1977, the birth of hip hop: block party with DJ Stevie Steve, Lil Rodney Cee and Lil Shotgun

[AFR59]

I knew the guy who drew alot of those flyers. I went to many of the parties in Bronx River, 123, James Monroe & Bronxdale. I was a Black Spade from 1971-74. The first time I heard Rap was around 1972. Disco Mario was on the turntables @ the big park in Bronxdale (Watson between Noble & Rosedale). I lived on Manor between Watson & Westchester. There were many rappers at that time, but the guys behind the "wheels of steel" were the stars. Bam, Mario, Herc etc. Parties were usually 2 or 3 dollars.

[estproductions666]

Everytime I read the description and see the 1977 date I get chills and a lump in my throat. 77 tho. Wow. Its mind boggling to hear how more advanced they are in 1977 than a majority of hip hop music in 2012. The rhymes, the echo chamber, the breaks, the vinyl mixing, the cuts, the tape hiss, the DJ and the enviroment this tape was recorded in easily towers over any thing I have heard in past 15 years in hip hop. Im not worthy to hear gold like this.

[nastarwarrior]

Coke La Rock was the first MC ever and he came out in 1975 but never recorded anything...some of y'all don't have a clue what you talking about lol

[artwearsusa]

This is the old hip hop tapes

[markbeatts]

foundation of hip hop elements was / are the break beats-james brown-Georgia,-Melvin bliss synthetic substitution-chicago,fat back band-jamaica queens/north carolina,incredible bongo band-LA,roy-c' impeach the president-jamaica queens NY,george clinton/funkadelic/Parliament-­new jersey.and on n on.so it was different elements of soul music because all music is soul that created what we call hip hop/rap music.it's a branch from the tree i get tired hearing this started here this started there

[markbeatts]

the labels they started spun legendary reggae artist.their sound system which they made from scratch which the bro on the mic would be toasting over the music thats what they called their singing it was a type of broken english.that was a part of the element of hip hop but the d.j.'s had big sound systems but mostly in the clubs a few would bring them outside for events or the beach like jones beach were they would set up really big systems thousands of peps there.but the foundation of hip hop

[markbeatts]

i know this may get some hate and mostly from people who do not really know the not history but our story moboya is from panama but grow up in brooklyn was the first know d.j. to tour over seas in 1971 playing funk,reggae,soul.and course grand master flash who master the back spin catching the break on time who studied under d.j.pete jones him and kool dj aj.in jamaica the jamaican d.j.'s battle each other with their big sound systems if you lose u lose everything alot of started labels.

[markbeatts]

add to my comment,grand wizard theodore stated in wax poetics kool herc started doing what we called hip hop when his older disco crowd he was playing for was dying out and he came over to the young crowd playing the whole record til it got to the break.he did not play the break back to back and alot of times other bro's would do the d.j.ing in his crew like clark kent.there where other bro's that was doing this before like d.j.plummer,d.j.flowers,and maboya who was the first d.j. to tour in 71

[markbeatts]

if you into hip hop and it's roots,you know hip hop did not start with kool herc or in jamaica in the island.it was different elements of soul music from north america.from black radio d.j.'s like jocko,rosco,in the late 50's cassius clay also know as Muhammad Ali who recored the first rhymes/ rap l.p. in 65,before that with duke jordan.the concept was wayyy before kool herc not taking away from herc he is a friend he had the big sound system and he was doing disco like pete d.j.jones

[Themaddprof]

Actually, rap as we know it today was going on in Jamaica in the late 60s with U Roy, Lone Ranger, King Stitt, etc. Kool Herc was a Jamaican American who brought this concept to the Bronx in the 1970s. Kids would make cassettes of parties of this kind throughout the 70s before it was professionally recorded. The first rap record was actually "King Tim III" by the Fatback Band or "Rhythm Talk" by Jocko. "Rapper's Delight" came out later that same year (1979). I was 15 at the time.

[bronxchica777]

THIS IS WHEN THE DJ'S WERE BEHIND DA ROPES IN DA PARK

[psykick77]

some sick bboy breaks in here.

[dadweeze1977]

the flyers kick ass

[FUNKMODE]

How did you score all of these fliers? This is historic! These should be in museums.

[rockjohnson80]

That flyer said "1980 Sure Shot"...so old school. Gotta love it.

[8bobthebuilder]

The first minute i can listen to over and over again without getting tired of it :)

[SUPEROBSCUREBEATS]

@MsGaga4LadyGaga uhmmm SORRY --- but this is from 1977 - you would be correct in that the mc's styles did not get too much more intricate in the 70's. by the early 80's though you'd be amazed by some of the lyricist even compared to many of today's "rappers"

[mvegausmc]

I remember all this music, especially the mambo mix when I was in J.H.S. 123 in Morrison Ave and Bruckner Blvd. I remember Disco King Mario and the C C crew with Bambaataa doing the jams in the gym of that school. I was there from 1976-1978. The real birth of Hip-Hop happened there.

[i24msd]

Does anybody know what the break is at the beginning ?. It sounds like the Incredible Bongo Band.

[Imakebeats65]

these were all b boy songs....Besides people like GMF/Bam/Herc/Starsky/Jeckyll & Hyde/Furious 5 were already legends in the hood by 77...

[insted2200]

i doubt this is the first hip hop song... these rappers are rapping so many hop hop lyrical cliches.. "break of dawn, break of dawn" u really think the real originators copied this song.. its decent jam.. but look who posted it.. a dutch person?

