📍1520 Sedgwick Avenue, Bronx, NY 10453, USA
1967 – 1975“Clive Campbell was born in Kingston, Jamaica, in April 1955, and grew up there absorbing the sound system culture of the city, where DJs played records through huge speakers at street dances and toasted, talking rhythmically over the music. In 1967, at twelve, he moved with his family to the Bronx, and they lived in a high-rise apartment building at 1520 Sedgwick Avenue, beside the Major Deegan Expressway and the Harlem River in the West Bronx. He was tall and strong, and at school his friends called him Hercules, which became Herc. He loved funk and soul records, especially James Brown, and his father, who had a sound system, let him use and adapt the equipment. On 11 August 1973, his sister, Cindy Campbell, threw a back-to-school party in the recreation room of their building, charging a small entry fee to raise money for new school clothes. Herc, eighteen, was the DJ, playing through his father's rewired sound system. He noticed that people danced hardest during the short instrumental breaks in the records, so he used two copies of the same record to switch between them and extend the breaks, which he called the merry-go-round. His friend Coke La Rock spoke to the crowd over the music. That party is widely remembered as the birth of hip-hop. Herc's parties moved to parks and clubs, and the dancers at his parties became the first b-boys and b-girls. In 2007, 1520 Sedgwick Avenue was recognised by New York State as the birthplace of hip-hop, and in 2023 the world celebrated fifty years of the music born in that recreation room.”
🗺️ Approximate location today
📍 Street view today