9781422274378

While Herc was performing with turntables, he was also emceeing , using his microphone to mix in jokes, boasts, and other comments. Herc’s musical parties became more famous when they were recorded on cassette tapes that were passed around New York City, allowing other DJs to imitate his style. Throughout the initial stages of hip-hop, rappers performed throw-downs, or battles, where they attacked other rappers by insulting them with their lyrics. They also spoke about political

The South Bronx neighborhood of New York City, where hip-hop culture originated in the 1970s, was an area with high rates of poverty and crime. The community had been upended by the demolition of many homes to make way for a major highway, as well as by a series of fires that destroyed hundreds of other properties in the late 1970s.

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