Hip-hop at 50: A history of explosive musical and cultural innovation
Hip-hop at 50: A history of explosive musical and cultural innovation
![Hip-hop celebrates its 50th anniversary on August 11, 2023.](https://media.npr.org/assets/img/2023/08/11/nprpromo_wide-ca63a3b7fb3d338de114145411d8749af0864d7e.jpg?s=1100&c=85&f=jpeg)
On August 11, 1973, a young innovative DJ rocked a modest party for fellow teenagers in a small community room in a Bronx apartment building. What Kool Herc did behind the turntables at that back-to-school party helped ignite a music we now know as hip-hop. That spark — and the cultural explosion that followed — is what we're celebrating today, 50 years later.
There are so many ways of looking at this history, so All Things Considered has decided to mark the 50 years of hip-hop by zeroing in on moments that illustrate how the genre became a dominant musical force that has infused almost every corner of mainstream culture.
Through interviews and music, this long listen traces significant moments in hip-hop history from that party in 1973, to the first hip-hop record deal, the debut of Yo! MTV Raps, the rise of hip-hop in the South and the new era of music technology that has brought hip-hop direct to fans on the internet.
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