Black History in Two Minutes • Narrated by Henry Louis Gates Jr. • ~2 minutes
What did DJ Kool Herc do differently at the turntable? How did a teenage party become the start of a global movement?
August 11, 1973 — DJ Kool Herc (Clive Campbell) DJ’d his sister Cindy’s back-to-school party at 1520 Sedgwick Avenue in the Bronx. Admission: 50¢ boys, 25¢ girls. He invented the breakbeat technique — isolating and looping the drum break using two turntables. This moment is recognized as the birth of hip-hop.
Turntable techniques — scratching, mixing, looping breaks. DJ Kool Herc, Grandmaster Flash.
Rapping — rhythmic vocal delivery over beats. MCs host the party and tell stories.
Athletic dance style born on Bronx streets. B-boys and b-girls dance during the “break.”
Visual expression on subway cars and walls. Bronx artists turned the city into a canvas.
+ Knowledge — The 5th element. Afrika Bambaataa’s Universal Zulu Nation added “knowledge of self” as a pillar — hip-hop as education, empowerment, and community.
“The Message” — Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five (1982)
First hip-hop song with social commentary about Bronx poverty. First rap song added to the Library of Congress. Watch 0:00–3:00.
The Business Angle: In 2023, independent music earned $14.3 billion — nearly half the total global market (MIDiA Research). Hip-hop, born at a Bronx house party with 50-cent admission, now drives a multi-billion dollar global economy spanning streaming, fashion, film, advertising, and technology.
Cindy Campbell, Herc’s sister, organized the 1973 party to raise money for back-to-school clothes. She is considered one of hip-hop’s first entrepreneurs. (Washington Post, 2023)
1520 Sedgwick Avenue in Morris Heights is now a designated cultural landmark. The Bronx Music Heritage Center in Mott Haven preserves this history for the community.
Big Pun — first solo Latino rapper to go platinum (1998). Swizz Beatz — super-producer, art collector, married to Alicia Keys. Remy Ma — Grammy-nominated rapper, Terror Squad member.
Every generation, the Bronx produces new artists who don’t just make music — they build businesses. Labels, brands, media empires. That’s the entrepreneurship we studied yesterday.
FatJoeVEVO • Grammy-nominated • Watch 0:00–1:30
Fat Joe has been making music for 30+ years. This 2016 hit proved Bronx hip-hop never dies — it evolves. Both Fat Joe and Remy Ma are Bronx-born entrepreneurs who built careers on their own terms.
Think about it: Fat Joe founded Terror Squad Records, discovered Big Pun, launched Remy Ma’s career, and built businesses outside music. How does that connect to what we learned about entrepreneurship yesterday?
Identify TWO specific conditions in the 1970s Bronx that helped hip-hop emerge. Explain how each condition contributed to the birth of this culture.
Choose ONE pioneer (Herc, Flash, Bambaataa) and ONE modern artist (Fat Joe, Cardi B, A Boogie). Compare how each built their career. What changed? What stayed the same?
Hip-hop was born from community, creativity, and limited resources. What music or art exists in YOUR neighborhood? How could someone from YOUR block build a career today?
What is ONE thing you learned today about the Bronx music scene that surprised you? Why did it surprise you?
Why did hip-hop start in the Bronx specifically and not somewhere else? Identify TWO conditions in the 1970s Bronx that made it the birthplace of this global culture. For each condition, explain how it contributed to hip-hop’s creation.
3 pts: Identifies 2 specific conditions with clear cause-and-effect explanations
2 pts: Identifies 2 conditions but explanations are vague or incomplete
1 pt: Identifies only 1 condition or no cause-and-effect reasoning
The Bronx created hip-hop over 50 years ago. Do you believe the Bronx will create the NEXT major music movement? Why or why not? Support your answer by referencing at least one person, place, or trend from today’s lesson.
3 pts: Clear prediction with reasoning supported by specific lesson references
2 pts: Prediction given but support is vague or doesn’t reference the lesson
1 pt: No clear prediction or no supporting reasoning