DJ Kool Herc | |
|---|---|
 DJ Kool Herc in New York, 2006 | |
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Clive Campbell |
| Also known as |
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| Born | April 16, 1955[1] Kingston, Jamaica |
| Origin | The Bronx, New York City, U.S. |
| Genres | Hip hop |
| Occupation | DJ |
| Years active | 1973–present[2] |
| Website | djkoolherc |
Clive Campbell (born April 16, 1955), better known by his stage name DJ Kool Herc, is a Jamaican American DJ who is credited with being one of the founders of hip hop music in the Bronx, New York City, in 1973. Nicknamed the Father of Hip-Hop, Campbell began playing hard funk records of the sort typified by James Brown. Campbell began to isolate the instrumental portion of the record which emphasized the drum beat—the "break"—and switch from one break to another. Using the same two-turntable set-up of disco DJs, he used two copies of the same record to elongate the break. This breakbeat DJing, using funky drum solos, formed the basis of hip hop music. Campbell's announcements and exhortations to dancers helped lead to the syncopated, rhythmically spoken accompaniment now known as rapping.
He called the dancers "break-boys" and "break-girls", or simply b-boys and b-girls, terms that continue to be used fifty years later in the sport of breaking. Campbell's DJ style was quickly taken up by figures such as Afrika Bambaataa and Grandmaster Flash. Unlike them, he never made the move into commercially recorded hip hop in its earliest years. On November 3, 2023, Campbell was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in the Musical Influence Award category.[3]
- ^ "Today In Hip-Hop: DJ Kool Herc Celebrates 10th Birthday – XXL". June 30, 2013. Archived from the original on June 30, 2013. Retrieved November 13, 2021.
- ^ Hess, Mickey (November 2009). Hip Hop in America: A Regional Guide. Bloomsbury Academic. ISBN 9780313343216.
- ^ "2023 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Inductee: DJ Kool Herc". www.rockhall.com. May 3, 2023.