How hip-hop reached global domination

All Songs Considered

NPR

Music

4.4 • 3.2K Ratings

🗓️ 29 October 2024

⏱️ 63 minutes

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Summary

Over half a century, hip-hop has grown into a globally dominant musical and cultural force while remaining stubbornly, vitally local.

When DJ Kool Herc spun records at a small party in the Bronx in August of 1973, no one would have predicted his unique style would give birth to the most influential and dominant music in the world: hip-hop. In this special episode, NPR Music editors Daoud Tyler-Ameen and Sheldon Pearce are joined by contributor Christina Lee to look at how and why the music has managed to remain a local phenomenon, even as it's taken hold of the world.

Note: This episode original ran in Aug. 2023 for our special coverage of the 50th anniversary of hip-hop.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	This message comes from Indiana University.
0:02.5	Indiana University is committed to moving the world forward,
0:06.4	working to tackle some of society's biggest challenges,
0:09.6	nine campuses, one purpose,
0:11.8	creating tomorrow today.
0:13.7	More at IU.edU.
0:16.5	Hey everybody, just a quick note that this episode originally ran in August of
0:20.2	2023 as part of our special coverage of the 50th anniversary of hip-hop. of story that must be told. On a summer night in 1973, a couple of teenagers threw a
0:36.2	party and this party kind of changes the course of music but not just music, culture, media, fashion, American history. So picture
0:48.2	the scene. You're a kid in New York City in the Bronx. There's a big 18-story apartment building on
0:54.3	Sedgwick Avenue and the party's happening in this little common room. You paid
0:58.6	something like 50 cents to get in, you probably know most of the kids there. The host of the party is this girl
1:04.8	Cindy Campbell, who organized it just to raise money so she could buy some new school
1:09.5	clothes. But the music, the music at this party is being spun by Cindy's older brother, Clive Campbell.
1:17.0	Clive is 18. He's better known as DJ Cool Herk. And soon he's going to be much better known as one of the
1:25.6	founders of hip-hop That was August 11th, 1973.
1:43.2	And half a century later, hip-hop is, obviously, a global concern.
1:48.4	You're listening to a music podcast right now,
1:50.5	so you've probably heard plenty of fanfare about the anniversary happening this summer.
1:54.8	Hip-hop is 50.
1:57.8	There are many ways of celebrating that, so what you're about to hear will not attempt to be
2:02.2	complete or definitive.
	...

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