The birth of Hip Hop is highly debated. The wave hit like a thief in the night. It hit the radio, movie screens and spread rapidly and soon break dancing, graffiti, MCing and DJing went around the world and back. I found it interesting that in the beginning back in the early 1970's there weren't any rap records. There were poetry records and you always had James Brown preaching the funk; but to create Hip Hop the DJ's took records that were already made preferably two of them and mixed them back to back. The parts that had no singing were MC'd over. There was no needle dropping, no rapping just music. That was hip hop, blending two records together and getting the crowd hyped up. Nu Sounds was rocking the set pre 1975 and the first park jam in Queens was at Lincoln Park in 1977 hosted by Geechie Dan.
The only way a person could listen to Hip Hop was live, in it's early days because at that time it had not been recorded yet. Then eventually cassette tapes came out. Hip Hop had to struggle to establish itself because it wasn't mainstreamed. The first pioneers didn't want to sell hip hop to the industry. Their plan was to preserve it for the community. I only know this much because on Thursday November 13th 2025 I had the pleasure of being apart of A Night With Hip Hop Pioneers. It was hosted at the Queens Central library which I learned used to be a club called Encore.
A lot of the people spoke that evening about their contribution to Hip Hop. To name a few; there was DJ delight, DJ Kendo, DJ Ralph MC Daniels -aka- Uncle Ralph, The disco Twins, MC Shorty Tee; who was one of the first female rappers in Queens, Rockaway Twins, DJ Divine, Albino Twins, Charlie Chan, MC Glamorous who was apart of the Glamor Girls, Juice Crew and The Cold Chillin Crew. Shorty Tee preformed with Charlie Chan and gave us a lil old school flavor.
As Hip Hop progressed into the 80's it kept most of the youth that were involved out of trouble. The Record Store, The Factory and the Coliseum were said to be big networking spots back then. NYC had it poppin Queens was the first to blend records, the B- Boys mostly came from the Bronx and Mr. Magic was the first to play Hip Hop on the radio. The DJ'S had to get their music out anyway they could.
It was also stated that The Queens Bridge Houses was the biggest projects in the country. It had 96 buildings and built some of the most notable rappers in the industry. Names such as Marley Marl, Roxanne Shante, Mc Shan, Mobb Deep and Naz just to name a few. Sadly a lot of historical landmarks we're lost during gentrification. Now days a lot of producers recycled the music that was already recorded and we also use a lot of iconic break beats that the pioneers spun at the parks. Hip hop and rap music was re-authenticated because it was DJ inspired and the debate on who was the first DJ to do it and what borough he was from will forever be a mystery.
There will be a Hip Hop anniversary next year in Lincoln Park details coming soon...
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