Observing Black History Month, The History of DJ Culture
When you’re a DJ, it goes without saying that you’re constantly influenced by other artists and musicians, but it goes much deeper than that. We’re part of a vibrant story, a story that began with Black artists. As PRISM DJs observes and celebrates Black History Month, we’d like to explore the origins of the industry and pay homage to the Black creators who made our careers possible.
The term ‘Disc Jockey’ had been used since the days of disco, but its hip-hop and rap origins first came into existence in 1973 when Clive Campbell, a.k.a. DJ Kool Herc, invented the genre when he began playing music for his neighborhood block parties in the Bronx. As he experimented with sounds, beats, and techniques, he developed breakbeat DJing by using two turntables to mix and layer the same record and extend the instrumental drum beat of a track, called ‘the break.’ From there, Herc added lyrics and enlisted dancers, called break boys and break girls (or b-boys and b-girls) for their unique form of what eventually became known as breakdancing. Kool Herc’s style of turntablism became the foundation for hip-hop, and it wasn’t long before his methods for manipulating sound and creating original music were emulated, taken mainstream, and began the process of musical evolution.
Just a couple years later in 1975, another Black DJ from the Bronx invented the iconic scratching technique. Theodore Livingston, better known in hip-hop folklore as Grand Wizzard Theodore, stumbled upon the ability to ‘scratch’ a record as he was being scolded for playing his music too loud. While he was holding the record still, he inadvertently moved it back and forth, creating a scratching sound. Theodore dug the sound and developed it into the skilled artistic technique that exploded onto the hip-hop scene and defined a generation.
By the late’70s, hip-hop was taking the world by storm. One of the most influential tracks of this time was “Rapper’s Delight” by The Sugar Hill Gang in 1979. The Black hip-hop trio, comprised of Michael “Wonder Mike” Wright, Henry “Big Bank Hank” Jackson, and Guy “Master Gee” O’Brien, were produced by Sugar Hill records and released “Rapper’s Delight” to high acclaim. The single peaked at #36 on the Top 40, and was the first rap song to ever be a Top 40 hit on the Billboard Hot 100. The success of “Rapper’s Delight” showed hip-hop artists and DJs that there was a place and a future for them in the music industry, and not just any place- a place at the top.
It’s important for us to remember that it wasn’t just Black male artists laying the groundwork for the hip-hop and DJ industries. In 1986, Deidra Muriel Roper was introduced to Hurby Azor, who produced legendary female hip-hop group Salt-N-Pepa. Azor selected Roper as the group’s new DJ when she was just 16 years old, and she became known as DJ Spinderella. With Spinderella mixing Salt-N-Pepa’s tracks, they released five albums with countless singles reaching platinum and gold, solidifying their place as hip-hop giants. And like all the greats, Spinderella opened the door for more female DJs to break into the business.
Not long after DJ Spinderella became hip-hop royalty, Pam Warren, known by her hip-hop name Pam the Funkstress, made waves as the DJ for hip-hop duo The Coup. Pam the Funkstress first began DJing in 1988 after being inspired by DJ Spinderella and the music of Salt-N-Pepa, and she started her career as a club DJ before being invited to join The Coup in the early ‘90s. She worked on four albums with the group before leaving to DJ as a solo artist and pursue other business ventures, and she eventually became the DJ for the one and only Prince before tragically passing away at the age of 51. Pam the Funkstress has long been called the ‘Turntable Queen,’ and her work is still considered some of the most influential political hip-hop of all time. Spinderella and the Funkstress are by no means the only women who helped to engineer hip-hop and DJing as we know it today, but they were certainly among the first to lead the way.
We could go on for pages about the Black artists and DJs that emerged in the footsteps of the icons who founded and shaped the industry, and that still wouldn’t be enough. At the heart of hip-hop, these legends were truly the first of their kind. It was their contributions to the world, the genre, and the Black community that set the stage for the unparalleled stardom experienced by hip-hop and rap artists and groups since the ‘80s. The only reason DJs today have any opportunity whatsoever to forge a career is because of the Black musicians who paved the way and led by example with their talent, their artistry, and their ambition.
At PRISM DJs, we are so lucky to share in a musical history with immensely creative, innovative, and passionate Black artists, and we are proud to count them as influences and colleagues in an industry that wouldn’t exist without them.
