Hip Hop is a culture rife with soul and artistry; its rich history is integral to that of New York City out of which it was born. The urban changes of the 1970s and 80s- including urban renewal, "white flight," urban disinvestment, and the "burning of The Bronx"- saw the emergence of the revolutionary DJ'ing, MC'ing, breakdancing, graffiti, and culture that would become known as Hip Hop. Despite this close relationship, Hip Hop does not get the respect or attention it deserves from the city of its birth. In this collection of walks, I will address how Hip Hop emerged from the NYC of the 1970s and 80s, showcasing some key historical monuments and figures of Hip Hop, as well as critiquing how Hip Hop has been or has not been, received, appreciated and celebrated by the city in which it was born.

Washington Bridge, ca. 1940. As pre-consolidation New York City grew, it gradually absorbed the northern Manhattan neighborhoods of Harlem, Yorkville, Manhattanville, and Carmansville. This expansion and the 1870s development of housing in newly-laid-out Washington Heights promoted the idea for a vehicular traffic link between upper Manhattan and The Bronx, where population growth was still minimal. Washington Bridge (originally called the Harlem River and then the Manhattan Bridge) opened in 1889, setting a record completion time of just under two years, and making the relatively rural Bronx approachable for development. Although still part of Westchester, a status that changed with consolidation, The Bronx was newly accessible to Manhattan by light rail surface transit. Eventually, with the opening of the George Washington Bridge, the Washington Bridge became part of the interstate system carrying U.S. Route 1 from Maine to Florida. Period guidebooks recommended the center of the bridge, 155 feet above the river, as a site from which to enjoy a superb view that encompassed the Harlem River, Long Island Sound, Fort George, Spuyten Duyvil, and Kingsbridge. Fifteen-foot-wide walkways on either side of the roadway provided amply for those who chose to enjoy the view on foot.

With the Grammy Awards back in New York, we began thinking about all the places here that are important to the history of music. From the days when jazz musicians dubbed New York “the Big Apple,” the City has been the place to make it big. A lot of the most famous music venues have been lost over the years to development and changing tastes, but many more always pop up, seemingly weekly in Brooklyn and Queens.

516 West 185th Street, ca. 1932.

1520 Sedgwick Avenue, ca. 1985. 1520 Sedgwick Avenue is an unremarkable apartment building in the South Bronx, like many others, but in 1973 something magical happened here. Cindy Campbell rented out the building’s small rec room for a party on August 11, 1973. Her brother Clive, DJ Kool Herc, showed his new technique of mixing the beats from two copies of the same record to extend the break for the dancers. His friend Coke La Rock rapped over the beats. It was the birth of a new type of music that would become known as hip hop, and inspired Grandmaster Flash, KRS-One, Afrika Bambaataa and many other kids in attendance to run home and imitate the new sound. On a visit ten years ago, the rec room was sadly filled with snow blowers and maintenance equipment, but in 2017 Mayor de Blasio renamed the street Hip Hop Boulevard.