1520 Sedgwick Avenue | |
---|---|
General information | |
Status | Completed |
Type | Residential |
Location | The Bronx, New York City, New York |
Country | United States |
Completed | 1967 [1] |
Technical details | |
Floor count | 18 |
Floor area | 119,919 square feet (11,140.8 m2) [2] |
1520 Sedgwick Avenue is a 102-unit [3] apartment building in the Morris Heights neighborhood in the Bronx, New York City. Recognized as a long-time "haven for working class families," it has been historically accepted as the birthplace of hip hop. [4]
The first mortgages for units at 1520 Sedgwick were made in 1967. After a long period of neglect and shady dealings in the 1990s and 2000s the building has been "highlighted by elected officials and tenant advocates as an emblem of New York’s affordable housing crisis." Senator Chuck Schumer called the building "the birthplace of predatory equity", and Representative José E. Serrano, called it "such a visible building." [5]
The creation of the Cross Bronx Expressway uprooted thousands in the Bronx during the early 1970s, displacing communities, and fostering white flight. [6] 1520 Sedgwick Avenue, which received its first mortgage in 1967, [1] is located on the Expressway.
1520 Sedgwick Avenue has been called "the birthplace of hip hop." As hip hop grew throughout the Bronx, 1520 was a starting point where Clive Campbell, later known as DJ Kool Herc, presided over parties in the community room at a pivotal point in the genre's history. [7] [8]
DJ Kool Herc is credited with helping to start hip hop and rap music at a house concert at 1520 Sedgwick Avenue on August 11, 1973. [9] At the concert he was a DJ and MC in the recreation room of 1520 Sedgwick Avenue. [10] Sources have noted that while 1520 Sedgwick Avenue was not the actual birthplace of hip hop – the genre developed slowly in several places in the 1970s – it was verified to be the place where one of the pivotal and formative events occurred that spurred hip hop culture forward. [11] During a rally to save the building, DJ Kool Herc said, "1520 Sedgwick is the Bethlehem of hip-hop culture." [12]
On August 11, 1973, Clive Campbell aka DJ Kool Herc spun the turntables at a back-to-school birthday party for his sister Cindy Campbell [13] held in the recreation center at 1520 Sedgwick. He was assisted by Theodore Puccio who has been credited as the first MC [14] but many insiders attribute that honor to Coke La Rock. [15] [16] After spending months perfecting a new technique involving "playing the frantic grooves at the beginning or in the middle of the song" with two turntables, a mixer, and two copies of the same record, Campbell unveiled the technique at his sister's party. After renting the recreation room for 25 dollars, Cindy charged 25 cents for females and 50 cents for males to attend. "I wrote out the invites on index cards, so all Herc had to do was show up. With the party set from 9 p.m. to 4 a.m., our mom served snacks and dad picked up the sodas and beer from a local beverage warehouse." With the exhibition of his new style, Campbell's friend Coke La Rock demonstrated another innovation called rapping. Attendees, or people who later falsely claimed to be there, include Grandmaster Caz, leader of the Cold Crush Brothers, Grandmaster Flash, Busy Bee, Afrika Bambaataa, Sheri Sher, Mean Gene, Kool DJ Red Alert, and KRS-One. [17]
Starting in the early 2000s, building owners threatened to turn 1520 into high rent units. Senator Schumer led a rally in 2007 focused on maintaining the affordable costs of the housing in order to maintain its working-class roots. [18] The New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation recognized the building as the "birthplace of hip hop" on July 5, 2007. [19] [20]
Starting in 2007 the building's owners sought to repeal the status afforded to the building by the Mitchell-Lama Housing Program, which allowed it to maintain rent control for low-income and working class residents. Despite work by groups such as the Urban Homesteading Assistance Board and the Tenants and Neighbors Association to preserve the building's Mitchell-Lama status, [19] the courts allowed the building's status to be repealed. [21] In 2008 the building was sold to a real estate group that included Mark Karasick, a prominent real estate investor, which intended to turn the building into market-rate housing. However, after the United States housing bubble burst, a period of neglect and threats of forced evictions daunted residents, [22] and despite promises to the opposite, the building fell into decline. [23] In 2010 the city's Housing Development Corporation provided a $5.6 million loan to allow Winn Development and a new group called Workforce Housing Advisors to buy the building's mortgage from Sovereign Bank for $6.2 million. Rafael E. Cestero, the commissioner of the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development, said they supported the sale in order to help provide sustainable housing for working-class families. [22]
On November 7, 2011, following a foreclosure auction with no active bidders, Workforce Housing Advisors were able to take title of 1520 Sedgwick Avenue. Several residents, who were present at the auction along with tenant advocacy group Urban Homesteading Assistance Board, wept with joy when the auctioneer announced no bids had been registered. John Crotty of Workforce Housing Advisors told the New York Times that his group intends to renovate the distressed building and work with tenants to recognize its importance. The group's investors are more interested in steady, secure returns than in making money quickly. [24] Some money for renovations will be provided by New York City's department of Housing Preservation and Development, and the Housing Development Corporation.
