When the Beat Was Born
Hill, Laban Carrick / Theodore Taylor, III
A John Steptoe New Talent Award WinnerBefore 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. From his child...