A Birthday Party for The Big Boy's: Kool Herc & Africa Bambaataa [i.e. Afrika Bambaataa], at The T Connection, White Plains, NY, April 17, 1981

Party flyers were a staple in the early years of Hip-Hop and hard-copy invitations were the main medium for communicating information and promoting an event. The flyers symbolized many key appearances, acts, conventions, DJ performances, and contests in the Hip-Hop scene. Many flyers were created by local graffiti artists such as Buddy Esquire and Phase 2. The flyers were often presented by Hip-Hop promoters, DJs, and MCs who hosted the parties. Money was given to the artist to draw creative art and graphics for about $40-$60 for around 1,000 party flyers. The parks’ open public spaces have provided the perfect venues for park jams, impromptu dance-offs, and rap battles that established the sound, fashion, art, and message of Hip-Hop. Most of the Hip-Hop parties were a space for positivity where many of the Hip-Hop community could escape the realities of racism that included police brutality, drug abuse, and gang violence in their surrounding communities.

Owned Ritchie Tee, the T- Connection was a popular mainstream uptown club located on Gun Hill Road. T-Connection was more known as a B-Boy party with the best local breaks where the Funky Four often performed.

Leader of the Zulu Nation and known as one of the “Godfathers of Hip-Hop,” Afrika Bambaataa (Lance Taylor, b. 1957) is a DJ, producer, rapper and songwriter from the Southeast Bronx. As a former gang member, Afrika Bambaataa began DJing at local parties in the early 1970s, playing Funk and Disco records but stood out as a unique and eclectic DJ because he would play records across different genres like Rock, Pop, Salsa, African and Latin. Afrika Bambaataa also established two Rap crews: the Jazzy 5 and the Soul Sonic Force. Afrika Bambaataa has crafted the foundation of Hip-Hop by establishing the five elements or five pillars: DJing, MCing, b-boying, graffiti and knowledge. Afrika Bambaataa’s impact on Hip-Hop culture has defined the genre as a staple of creativity and expression emerging out of the Bronx.

DJ Kool Herc is known as the founding father of Hip-Hop. Having Caribbean roots and growing up in the Bronx, Kool Herc (Clive Campbell, b. 1955) is known for cultivating the Hip-Hop genre with his DJing skills and parties that opened the space for youth parties, starting in the late 1970s at 1520 Sedgwick Ave. Before becoming a DJ, he was a graffiti writer who wrote “Kool Herc.” He became popular as a DJ in the Bronx with his massive sound system that was affectionately dubbed “The Herculords.” The birth of HipHop’s unique sound was based on Herc’s ability to enhance the sound of the speaker, connect two turntables and use channel knobs as his mixer, along with an echo chamber and eight microphones, so he could play music and talk to the crowd— something people never had experienced musically before. During his DJ sets, Herc also emphasized the extension of the breakdown, also known as the break. He began searching for Disco, Funk, Rock, Soul and Caribbean records because of the sound of their break. He then played two of the same records on the turntables, back-cueing a record at the beginning of the break that normally lasted five seconds, and extending them together. Kool Herc’s unique DJ style and ability to amplify speakers and having MCs on the mic revolutionized the way urban youth in the Bronx danced and listened to disco and funk music