August 12th 2023.
As part of Good Morning America's celebration of hip-hop turning 50 and their summer concert series, Fat Joe, Remy Ma, Busta Rhymes, and BIA put on a performance live from Central Park on August 11. Not only did they showcase the music that has evolved alongside the genre's pioneers like Grandmaster Flash, but they also celebrated the fashion which has become so iconic in hip-hop culture.
Tiffany Reed and Joe Zee, Senior Vice President of Fashion for Bustle Digital Group and a stylist respectively, hosted a fashion show celebrating some of hip-hop's notable contributions to fashion. They discussed contributions from Busta Rhymes, Lil Kim, Missy Elliott, and others that created a marriage between the streets and the world of high fashion.
Later that night, there were more festivities planned at Yankee Stadium for Hip-Hop 50 Live. Featuring a who's-who list spanning the history of hip-hop, including Run DMC, Ice Cube, Lil Wayne, and Snoop Dogg, the event honored both the Queens of Hip-Hop and Pillars of Hip-Hop. It was co-produced by Live Nation, Mass Appeal, and the New York Yankees and presented by Google Pixel and Ciroc, which shows how far the genre has come from its early beginnings in the Bronx.
The official start date of hip-hop is hard to determine, but most oral legend places the start on August 11, 1973, when DJ Kool Herc was responsible for spinning records at a party thrown in The Bronx by his sister Cindy and himself. This is where the term "break-dancing" originated from, as Herc debuted a technique known as "the break". This was where a DJ isolates and loops a part of a track with heavy percussion to get people out on the dance floor.
Cindy's role in the story has often been left out, but Washington Post writer Helena Andrews-Dyer briefly notes her importance in a piece centering on director dream hampton and her view of how hip-hop has historically treated women. Hampton notes that the women of hip-hop are in a much better position to succeed today because they are largely independent of the kinds of co-signs that a female artist would have needed in the past.
All in all, it was an amazing day for hip-hop and its fans, with an amazing celebration of the genre's 50th birthday. It was an incredible display of the genre's growth in both music and fashion, and a testament to its resilience and staying power even after so many years.
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