Street dance is an umbrella term for a large number of social dance styles such as: breakdancing, popping, locking, house dance, waacking, voguing etc. Social dance styles have many accompanying steps and foundations, created organically from a culture, a moment in time, a way of life, influenced by natural social interaction. A street dance is a vernacular dance in an urban context. Vernacular dances are often improvisational and social in nature, encouraging interaction and contact with spectators and other dancers. These dances are a part of the vernacular culture of the geographical area that they come from.
Beat Street is a 1984 American dance drama film featuring New York City hip hop culture of the early 1980s. Set in the South Bronx, the film follows the lives of a pair of brothers and their group of friends, all of whom are devoted to various elements of early hip hop culture, including breakdancing, DJing and graffiti.
Coke La Rock is an old-school rapper from New York City who is sometimes credited as being the first MC in the history of hip-hop.
In popular music, a break is an instrumental or percussion section during a song derived from or related to stop-time – being a "break" from the main parts of the song or piece. A break is usually interpolated between sections of a song, to provide a sense of anticipation, signal the start of a new section, or create variety in the arrangement.
Henry Lee Jackson, known by his stage name Big Bank Hank, was an American old school rapper and manager. Also known as Imp the Dimp, he was a member of the trio The Sugarhill Gang, the first hip hop act to have a hit, with the cross-over single "Rapper's Delight" in the pop charts in 1979. He contributed to many documentaries based on the rap music industry. Lyrics to his verse from "Rapper's Delight" were allegedly plagiarized from rhymes written by Grandmaster Caz.
Hip hop or hip-hop is a culture and art movement that was created by African Americans pioneered from Black American street culture, also known as hip hop African American culture, that had been around for years prior to its more mainstream discovery while later reaching other groups such as Latino Americans and Caribbean Americans, starting in the Bronx, New York City. Hip Hop is one of cultural movements that has been shaped and dominated by African American males though female hip hop artists have contributed to the art form and culture as well. Hip hop culture is characterized by the key elements of rapping, DJing and turntablism, and breakdancing. Other elements include historical knowledge of the movement, graffiti, beatboxing, street entrepreneurship, hip hop language, and hip hop fashion.
The Black Spades are a mostly African-American street gang which started in the Bronx during the late 1960s and gained popularity in the 1970s. The gang began to spread from the Bronx to Manhattan, Queens, Brooklyn, Staten Island, New Rochelle, New Jersey, Massachusetts and Connecticut by the late 1980s. During this period Latino and white members were more common. The Black Spades have made a comeback in 2019 with more members joining. They are now TBS New Direction, a community service group championing anti-violence initiatives and providing food distribution for the food insecure.
A house concert or home concert is a musical concert or performance art that is presented in someone's home or apartment, or a nearby small private space such as a barn, apartment rec room, lawn, or backyard.
Sandro Orrù, known as DJ Gruff, Gruffetti or Lowdy N.C.N., is a pioneer of the Italian hip hop scene. Known for his original take on rapping and scratching techniques since 1982. He has been active as a turntablist, DJ, beatmaker, rapper and producer.
Morris Heights is a residential neighborhood located in the West Bronx. Its boundaries, starting from the north and moving clockwise are: West Burnside Avenue to the north, Jerome Avenue to the east, the Cross-Bronx Expressway to the south, and the Harlem River to the west. University Avenue is the primary thoroughfare through Morris Heights.
