50 Years of Hip-Hop: How a generation fostered creativity from urban despair and racial barriers

Hip-hop, a subculture and an art movement, was born when urban youth in crime and poverty-ridden neighbourhoods in South Bronx in New York City sought street corners to hang out and found ways to express their despairing selves. In the late 1970s, South Bronx was rocked by a manufacturing decline and an expressway that ended the local businesses. The emerging hip-hop movement gave the youths a recreative space to voice their despair and hardship, which grew to become a global phenomenon. Here's a look at the pioneers
Curated By: Madhu Kapparath
Published: Jul 21, 2023
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Image by : John Nordell/Getty Images

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American rapper, songwriter, record producer, and actor LL Cool J, performs on stage in Boston, Massachusetts, in December 1985. Def Jam, an Independent record label, signed LL Cool J, rap's first romantic superstar. Record labels like Def Jam recognised the genre as an emerging trend and invested a lot of money into the movement.