DJ Kool Herc, born Clive Campbell, is widely recognized as the father of hip hop.
Campbell was born in Kingston, Jamaica, in 1955 and moved with his family to the Bronx, New York, in 1967. On August 11, 1973, he hosted a back-to-school party at 1520 Sedgwick Avenue, where he extended the instrumental break sections of funk records for dancers. His use of two copies of the same record helped create longer, continuous breaks.
Those breaks became a foundation for breakdancing, while party host Coke La Rock provided rhymed announcements over the music. The event is often called hip hop’s birth, although hip hop developed through many DJs, MCs, dancers, and graffiti artists rather than appearing at one instant.
Grandmaster Flash and Afrika Bambaataa were also major early innovators, but they were different DJs from a later stage of the culture’s development.