Dj Kool Herc: The Subculture Of Hip Hop

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INTRODUCTION
In 1973, Clive Campbell, now known as Dj Kool Herc, hosted a birthday party for his sister in their apartment building in South Bronx and only had two turntables and a guitar amplifier to use to dj the party. But that is all he needed to create the blueprint for modern day Hip Hop.
Dj Kool Herc immigrated to New York from Jamaica. He grew up listening to music genres such as reggae and dancehall and found that the American audience did not understand or care for the music he loved and grew up listening to (Persaud, 2011).
Marcus Reeves, journalist and the author of Somebody Scream! Rap Music 's Rise to Prominence in the Aftershock of Black Power mentioned in his book, "Kool Herc brought the idea of the Jamaican sound system to …show more content…

Origin of the term has been credited to various rappers, but DJ Afrika Bambaataa, who was a prominent figure in the early days of hip hop is credited as the first to describe Hip Hop as a subculture, stressing the importance of hip hop as an anti-violent lifestyle (Adelman & Taylor, 2016).
The subculture of Hip hop can be a difficult to understand. It is made up primarily of four elements and so, to understand hip hop, one has to understand the elements.
The first element is known as deejaying. The deejay or disc jockey (dj) is a person who plays previously recorded whether it be on the radio, at a dance club, wedding reception, or other various social gatherings. Originally, dj’s would play vinyl records and chat informal over the music, but with the advancement of technology and the disappearance of record players, the job description of a disc jockey has changed over the years (Tate 2001).
The next element is known as MCing or rapping. In hip hop music, a Master of Ceremony (MC), or rapper, is a music artist who usually creates and performs vocals. MC’s usually use rhyming verses, either pre-written or free styled, to introduce the DJ or to keep the crowd entertained. MC is often used interchangeably with the term rapper or emcee (Tate …show more content…

Bibliography:

Adelman, H., & Taylor, L. (n.d.). Http://smhp.psych.ucla.edu/pdfdocs/youth/youthhiphop.pdf. Retrieved April 10, 2016, from http://smhp.psych.ucla.edu/pdfdocs/youth/youthhiphop.pdf

Motley, C. M., & Henderson, G. R. (2008). The global hip-hop Diaspora: Understanding the culture. Journal of Business Research, 243-351. Retrieved April 10, 2016, from http://www.sociodep.hku.hk/bbf/BBF Readings W13/W13 The Global Hip Diaspora.pdf

Persaud, E. J. (2011). The Signature of Hip Hop: A Sociological Perspective. International Journal of Criminology and Sociological Theory, Vol. 4, No. 1, June 2011, 626-647, 4(1), 626`647. Retrieved April 10, 2016, from file:///C:/Users/Guest/Downloads/32157-33524-1-PB (22).pdf.

Richardson, C., & Skott-Myhre, H. A. (2012). Habitus of the hood. Bristol, UK: Intellect.

Swanson, A. F. (2010, August 2). The South Bronx: Where Hip-Hop Was Born. Retrieved April 10, 2016, from