Hip-hop mecca Bronx birthplace of hip-hop wins temporary reprieve

I'm late writing this story 'cause it got buried with other stuff, but it's still close to my heart so I'm sharing. I found this obscure bit of hip-hop heritage on New York's "Daily News" website: "A Bronx apartment building where hip-hop was born in the 1970s won a temporary reprieve Monday from being sold and its longtime tenants forced into the streets."

If you've watched any hip-hop documentaries or or read any books that go back to the roots of hip-hop you may have heard about DJ Kool Herc. Yes, it's a cheesy name, but think about the time he was "the man"...1970s, Bronx, New York. NYC wasn't the pretty city it is today, but that didn't stop Kool Herc (aka Clive Campbell) from inspiring a generation (and Grandmaster Flash) of disenfranchised youth to build the global phenomenon that's hip-hop culture today.

These are the breaks! Kool Herc didn't invent scratching, nor did he have the best record collection. But, Kool Herc was one of the first to DJ music that MCs rapped over. He knew the percussive "breaks" in the records, which dancers loved. Herc's Jamaican upbringing gave him the know-how to rock a party with the best sound-system. That brought the party people, the girls, the cool dudes who loved the breaks, hence the phrase "break-boys" or "b-boys". That's hip-hop!

Today, the basement community room of the Morris Heights building where Herc threw his first parties in will be turned into a low-income cooperative with the help of the city. "This is about affordable housing and the American dream," said Herc with Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.).