One name, million songs: Roxanne. How could U.T.F.O., Whodini's former dancers, have seen Roxanne Shante coming? By mid '84 Hip Hop was...

"I'm Sha-Rock and I can't be stopped for all the fly guys gonna hit the top" when Sha-Rock walked into her first Kool Herc jam and took...

It took one moist, lumbering, Budweiser-lubricated "HYEAHH-HHHH!" for Hip-Hop to welcome the last suburban holdouts to Planet Rock....

Hip Hop has fought an internal war since its inception as recorded music. A war about authenticity. About who or what best represents the...

What are the chances? You're a Brooklyn-born, Queensborough Community College freshman (emphasis on the fresh) majoring in liberal arts...

There's three of us, but we're not The Beatles." - Run-DMC, "King Of Rock." Beg to differ. In the crucial years of rap's graduation from...

With their military-style security force, organizational structure, and urgent rhymes decrying racism, Public Enemy have often been...

Grandmaster Caz, formerly known as DJ Casanova Fly commanded the microphone and turntables alongside DJ Disco Wiz before forming a group...

Kurtis Blow didn't only change the game- he showed up early and laid the Astroturf, chalked the yard lines, sketched out the plays, and...

Unable to produce a comparable contemporary touchstone thoughtful observers likened Rakim's sheets speech to the flurried notes of...

One rhyme. That's all it took. In fact, it was one line within the rhyme that did it. Never mind that his wordplay and cadence in the...

How to accurately describe the asteroidlike impact KRS-One had on Hip-Hop... your might say it's a cross between that of Bob Marley and...

The Civil Rights Movement came about out of legalized racial segregation, containment, and economic/social/political oppression. The...

Lead singer of group Blondie, Debbie Harry was a bleach blonde rule-breaker making her mark on the New York club and punk scene. In...

During the mid-'00s Don Campbell visited Russia. In his mid-fifties, the father of locking L.A loose-limbed, improvisational dance style...

Though Kool Herc, Afrika Bambaataa, and Grandmaster Flash are often cited as the holy trinity of Hip Hop music pioneers, Luis "DJ Disco...

Some DJs, like Jazzy Jay, made the transition from party to studio, from cutting up names to making beats. Others remained local, like...

Grand Mixer D.ST was one of the Roxy's first resident DJs. Born Derek Showard in the South Bronx's Edenwald Houses, D.ST was raised on...

Some DJs couldn't be bothered with headphones and backspins, and just nailed the break by dropping the needle. A 15-year-old named Grand...

Using two copies of Karen Young's "Hot Shot", Grandmaster Flash dazzled the crowd. His quick-mix and backspin techniques were born from...