It's been 50 years since a DJ in the Bronx laid the foundation for hip-hop, and the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland is celebrating. The new exhibit, "Hip Hop at 50: Holla If Ya Hear Me" is now open, commemorating five decades of rapping and scratching.
Rock Hall Inductee Darryl "DMC" McDaniels of Run-DMC was at the opening Thursday, saying that DJ Kool Herc was the one who unleashed an entire culture in 1973 by bringing two turntables and a microphone to a house party. From there, he said, it wasn’t a matter of inventing, but reinventing music.
“We sampled the funk, we sampled the soul, we sampled the rock, we sampled the punk, we sampled the folk music," he said. "We presented it in a way that Black, white, Puerto Rican, young, old, Asian, Jewish could relate."
With help from @MrChuckD @FlavorFlav @THEKINGDMC @ImroxanneShante the @rockhall opened its new HOLLA IF YA HEAR ME exhibit honoring 50 years of Hip Hop @koolherc pic.twitter.com/VYe9wmKMNy
— Kabir Bhatia (@KabirBhatiaTime) June 30, 2023
Rock Hall CEO Greg Harris said since there aren’t as many musical instruments involved in hip-hop, they concentrated on its cultural impact.
“There’s a lot of clothing on exhibit, because it’s very much hip-hop culture,” he said. “It’s not just the sound. It’s also graffiti art, and we tell that whole story.”
The exhibit includes handbills, record albums and even Questlove’s Ludwig drum set – very similar to the one played by Ringo Starr. During the opening, Chuck D of Public Enemy said that anyone claiming hip-hop isn’t part of “rock ‘n’ roll” is wrong.
“We’re the roll, baby,” he told an enthusiastic crowd, adding that,in his opinion, hip-hop was an equally valid force which “was a spirit that spoke out and said, ‘We aren’t being heard. Hear us now.’”
DJ Kool Herc will be inducted into the Rock Hall this fall alongside the first female hip-hop inductee, Missy Elliott.
