The history of the birth of hip-hop DJs in the late 1970’s and 80’s is probably the closest to the core elements of Red Bull Thre3Style compared to any other genre. Although this may sound out of place, being that Red Bull Thre3Style is about mixing up genres, that is exactly what the pioneering hip-hop DJs did: They took any style of music and played it out in such a way that it became something completely fresh and exciting.
Hip-hop was born in New York. Today the stars of hip-hop are the rappers, but the originators of one of the highest grossing music genres in the world were DJs. In the late 70’s there were many DJs playing in clubs and at block parties in the Bronx and their selection of music was funk, soul and R&B. One of these DJs was Clive Campbell, aka DJ Kool Herc, a Jamaican immigrant who would change the history of music.
DJ Kool Herc and The Breakbeat
The breakbeat is the core element of hip-hop and all its offshoot genres such as drum n bass, trip-hop and the like. It refers to the section of an old piece of music, be it soul, funk, jazz or even rock, where the main instruments drop out to let the rhythm section, the bass and drums, play on their own. What many hip-hop producers have done over the years is sample these sections of music off these records and take the sample and loop it to create a new piece of music.
DJ Kool Herc essentially invented the breakbeat. Inspired by the kinetic young breakdancers on the dancefloor, he decided to only play the breakbeat section of the records, leaving out the rest of the song. His newfound creation was a sensation. Breakdancers pioneered their art out of his breakbeat "Merry-Go-Round" as he would call it and he became a celebrity in his own right for his outlandish creativity. Most importantly he did something that has become the mark of hip-hop DJs and producers up till this day: He created something new out of a recorded finished piece of music.
Grandmaster Flash on the Wheels of Steel
DJ Kool Herc planted the seed for another brilliant mind to help his invention grow into something truly revolutionary. Joseph Saddler, aka Grandmaster Flash, was a technical geek who by his own admission would rather lock himself in his bedroom and pioneer his art than hang out with his friends and get with girls. DJ Kool Herc was rather straightforward in his approach to playing breakbeats, simply playing one after the other without much regard for the technical art of mixing. Inspired by the disco DJs of the time who could beat-match their music seamlessly, Flash knew that he could take things to another level. And that is exactly what he did.
Using two turntables, he would take two of the exact same song on vinyl, and play the breakbeat section of the song. While the one record was playing, he would ready the same breakbeat section of the song on the other record and when it was finished playing on the first record, he would start playing it on the second record, essentially looping the breakbeat. This, as previously mentioned, is the basis of hip-hop music and Flash was able to do it before the sampler was even invented. It is still a technique and skill employed by masterful DJs to this day.
He would also go onto record one of the first hip-hop records, "The Adventures Grandmaster Flash on the Wheels Of Steel". Essentially an explosive seven-minute mix of Flash's best songs and demonstration of his mighty skill, the track is a landmark in that it was the first recording, and hence documentation, of what a hip-hop DJ could do. It would be pointless to advise a Red Thre3Style participant to listen to the record for reference, because undoubtedly anyone competing in any kind of DJ battle would know "The Adventures Grandmaster Flash on the Wheels Of Steel" from start to finish.
Watch out for the next part of "The Pioneers of Hip-Hop" where we take a look at Grand Wizard Theodore and Afrika Bambaata.
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