Early New York Hip-Hop

Before hip-hop had a name, there were sound systems. Clive Campbell—DJ Kool Herc—left Kingston at twelve, arriving in the Bronx in 1967 carrying memories of Jamaican dancehall culture. He remembered watching guys hauling speaker boxes to outdoor parties, the bass so heavy it moved through your chest before you heard it. His mother was a nurse. His father fixed forklifts at Clark's Equipment Company in Queens and collected records obsessively: Caribbean rhythms, African American funk, soul. Young Clive would sneak into his father's closet to stare at the vinyl, touch the grooves, get caught, get punished, go right back.