1925-present
1925: Earl Tucker (aka Snake Hips), a performer at the Cotton Club invents a dance style similar to today’s hip-hop moves. He incorporates floats and slides into his dance style. Similar moves would later inspire an element of hip-hop culture known as breakdancing.
1940: Tom the Great (a.k.a. Thomas Wong) uses a booming sound system to please his audience. Wong also utilizes hip American records to steal music-lovers from local bands.
1950: The Soundclash contest between Coxsone Dodd’s “Downbeat” and Duke Reid’s “Trojan” gives birth to DJ Battling.
1956: Clive Campbell is born in Kingston, Jamaica. Campbell would later become the father of hip-hop.
1959: Parks Commissioner Robert Moses starts building an expressway in the Bronx. Consequently, middle class Germans, Irish, Italians, and Jewish, neighborhoods disappear in no time. Businesses relocate away from the borough only to be replaced by impoverished black and Hispanic families. Along with these poor people came addiction, crime, and unemployment.
1962:James Brown records Live At The Apollo. Brown’s drummer Clayton Fillyau influences a sound that is now known as the break beat. The break beat would later inspire the b-boy movement, as breakers danced to these beats at block parties.
1965: In a historic boxing bout, Muhammad Ali (born Cassius Clay) defeats Sonny Liston in the 6th round. Before the bout, however, Ali recited one of the earliest known rhymes:
Clay comes out to meet Liston
And Liston starts to retreat
If Liston goes back any further
He'll end up in a ringside seat.
Clay swings with a left,
Clay swings with a right,
Look at young Cassius
Carry the fight.
Liston keeps backing
But there's not enough room
It's a matter of time...
gangsta rap
1983:
- Ice T helps pioneer gangsta rap in the west coast with his rapcore singles “Body Rock" and "Killers."
- Grand Master Flash and Melle Mel (Furious 5) record the anti-cocaine single “White Lines (Don't Do It)," which becomes a rap hit.
- Grandmaster Flash later sues Sugarhill Records for $5 million in royalties. The dispute causes the group to break up, signaling the looming danger of corporate control in hip-hop.
- Run DMC releases “It's Like That" b/w "Sucker MC's."
- Russell Simmons and Rick Rubin team up to launch one of the most important record labels ever, Def Jam Records. Def Jam releases its first record, “It’s Yours” by T La Rock, followed by LL Cool J’s “I Need A Beat."
- Hip-hop discovers that touring is a great way to generate income, as the Fresh Fest concert featuring Whodini, Kurtis Blow, Fat Boys, and Run DMC, reels in $3.5 million for 27 dates.
- Battle rap assumes the spotlight in hip-hop, as UTFO’s “Roxanne Roxanne” diss song attracts over 100 responses.
1989
- After a life-long battle with crack addiction, Cowboy, a member of Grandmaster Flash’s Furious 5 dies at the age of 28.
- A group of high school friends join the Native Tongues as promoters of the Afrocentricity Movement to make African-Americans aware of their heritage.
- These Manhattan-based friends would later form A Tribe Called Quest (Q-Tip, Ali Shaheed Muhammad, Phife Dawg, and Jarobi).
- A Dallas-based protégé of Dr. Dre known as D.O.C releases No One Can Do It Better. While the album was making rounds on the charts, D.O.C. found himself in a severe car crash.
- While D.O.C. survived the accident, his rap career didn't.
- 2 Pac joins Digital Underground as a dancer and a roadie.
- The "Stretch & Bobbito Show" is launched.
- Both a Florida record store owner and Luther Campbell are arrested over 2 Live Crew’s controversial album, As Nasty as They Wanna Be.
2000
- Dr. Dre files a lawsuit against MP3-swapping firm Napster.
- Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney holds the first Hip-Hop Powershop summit to address the various political, economic, and social issues affecting the youth.
- DJ Craze wins the Technics DMC World DJ Championship 3 consecutive times.
- Eminem, through the release of his well received second album Marshall Mathers LP, solidifies his place as rap's future great. The title sells 1.76 million copies in its first week and later scores two Grammys for the rapper.
- 2007
- Inspired by the movie 'American Gangster,' Jay-Z records a concept album by the same name. American Gangster
- On November 12, Donda West, mother of Kanye West, dies from the complications of surgery.
- KRS-One and Marley Marl put two decades of rivalry behind them and collaborate on an album titled Hip-Hop Lives
- Dipset/Byrd Gang rapper Stack Bundles (born Rayquon Elliott) is shot and killed outside his home in Queens, New York.
- In the months leading up to the 2008 presidential election, Democratic nominee Barack Obama galvanizes hip-hop artists into action, leading to a slew of Obama rap tributes.
- Jay-Z becomes the first rapper to headline Glastonbury, the largest greenfield music and performing arts festival in the world.
- Brooklyn MC Jamal "Gravy" Woolard is recruited to play the Biggie Smalls in the biopicNotorious.
- Eminem ends his four-year sabbatical with the release of Relapse. The album debuts at No. 1 and scores a Grammy win for Best Rap Album.
- T.I. is sentenced to 12 months in federal prison for illegal weapons possession.
- DJ AM is found dead in his New York apartment, following a series of ominous tweets.
- Four revered MCs Detroit's Royce da 5'9", California's Crooked I, New Jersey's Joe Budden, and Brooklyn's Joel Ortiz join forces to form a supergroup named Slaughterhouse. Theirself-titled debut re-energizes the lyricism movement in hip-hop.
- Gang Starr co-founder and hip-hop icon Guru dies on April 19 after a grueling battle with cancer.
- Bun B's third solo album, Trill OG, becomes the first album in five years to receive The Sourcemagazine's 5-mic award.
- Wyclef Jean declares for presidency of his native country Haiti. Jean's candidacy is eventually rejected by the electoral council.