In the year that Hip-Hop celebrates its 50th anniversary, Jamaican-born DJ Kool Herc, known as “the father of Hip-Hop,” was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.
In a ceremony on Friday in New York, DJ Kool Herc along with Chaka Khan, Kate Bush, “Soul Train” creator Don Cornelius, The Spinners, Sheryl Crow, Missy Elliot, George Michael, Willie Nelson, Rage Against the Machine, Link Wray, Al Kooper and Bernie Taupin were all inducted.
DJ Kool Herc received the “musical influence” award, which goes to “any artist or group whose music and performance style have directly influenced and helped inspire and evolve rock & roll music,” according to the Hall of Fame website. Past inductees in this category include Harry Belafonte, Billie Holiday and Nat “King” Cole.
Rapper LL Cool J presented DJ Kool Herc with his award.
“Arguably, no one made a bigger contribution to hip-hop culture than DJ Kool Herc,” LL Cool J said and then turned to the older artist: “You lit the fire and it’s still blazing.”
A visibly moved Herc was unable to speak for a few moments before thanking his parents, James Brown, Marcus Garvey, and Harry Belafonte, among others.
Kool Herc is the third Jamaican to be inducted in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, alongside Bob Marley (1994) and Jimmy Cliff (2010).
‘The father of Hip-Hop’
DJ Kool Herc, or Clive Campbell, was born in Kingston, Jamaica. He emigrated with his family at the age of 12 to The Bronx, New York City in November 1967. While growing up in Jamaica, he saw and heard the sound systems of neighborhood parties called dance halls, and the accompanying speech of their DJs, known as toasting. This later played a major part in his style of music.
In New York in the early 1970s, DJ Kool Herc developed the style that was used as one of the additions to the blueprints for Hip-Hop music.
As a young DJ, he learned 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 formed the basis of Hip-Hop music. His freestyle announcements and exhortations on the record to dancers led to what is now known as rapping.
His DJ style was quickly taken up by figures such as Afrika Bambaataa and Grandmaster Flash, who are also considered pioneers of Hip-Hop.
The legendary Hip-Hop pioneer will celebrate the 50th anniversary of the genre with a star-studded celebration in Jamaica later this year.
Read: Legendary Jamaican DJ Kool Herc to celebrate Hip-Hop 50 with event in Jamaica
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