A Night to Remember with Grandmaster Flash, DJ Afrika Bambaataa and DJ Jazzy Jay at the Catharine Street Community Center, Friday, January 29, 1982

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.

Grandmaster Flash (Joseph Saddler, b. 1958) is one of the founding fathers of Hip-Hop and is known as the originator of scratching and mixing. Born in the Bronx, Grandmaster Flash had been experimenting with vinyls since he was a toddler and grew a serious passion for music and engineering. His knowledge of audio equipment and experimentation led him to revolutionize the way DJs played records when he started using his turntable as an instrument. Grandmaster Flash perfected manipulating vinyl records where he would put his hands on the vinyl and manipulate it in a backward, forward, or counterclockwise motion. Through this process, Grandmaster Flash perfected beat looping and discovered many of the most iconic beats still commonly sampled today. Inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame (2007) and the Grammy Hall Of Fame (2012), Grandmaster Flash is acknowledged for pioneering a relationship between DJs and rappers through his innovative techniques of the turntable and mixing equipment.

Jazzy Jay (John Bayas, b. 1961) is known as The Original Jazzy Jay or DJ Jazzy Jay and was a protégé of Afrika Bambaataa as well as his older cousin, Kool DJ Red Alert. Jazzy Jay is a DJ and producer and one of the original members of the Soul Sonic Force, The Bronx River, and the Universal Zulu Nation. Jazzy Jay also assisted Rick Rubin with the founding of Def Jam Recordings and introducing Rick Rubin to Russell Simmons. Jazzy Jay is a legend of Hip-Hop and DJs alongside many iconic Hip-Hop artists during the early period.

Afrika Bambaataa (Lance Taylor, b. 1957) belonged to the Black Spades and became one of its most influential leaders. Bambaataa grew tired of the local gang violence and established the Zulu Nation as a kind of musical Hip-Hop collective to provide positivity and unity in the Bronx community. He accepted donations of gang members’ colors as a symbol of their commitment to his Hip-Hop movement. Under his influence, fighting once carried out by fists, guns, and physical violence was accomplished with microphones and turntables, and it was carried out by Hip-Hop “crews,” not gangs.