recorded rap into the commercial mainstream in 1979.
Why it matters
Hip-hop grew from local innovation into one of the most important cultural movements in modern music, transforming rhythm, sampling, language, fashion and the idea of authorship itself.