Bronx River Houses - History

History

Bronx River Houses was built to provide temporary housing to working-class families. In just a few years crime and decay began to plague the development as more and more generationally poor families moved in. This eventually had an effect on the surrounding community and led to White flight and abandonment. Today violent crime is still a serious problem in the Bronx River Houses and the surrounding community.

Until the late 1990s the Bronx River Houses served as the worldwide ground zero for Hip-Hop culture. In the mid-1990' the Giuliani administration used the NYPD to drive the Universal Zulu Nation out of the Bronx River Houses after defining them as a gang. The Bronx River Houses were the first housing projects in the country to put under 24 hour police watch and have their common areas redesigned so that the entire housing project would be watched by cameras. Famous Hip-Hop musicians from the Bronx River Houses include Afrika Bambaataa, DJ Jazzy Jay,Martin Cofield, Sean Perry, Afrika Islam,Jamall Moss,chris ali from violators the Soul Sonic Force and Fernando "Royal" Singleton. DJ Red Alert also got his start in the Bronx River Houses.

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