hip hop turns 50

Stories

Party time: On Aug. 11, hip hop turns 50

Hip hop has something that most music can’t claim – a specific birthdate.
Classical? Jazz? Polka? Country or rock or pop? They might point to a century and a continent.
But hip hop has a date – Aug. 11, 1973. And a location – 1520 Sedgwick Ave. in West Bronx. And a performer – DJ Kool Herc (shown here0, then 18 years old. And an organizer – his little sister Cindy Campbell, trying to make money for back-to-school clothes.
And now its 50th anniversary is Friday.
Television started the party early – a “Fight the Power” documentary series January on PBS … an epic Grammys medley February on CBS … a three-year project on Showtime … and more. On the birthday, Showtime has a marathon, from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m.; the next day, A&E starts a three-Saturday artifact hunt, “Hip Hop Treasures.” Read more…

By Mike Hughes / August 5, 2023
Stories

A grown-up genre: Hip hop turns 50

At first, hip hop was considered a passing fancy.
It was free and fun and outdoors. It was what New York needed in the 1070s.
And then it became much more, “Hip hop is entering its so-called 50th-year anniversary … Its history and story is very deep,” said Chuck D (shown here), the Public Enemy rapper.
He linked with PBS and the BBC to produce “Fight the Power: How Hip Hop Changed the World.” It debuts at 9 p.m. Tuesday (Jan. 31) on PBS, skips a week because of the State of the Union speech, then has one hour on Feb. 14 and two on Feb. 21. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / January 24, 2023