Ladies Night with Master Don & the Death Committee, D.J. Wanda Dee, and M.C. Richard, Kool Herc, at the Stardust Ball Room, Bronx, NY, March 29, 1985

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 approximately 1,000 party flyers. The parks’ open public spaces have provided the perfect venues for park jams, impromptu dance-offs, DJ battles, 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. 

Many of the original Hip-Hop parties took place at local roller rinks, community centers, parks, and clubs. Roller rinks were an important cultural site for fun in the late 70s and 80s where adults and teens would attend roller discos and Hip-Hop parties.  The space would be used as a place for DJs to spin, rappers to show their talents, and for breakers to showcase their dancing skills on the large skate floor. Community centers were another important space in the early years of Hip-Hop for youth to gather and escape their everyday life. Additionally, community centers and recreation centers were the original spaces where DJ Kool Herc would spin in his early era of DJing. The community centers such as the Bronx River Center and the PAL were usually located in the middle of the projects. But local promoters would give parties and give money back to the center for books and trips for the local kids in the community. 

Wanda Dee (Lawanda McFarland, b. 1963) is a Hip-Hop artist and DJ from the Bronx, New York. While still a teenager, she became the first female Hip-Hop DJ and protégée of Hip-Hop DJ Kool Herc, who gave her the stage name "Wanda Dee". She was also introduced to Afrika Bambaataa, who inducted her into his Universal Zulu Nation. She learned deejaying through Hip-Hop's top DJs, performed shows with MC Debbie D, and became a solo artist, releasing scandalous singles like "Blue Eyes" and "I Wanna See You Sweat" in the late 80s and 90s. 

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 Hip-Hop’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.