Title Break beats in the Bronx : rediscovering hip-hop's early years / Joseph C. Ewoodzie Jr

Published Chapel Hill : The University of North Carolina Press, [2017] ©2017

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Description 1 online resource (245 pages) : illustrations, map Contents The beginnings of a boundary -- Herc: the new cool in the Bronx -- South Bronx DJs vs. other DJs -- The development of an internal logic -- Creating conventions -- Crews and outside influences -- Symbolic capital in the new entity -- Race, gender, and the pursuit of recognition -- MCs take the stage Summary The origin story of hip-hop - one that involves Kool Herc DJing a house party on Sedgwick Avenue in the Bronx - has become received wisdom. But Joseph C. Ewoodzie Jr. argues that the full story remains to be told. In vibrant prose, he combines never-before-used archival material with searching questions about the symbolic boundaries that have divided our understanding of the music. In Break Beats in the Bronx, Ewoodzie portrays the creative process that brought about what we now know as hip-hop and shows that the art form was a result of serendipitous events, accidents, calculated successes, and failures that, almost magically, came together. In doing so, he questions the unexamined assumptions about hip-hop's beginnings, including why there are just four traditional elements--DJing, MCing, breaking, and graffiti writing--and not others, why the South Bronx and not any other borough or city is considered the cradle of the form, and which artists besides Kool Herc, Afrika Bambaataa, and Grandmaster Flash founded the genre. Ewoodzie answers these and many other questions about hip-hop's beginnings. Unearthing new evidence, he shows what occurred during the crucial but surprisingly underexamined years between 1975 and 1979 and argues that it was during this period that the internal logic and conventions of the scene were formed. [Publisher description] Bibliography Includes bibliographical references and index Subject Rap (Music) -- New York (State) -- New York -- History and criticism Hip-hop -- New York (State) -- New York -- History MUSIC -- Instruction & Study -- Voice. MUSIC -- Lyrics. MUSIC -- Printed Music -- Vocal. MUSIC -- Genres & Styles -- Rap & Hip Hop. Hip-hop Manners and customs Rap (Music) SUBJECT Bronx (New York, N.Y.) -- Social life and customs -- 20th century Subject New York (State) -- New York New York (State) -- New York -- Bronx Genre/Form Criticism, interpretation, etc. History Form Electronic book ISBN 1469632772 9781469632773 9781469632766 1469632764

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