Legendary hip-hop pioneer, DJ Kool Herc will celebrate the 50th anniversary of the genre with a star-studded celebration in Jamaica later this year.

The Jamaica-born DJ along with his sister Cindy Campbell who are organising the event, which will be a two-day celebration on December 29 and 30 at Plantation Cove in St Ann. The brother and sister duo say they “have invited some of the biggest names in hip-hop and reggae/dancehall for the event.”

The event will not only be to celebrate the 50th anniversary of hip-hop but to pay homage to the genre’s Jamaican roots as well. The sibling duo pointed to the importance of recognising that Hip-Hop’s sound system techniques were heavily influenced by the trailblazing figures of modern Jamaican music, such as King Stitt, Count Machukie, U Roy, and Big Youth.

According to an official statement from the pair, “we are inviting the very best, both past and present, from the realms of hip-hop and Jamaican music. We are immensely proud of our Jamaican heritage and want the world to share in our pride.”

A series of events across the United States have marked the 50th anniversary of hip-hop, including a spectacular gathering at Yankee Stadium earlier in August.

Grand finale celebration in Jamaica

Kool Herc commented that it is only right that “the grand finale” be held in Jamaica, where it all began. “This is going to be huge,” he declared.

The event will also celebrate the induction of DJ Kool Herc into the 2023 class of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

On Monday (October 16), he received Jamaica’s fifth-highest honor, the Order of Distinction, Commander Class, for his sterling contribution to the international recognition of reggae/DJ music.

‘The father of Hip-Hop’

DJ Kool Herc, or Clive Campbell, was born in Kingston, Jamaica. He emigrated with his family at the age of 12 to The Bronx, New York City in November 1967. While growing up in Jamaica, he saw and heard the sound systems of neighborhood parties called dance halls, and the accompanying speech of their DJs, known as toasting.

This later played a major part in his style of music.

In New York in the early 1970s, DJ Kool Herc developed the style that was used as one of the additions to the blueprints for hip-hop music. As a young DJ, he learned to isolate the instrumental portion of the record which emphasised the drum beat—the “break”—and switch from one break to another.

Using the same two-turntable set-up, DJ KoolHerc used two copies of the same record to elongate the
break. This breakbeat DJing formed the basis of hip-hop music. His freestyle announcements and exhortations on the record to dancers led to what is now known as rapping.

His DJ style was quickly taken up by figures such as Afrika Bambaataa and Grandmaster Flash, who are also considered pioneers of hip-hop.