There's been this FALSE narrative floating around that Carribeans, specifically Jamaicans created the artform of HipHop, which couldn't be further from the truth. Since it's Black History Month this is a thread about the origins of HipHop...

BLACK HISTORY MONTH: The Creation of Hip-Hop

When discussing the origins of Hip-Hop you first have to start with the "FOUR ELEMENTS" which is DJ'ing(producing), MC'ing(rapping), B-Boying(dance) & Graffiti(art)... Those elements have been apart of Black American culture since the

beginning.

"GRAFFITI"

the artwork of "tagging" was started in 1965 by a black American man named Darryl "Cornbread" McCray. McCray was born in North Philly in 1953, during the late 60s, he and a group of friends started "tagging" Philadelphia, by writing their nicknames on

walls across the city. The movement spread to New York & blossomed into the modern graffiti movement, which reached its peak in America in the 80s then spread over to Europe. Alot of his work is featured in The Philadelphia Mural Arts Program.

B-BOYING

The art of breakdancing has been apart of Black American society since the early 1900s & according to some records, during slavery. Breakdancing consists of mainly 4 movements which are toprock, downrock, powermoves, & freezes...

The earliest recording of breakdancing were performed by the Mills Brothers, a Black American jazz & traditional pop quartet from Piqua, Ohio in the 1930s... their song "Caravan" featured early forms of "breakdancing"...

The Mills Brothers - "Caravan" (1933)

Music: Koke by Tribe

Other forms of break dancing & shimmying were inspired by none other than James Brown...

MC'ing (Rapping)...

RAP which is short for "Rhythm & Poetry" has been a staple in Black American society since the 1920s, starting with Frankie "half pint" Jaxon & Lucille Bogan in the 1930s...

You also had groups like The Jubalaires in the 1940s who were the archetypes of modern day rap music... Also "rap" was a slang term used by Black American men from the 1950s-70s, "let me rap to ya for a minute" meaning let speak to you...

There's been much debate about what is regarded as the first HipHop record but the two people with earliest hiphop records I could find was Pigmeat Markham with "Here Comes The Judge" released in 1968 & BlowFly's "Rapp Dirty" which he claims he wrote in 1965 but released in 1980.

"Here Comes the Judge" (1968)

"Rapp Dirty" written in 1965... released in 1980

Other Unsung heros of rhythmic raps include Black Americans like the late great Muhammad Ali of Louisville, Kentucky, Rudy Ray Moore(Dolemite) of Fort Smith, Arkansas, along with activist H. Rap Brown, Gil Scott Heron, & The Last Poets...

Rudy Ray Moore (Dolemite)...

Coke La Rock a black American from the Bronx, New York with family roots in North Carolina is also regarded as the first official Hip-Hop MC. At a block party in 1973 as a birthday celebration

for Kool Herc's sister Cindy, he uttered these words & the rest was history.

“There is not a man that can’t be thrown

A horse that can’t be rode

A bull that can’t be stopped

There is not a disco that I Coke La Rock can’t rock.”

DJ'ING (Deejaying & producing)

Now contrary to popular belief DJ Kool Herc of Jamaica wasn't Hip-Hop's first official DJ & he didn't create the genre... there were DJs before Herc who were throwing block parties as well as laid the foundation for Hip-Hop.

You had DJs like:

Grandmaster Flowers of Brooklyn
Pete "DJ" Jones of the Bronx
DJ King Mario of the Bronx
DJ Hollywood of Harlem who came before Herc...

DJ Grandmaster Flowers

of Brooklyn started DJ'ing in 1969 when he opened up for James Brown at Yankee Stadium & is said to have had a major influence on Grandmaster Flash & Afrika Bambaataa

Pete "DJ" Jones (The 1st Master)

of the Bronx but originally from Durham, North Carolina is the oldest of the DJs listed & is noted by both Kurtis Blow & Grandmaster Flash as being the first DJ they ever saw rock two turntables and spin two copies of the same record in 1972.

DJ King Mario

born in North Carolina in 1956 but moved to the Bronxdale Housing projects was known for piecing together the best sounding system in the Bronx in the early 70s particular '71-73, DJ Kool Herc and Afrika Bambaata were both his students.

DJ Hollywood

According to Kurtis Blow and Pete DJ Jones, Hollywood was the first rapper in the hip-hop style, making him the "Father" of the Hip Hop style. Before Hollywood introduced "Hip Hop style" rapping, he had already impacted DJing by creating a set that included

singing, rhyming, and call and response, where he interacted with the crowd. An example would be Hollywood saying, "If you're feeling good with Hollywood somebody say, Oh yeah!" And the crowd would shout back: "Oh yeah!"

Some of his creations other rappers have been using for the last 30 years such as "throw ya hands in the air and wave 'em like you just don't care."

I say this to say that DJ Kool Herc, although he's a legend he is not the sole founder of HipHop & according himself, there were no Jamaican & reggae influences because the Black American population there in the Bronx didn't accept the music. But he was inspired by James Brown.

Also when it comes to Jamaican "toasting", that in itself was inspired by Black American disc jockeys like Jack L. Cooper on American radio stations. He was America's 1st black DJ.

Also the genre of reggae & ski music was directly influenced by a Black American named Rosco Gordon from Memphis, Tennessee.

Gordon created a style of piano playing known as “The Rosco Rhythm” and made a number of his earlyrecordings for Sam Phillips at Sun Records. This rhythm places the accent on the off beats, and is widely cited as the foundation of Jamaican ska and reggae music.

The late great Jamaican reggae singer/songwriter got his influence from the great Rosco Gordon... this is one of the songs that influenced "I'm Still in Love with You Girl"...

With that being said, DJ Kool Herc at the most can be credited as "ONE" of the few DJs at the time to combine ALL the Black American elements into one which later became Hip-Hop... He was one of the few DJs to allow dancing, rapping at his block parties.

keyword: "ONE"

So no he's not the sole creator of HIPHOP, he's one of the main contributors. Respect your elders & ancestors.

HAPPY BLACK HISTORY MONTH!!!

Almost forgot, here are OGs who were actually around during the birth of HIPHOP ... they let you know there were little to no Carribean influences.

HAPPY BLACK HISTORY MONTH to Black people across the world... it's all love.