When the Beat Was Born: DJ Kool Herc and the Creation of Hip Hop by Laban Carrick Hill (review)

Abstract

Reviewed by: When the Beat Was Born: DJ Kool Herc and the Creation of Hip Hop by Laban Carrick Hill Elizabeth Bush Hill, Laban Carrick . When the Beat Was Born: DJ Kool Herc and the Creation of Hip Hop; illus. by Theodore Taylor III. Roaring Brook, 2013. [32p]. ISBN 978-1-59643-540-7 $17.99 Reviewed from galleys R 6-10 yrs. Musical styles tend to develop rather than spring up fully formed, so it's actually quite amazing to be able to identify the creator of hip hop and the precise innovations that ushered it in. Equipped with his father's ear-blasting sound system, young Jamaican immigrant Clive Campbell—already known by his nickname Herc—threw a party for his sister's birthday in a rented Bronx rec center in 1973: "That's where Kool Herc became DJ Kool Herc." Working two turntables, he switched between duplicate vinyl to keep the instrumental breaks playing and the dancing going indefinitely, and breakdancers, shout-outs, MCs, and DJ rivalries all became part of the Kool Herc legacy. Hill's narration deftly balances detail and momentum, addressing technical innovations while conveying the excitement of listeners on the scene at the birth of something new. Taylor's delicate linework is swept with streaks of earthy browns and muted greens and reds, suggesting swirls and blasts of sound bombarding the old school crowds. In a closing note, Hill comments on his own experience of the vibrant Bronx community in the early 1980s, at a time when popular media portrayed it as a "one of the most dangerous and desolate places in America." A timeline of hip hop through the 1988 (the year Hill marks as hip hop going fully mainstream) and a select bibliography are included, and readers whose parents (or grandparents) are game enough might track down Beat Street or The Freshest Kids to watch DJ Kool Herc in action. Copyright © 2013 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois