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Hip-hop began at 1970s block parties in the Bronx, New York, where DJs used two turntables to repeat the drum breaks of records so that people could keep dancing.

Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture

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The story behind the card

Hip-hop is often dated to 11 August 1973, when Clive Campbell, known as DJ Kool Herc, played at a back-to-school party his sister Cindy held in the community room of 1520 Sedgwick Avenue in the Bronx. Herc had noticed that dancers went wildest during the break, the short stretch of a record where the singing stops and the drums and rhythm take over. With two copies of the same record on two turntables, he switched from one to the other to stretch the break for minutes. Dancers who waited for it became known as b-boys and b-girls, and MCs began speaking and rhyming over the beat, which grew into rapping. DJs such as Grandmaster Flash and Afrika Bambaataa took the ideas further.

Türkçe oku
Hip-hop, 1970'lerde New York'un Bronx semtindeki mahalle partilerinde doğdu. DJ'ler iki pikapla plakların davul bölümlerini tekrar tekrar çalıyor, böylece dans hiç kesilmiyordu.

Hip-hop'un doğum tarihi genellikle 11 Ağustos 1973 kabul edilir. O gün DJ Kool Herc adıyla tanınan Clive Campbell, kız kardeşi Cindy'nin Bronx'taki 1520 Sedgwick Avenue binasının ortak salonunda düzenlediği okula dönüş partisinde plak çaldı. Herc, dansçıların en çok “break” denen bölümde coştuğunu fark etmişti: Şarkının sustuğu, davulun ve ritmin öne çıktığı kısa bölüm. Aynı plağın iki kopyasını iki pikapta çalıp birinden ötekine geçerek bu bölümü dakikalarca uzattı. Bu anı bekleyen dansçılara b-boy ve b-girl denmeye başladı; MC'ler de ritmin üzerine konuşup kafiyeli sözler söylemeye başladı, rap buradan doğdu. Grandmaster Flash ve Afrika Bambaataa gibi DJ'ler bu fikirleri daha da ileri taşıdı.

Sources and further reading

Background reading: Hip hop music
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