In Shout Out to Architecture!, the origins of rap in its urban conditions are analyzed, and how the euphemism of “urban” music arose to whitewash this musical genre in its origins.
Fig. 01 Overlay of Hip Hop Party locations and (×) location of Project Buildings (●). Information taken from the Cornell University Library Digital Archive, the Cornell Hip Hop Collection, by Toni Cañellas.
Beyond this label, the truth is that during the 70s pioneering DJs from the Bronx neighborhood established the first open-air community centers on streets and central roads. These spontaneous parties that appropriated the electric energy of public space were the germ of a new musical style. Pioneering artists of this movement such as Kool Herc used record players through novel practices that manipulated the reproduction of vinyl and extended to infinity portions of songs or breaks where percussion solos abounded. Over these breaks, reproduced with powerful outdoor speakers, a new dance style was conceived: breakdance.
If we cross-reference the information provided by this mapping of parties with the information corresponding to the location of the projects from the 1970s, we find a close relationship between the birth of hip hop and the architectural and urban development of the Bronx and other areas of New York. [Fig. 01] The events not only built a network of nodes that articulated the urban life of the neighborhood but also generated the breeding ground necessary for the birth of a new sociocultural movement.
