When the Beat Was Born
DJ Kool Herc and the Creation of Hip Hop
Roaring Brook Press · Print & ebook · August 27, 2013
A John Steptoe New Talent Award Winner Before there was hip hop, there was DJ Kool Herc.
We earn from qualifying purchases.
- Who it’s for
- A lively account of the early hip-hop sound and the DJ who helped shape it.
- Themes
- Hip-hop origins, Breakdancing, Music's cultural influence
- Genres
- Rap & Hip Hop, Musicians' Lives for Kids, Music History
Nearest books
Matched by what the books are about, then ordered by what their readers also loved.
There Was a Party for LangstonJason Reynolds47% match
Fros, Fades, and BraidsSean Qualls46% match
Houdini's LibraryBarb Rosenstock43% match
Trombone ShortyTroy Andrews42% matchShares Musicians' Lives for Kids
Who Was Langston Hughes?Billy Merrell42% match
The Roots of RapCarole Boston Weatherford59% matchShares Rap & Hip Hop and Music History
History Comics: Hip-hopJarrett Williams67% matchShares Rap & Hip Hop
Harlem GrownTony Hillery42% match
For older readers: Bad Boy: a Graphic Memoir, Fashion Killa, The Book of Jose
Start with three books, and this one can be the first.
Members get a new edition every morning: a route out from their books to essays, research and talks, with the reason for each.
Start with this bookAbout this book
A John Steptoe New Talent Award Winner Before there was hip hop, there was DJ Kool Herc. On a hot day at the end of summer in 1973 Cindy Campbell threw a back-to-school party at a park in the South Bronx. Her brother, Clive Campbell, spun the records. He had a new way of playing the music to make the breaks—the musical interludes between verses—longer for dancing. He called himself DJ Kool Herc and this is When the Beat Was Born.
Continue reading
From his childhood in Jamaica to his youth in the Bronx, Laban Carrick Hill's book tells how Kool Herc came to be a DJ, how kids in gangs stopped fighting in order to breakdance, and how the music he invented went on to define a culture and transform the world.
A Beat Takes Shape
A lively account of the early hip-hop sound and the DJ who helped shape it.
Come here for
- The South Bronx roots of hip-hop’s first breaks
- A music-history narrative centered on DJ Kool Herc
Expect
- A path from childhood in Jamaica to youth in the Bronx
- Music, dancing, and a culture taking shape
Where it sits
| Rap & Hip Hop | 73% |
|---|---|
| Musicians' Lives for Kids | 52% |
| Music History | 28% |
Percentages are BookFrontier’s reading of the book.
Publisher categories
- Musicians' Lives for Kids
- Rap & Hip Hop
- Authors
- Laban Carrick Hill
- Publisher
- Roaring Brook Press
- Published
- August 27, 2013
- Format
- Print & ebook
- Theme
- Hip-hop origins · Breakdancing · Music's cultural influence
- Reading lane
- Musicians' Lives for Kids