Kool Herc emigrated from Kingston, Jamaica to the NY Bronx in 1967 when he was 12 years old. His first deejay gig was as his sister's birthday party. It was the start of an industry. Next to his HIPHOP DJ innovations Herc is also credited for phrasing the term B-Boy (Break boy).
Herc became aware that although he knew which records would keep the crowd moving, he was more interested in the break section of the song. At this point in a song, the vocals would stop and the beat would just ride for short period. His desire to capture this moment for a longer period of time would be a very important one for HIPHOP.
Herc would purchase two copies of the same record and play them on separate turntables next to each other. He would play the break beat on one record then throw it over to the other turntable and play the same part. Doing this over and over, he could rock any house in NY. (Not to mention it being an early form of looping that would be made easier through electronic sampling.)
He would dig in crates and look everywhere to find the perfect break beat for his parties. He didn't care what type of music, because he only needed a small section of a song for his purposes.
His fame grew. In addition to his break beats, Herc also became known as the man with the loudest system around. When he decided to hold a party in one of the parks, it was a crazy event. And a loud one. At this time Afrika Bambaataa and other competing DJ's began trying to take Herc's crown. A member of Afrika Bambaataa´s Zulu Nation recalls one momentous meeting between Herc and Bam:
Herc was late setting up and Bam continued to play longer than he should have. Once Herc was set up he got on the microphone and said "Bambaataa, could you please turn your system down?" Bam's crew was pumped and told Bam not to do it. So Herc said louder, "Yo, Bambaataa, turn your system down-down-down." Bam's crew started cursing Herc until Herc put the full weight of his system up and said, "Bambaataa-baataa -baataa, TURN YOUR SYSTEM DOWN!" And you couldn't even hear Bam's set at all. The Zulu crew tried to turn up the juice but it was no use. Everybody just looked at them like, "You should've listened to Kool Herc."
Finally his fame peaked and at last, in 1975, he began working at the Hevalo in the Bronx. As competing DJ's looked to cut in on the action, Herc would soak the labels off his records so no one could steal his beats. This practice has generally stopped as most of todays top DJ´s now compete on turntable skils (Ref. DJ Qbert).
Grandmaster Flash had another story about Herc in his heyday:
Flash would go into the Hevalo to check out Herc, but Herc would always embarrass him. He would call Flash out on the mike and then cut out all the highs and lows on the system and just play the midrange. Herc would say, "Flash in order to be a qualified disc jockey...you must have highs." Then he would crank up the highs and they would sizzle through the crowd. Then he would say, "And most of all, Flash, you must have...bass." And when Herc's bass came in the whole place would be shaking. Flash would get so embarrassed he would leave.
After a while spinning the records got to be an all intensive thing and Herc wouldn't have as much time to talk to the crowd and get them going. He needed someone else to help out and act as the Master of Ceremonies for him. And thus, for all practical purposes, Coke La Rock became the first HIPHOP MC ever.
In 1977, Herc's career began to fall. The rise of Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, and Bambaataa's various crews with their polished emcee styles put Herc at a disadvantage.
One night he was even stabbed three times at his own party and his career never fully recovered.
Similar to Bambaataa though he does appear in Europe and New York from time to time. I was honoured to meet the eclectic DJ wizard Kool Herc when he visited Rotterdam for the Art Of Hiphop festival October 2004.
Herc would purchase two copies of the same record and play them on separate turntables next to each other. He would play the break beat on one record then throw it over to the other turntable and play the same part. Doing this over and over, he could rock any house in NY. (Not to mention it being an early form of looping that would be made easier through electronic sampling.)
He would dig in crates and look everywhere to find the perfect break beat for his parties. He didn't care what type of music, because he only needed a small section of a song for his purposes.
His fame grew. In addition to his break beats, Herc also became known as the man with the loudest system around. When he decided to hold a party in one of the parks, it was a crazy event. And a loud one. At this time Afrika Bambaataa and other competing DJ's began trying to take Herc's crown. A member of Afrika Bambaataa´s Zulu Nation recalls one momentous meeting between Herc and Bam:
Finally his fame peaked and at last, in 1975, he began working at the Hevalo in the Bronx. As competing DJ's looked to cut in on the action, Herc would soak the labels off his records so no one could steal his beats. This practice has generally stopped as most of todays top DJ´s now compete on turntable skils (Ref. DJ Qbert).
Grandmaster Flash had another story about Herc in his heyday:
Flash would go into the Hevalo to check out Herc, but Herc would always embarrass him. He would call Flash out on the mike and then cut out all the highs and lows on the system and just play the midrange. Herc would say, "Flash in order to be a qualified disc jockey...you must have highs." Then he would crank up the highs and they would sizzle through the crowd. Then he would say, "And most of all, Flash, you must have...bass." And when Herc's bass came in the whole place would be shaking. Flash would get so embarrassed he would leave.
After a while spinning the records got to be an all intensive thing and Herc wouldn't have as much time to talk to the crowd and get them going. He needed someone else to help out and act as the Master of Ceremonies for him. And thus, for all practical purposes, Coke La Rock became the first HIPHOP MC ever.
In 1977, Herc's career began to fall. The rise of Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, and Bambaataa's various crews with their polished emcee styles put Herc at a disadvantage.
One night he was even stabbed three times at his own party and his career never fully recovered.
Similar to Bambaataa though he does appear in Europe and New York from time to time. I was honoured to meet the eclectic DJ wizard Kool Herc when he visited Rotterdam for the Art Of Hiphop festival October 2004.
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