DJ Kool Herc's back-to-school party at 1520 Sedgwick Avenue
Cindy Campbell hosts a back-to-school party in the recreation room of her family's Bronx apartment building. Her older brother Clive 'Kool Herc' Campbell DJs, using two copies of the same record to extend the percussive break — the 'Merry-Go-Round' technique. Most serious histories of hip-hop open here.
Why it matters
Chang, Charnas, Smithsonian, Carnegie Hall and the Bronx Walk of Fame all anchor the culture's start to this party. The building was designated a New York State landmark in 2007 and listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2024. Herc's extension-of-the-break invention is the technical seed from which sampling, b-boying, and the entire turntablist tradition grow.
Branches
Citations 4
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- A TeachRock (Rock and Roll Forever Foundation) — The Historical Roots of Hip-Hop Retrieved 2026-05-24.