[hardcorehouse]

The kind of hottness NYC was known for across all forms of dance. NYC..Often copied but never equalled.

[onetimepeace]

straight sicness,youtube inventors, the inventors of computers, and the person that downloaded this thank you true school hip hop head here for over 20 something years and still love it.

[MrSP1200]

Incredible tape ...can't see this for download on your site? ...would love to have the whole tape to listen to.

[elwatusi92]

Hip hop was coming up through the 60s and finally started really surfacing in the 70s. Puerto Ricans had a big part in it to. Its not a all black thing. My proof comes from a first person source. My pops, back in the day in the South Bronx! Rapping on the street had been around for a looong time before Sugar Hills big break.

[gustard33]

wow.....incredible

[shwndh]

Nice chunk of history with the flyers man. That's even before me. I had no idea how hip hop was developing living in NJ until 1980. Then I was hooked.

[RADIX98]

F-R-E-S-H ! !

[breezwonder]

Hip Hp is Black Music/Culture. Non Blacks call it "Universal Music" cause they wanna be down.

[NYOLSKOOL]

haha shaft theme 1:57

[XxGuardianKnightxX]

this is pretty sweet. I didn't know rap was around before 1979-1980 with Rapper's Delight. I should show this to my friend because he's an amateur rapper. So this really is the first rap song, ever?

[DutchOldSchoolFan]

@XxGuardianKnightxX: You can't call it a 'song' and it's not, like rappers delight, a record. The tape is part of hip hop history because there are not many pre 1978 tapes around. In that way, you could say that you are listening to the birth of hip hop :-)

[XxGuardianKnightxX]

@DutchOldSchoolFan well then that's even cooler! I may outwardly say I hate rap, but that's only because rap today sucks because it tends to all be about pimps, booties and getting "crunk" (whatever the fuck that means.) I actually really like old rap like from the 80s through the late 90s.

[sasquatch13ja]

@XxGuardianKnightxX hip hop actually started in 1973 in the south bronx, by dj kool herc, but it was mostly dominated by dj's only, not mc's.

[coolcaazz]

B.Boy style Hip Hop started in the Bronx in the Patterson projects 1973 Herc Sound System plus Kool D Sound System, and Dj Mario. Zulu Chief Bambatta unified the 'Block party style and coined the phrase 'Hip Hop'. Altough it's called Hip Hop, i prefer to call it Block Party Rocking as the the term Hip Hop has been misappropiated by todays youth. Here in London in the old school days we had djs mcs but no cutting or scratching. Saxon, Ghetto tone, Unity HIpower, Mastermind. Peace love unity.

[southport97]

@sasquatch13ja

Finally. Someone that knows their history.

[philwoodford]

@XxGuardianKnightxX Rapper's Delight was the first time rap music went 'mainstream' and was released on vinyl. The music already had a big following in NYC though - it was party/street music. People were amazed to hear it on the radio.

[moomjooendi2007]

yo this is prigninal man ive had this tape & lost it & who knew yeaers later someone had a copy & put it out on youtube THANK GOD!!! PRAISE YOUTUBE!!!! i also used to have reggae dancehall tapes from the same time 2

[djleggs]

Whats The Name Of The Very First Record AT The Beginning Of This Tape Right Here Fellas ?

[Soulblackman]

This is seriOUS!

[jcarrasq2002]

Wow!!! One of those flyers I saw said it was $2.00 to get in...Now that is classic....Good job brother keeping those classic flyers...

[themanamp]

Is this really from 1977? That's amazing, funny how fresh and edgy the vocals sound compared to the commercial sounds of recorded hip-hop a few years later.... Are there any tapes from before this one? What's the oldest?

[dexorcist]

amazing

[CheezyDonSenior]

TO THA BEAT YALL DONT STOP YALL!!!!

[dannybeatbreak]

it says 77, but the style of rap and scratch seems later to my ears, perhaps 79? I say this because hip hop was a fluid evolution of style, a accurate straight arrow timeline. its important that we chronicle this right, for future reference!

[robbiebalboa]

@dannybeatbreak word, its like saying your independence day was july the 10th.

[GCETaylor]

@dannybeatbreak I would agree. The rap style especially sounds too advanced for 1977. I recall rap from 77-78 being infused with a lot more nursery rhymes and things like that (Jack and Jill went up the hill to have a little fun..., Mickey Mouse gonna build a house/ Donald Duck don't give a f__). Also, one of the rap lyrics from this tape came from Use ta be My Girl, by the O'Jays, which came out in 1978.

[mouzetrapp]

r.i.p. mr magic !!!now it time to vent!! its a shame we cant get the juice crew story told( the vapors) right!! all these so called rich niccas need to get the movie paid for !!!! its so important to hiphop not just tupac and b.i.g. but the golden age of hiphop!! im about to start a youtube movement so maybe we can get this done right!!!

[appinoiden]

some of it is the same audio as the live convention 77 - 79 tape.

[DutchOldSchoolFan]

indeed, but that live convention 77-79 tape is a hoax (the storie is made up, the tape is produced later)

[run666]

yes it was better, partying, all gettin along, havin fun, lyrics werent about flippin kilos, shootin ur man, beatin ya girl.

look what it came to now. tell me im wrong.. dare to tell me im wrong..

[joni2691]

Damn, too advanced!! Love those " Prestyped" flyers

[dhughes1969]

For some reason it was so much better back then.

[dfuzz71]

umm...WOW!