University Woods, also known as Cedar Park, is a small woodland park in the University Heights neighborhood of the Bronx in New York City. Overlooking the Harlem River, the park sits between Sedgwick and Cedar Avenues. After having been named "the city's worst park" by the New Yorkers for Parks in the years 2003–2006, a restoration project was begun in 2008 by the Friends of the Woods organization, with a $500,000 grant from Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
Bronx River Houses is a low-income public housing project in the Soundview section of the Bronx, New York City. It consists of nine buildings with 1,260 apartments. Completed February 28, 1951, the 13.94-acre (5.64 ha) Bronx development is bordered by East 174th Street, Harrod, and Bronx River Avenues. Bronx River Houses is home to 3,025 residents. The project is patrolled by P.S.A. 8 located at 2794 Randall Avenue in the Throgs Neck section of the Bronx.
Clive Campbell, better known by his stage name DJ Kool Herc, is a Jamaican American DJ who is a pioneer of hip hop music in the Bronx, New York City, in the 1970s. Nicknamed the Father of Hip-Hop, Campbell began playing hard funk records of the sort typified by James Brown.
Hip hop or hip-hop, also known as rap, and formerly known as disco rap, is a genre of popular music that originated in the early 1970s by African Americans in the Bronx, a borough of New York City. It existed for several years prior to mainstream discovery. Hip-hop music originated as an anti-drug and anti-violence genre consisting of stylized rhythmic music that often accompanies rapping, a rhythmic delivery of poetic speech. According to the professor Asante of African American studies at Temple University, "hip hop is something that blacks can unequivocally claim as their own". The music developed as part of the broader hip hop culture, a subculture defined by four key stylistic elements: MCing/rapping, DJing/scratching with turntables, break dancing, and graffiti art. While often used to refer solely to rapping and rap music, "hip hop" more properly denotes the practice of the entire subculture. The term hip hop music is sometimes used synonymously with the term rap music, though rapping is not a required component of hip hop music; the genre may also incorporate other elements of the culture, including DJing, turntablism, scratching, beatboxing, and instrumental tracks.
Lance Taylor, also known as Afrika Bambaataa, is an American DJ, rapper, and producer from the South Bronx, New York. He is notable for releasing a series of genre-defining electro tracks in the 1980s that influenced the development of hip hop culture. Afrika Bambaataa is one of the originators of breakbeat DJing.
Rebel Diaz is a political hip hop duo out of New York City and Chicago consisting of the Chilean brothers Rodrigo Venegas and Gonzalo Venegas. Rebel Diaz uses their music as an organizing tool and to spread knowledge about injustice. Hip hop website AllHipHop.com named Rebel Diaz one of the top fifty emerging/underground hip hop artists of 2013.
Sedgwick Avenue is a major street in the Bronx, New York City. It runs roughly parallel to Jerome Avenue, the Major Deegan Expressway, and University Avenue. Sedgwick Avenue is one of the longest streets in the western part of the Bronx, running from Mosholu Parkway at the north to Macombs Dam Bridge at its southern end, about 800 feet west of Yankee Stadium.
Hip Hop Family Tree is a series of educational and historical comic books written and illustrated by Ed Piskor that documents the early history of hip hop culture. Originating online with Boing Boing, the series was published in print form by Fantagraphics Books. The first collection was a 2014 New York Times Graphic Books Best Seller (#7) and was listed in The Washington Post Top 10 graphic novels of 2013. The second collection won the Eisner Award for Best Reality-Based Work in 2015.
Hip-Hop Evolution is a Canadian music documentary series that originally aired on HBO Canada in 2016. Hosted by Juno Award-winning artist Shad, the series profiles the history of hip-hop music through interviews with many of the genre's leading cultural figures. The series is produced by Darby Wheeler, Rodrigo Bascuñán, Russell Peters, Scot McFadyen, Sam Dunn and Nelson George. It won the 2016 Peabody Award, and the 2017 International Emmy Award for Best Arts Programming.
The South Bronx is an area of the New York City borough of the Bronx. The area comprises neighborhoods in the southern part of the Bronx, such as Concourse, Mott Haven, Melrose, and Port Morris.