FUN WITH MAPS – ISSUE 2023-138 DAILY FEATURE:

By Steve Kovacs (Introduction by Chuck Gibson)

LOVELAND, OH (August 11, 2023) – In today’s edition of Fun with Maps, we celebrate 50 years of DJ’s making music history.

HAPPY HIP HOP 50TH!

A DJ working a back-to-school party in the Bronx, New York made music history 50 years ago tonight when his work behind the turntables gave us the new genre of hip hop.

To save money Cindy Campbell hired her brother Clive, better known as DJ Kool Herc, to bring his fancy sound system to entertain at her get-together.

What Kool Herc did was play song snippets continuously on 2 turntables so that the music and dancing never stopped.  His style led to an elevated status for the DJ, who became the star of any dance floor. 

By the 1980s, DJs added microphones and in doing so, the emcees became headliners at nightclubs and social events.

Hip hop became a mosaic of current events – snippets of voices, dress, and culture – conveying the thoughts of a new generation of musicians, dancers, and graffiti artists.  The “fad” never faded.

Greater New York City is shown in this 1867 map by Beers.

Steve Kovacs and his wife Theresa reside in Loveland, Ohio where they raised their two children. He is a passionate collector of antique maps.

Visit his antique map boutique world-on-paper online. Watch for his daily feature Steve Kovacs: Fun with Maps here on Loveland Beacon