Hip Hop Culture
New York street gang activity peaked in 1973, and then began to decline. Reasons for this decline included violence with other gangs, drug use, members leaving because the gangs became too large and members following Afrika Bambaataa into the Universal Zulu Nation.
Times were also changing, park jams, block parties and clubs were becoming more popular. The beginnings of hip hop culture began to form in these venues, and as gang members and former gang members started getting involved in more Hip Hop activities, involvement in the gangs declined.
Kool DJ Herc, an early hip hop music pioneer, credits gangs like the Black Spades with getting the hip hop scene started.
| “ | It started coming together as far as the gangs terrorizing a lot of known discotheques back in the days. I had respect from some of the gang members because they used to go to school with me. There were the Savage Skulls, Glory Stompers, Blue Diamonds, Black Cats and Black Spades. | ” |
Afrika Bambaataa was the warlord of the Black Spades before becoming a famous hip hop DJ. He later went on to form the Universal Zulu Nation on November 12, 1973; Many Black Spades gang members followed Afrika Bambaataa into the group.
Read more about this topic: Black Spades
Famous quotes containing the words hip, hop and/or culture:
“Rituals are important. Nowadays it’s hip not to be married. I’m not interested in being hip.”
—John Lennon (1940–1980)
“I have tried being surreal, but my frogs hop right back into their realistic ponds.”
—Mason Cooley (b. 1927)
“No culture on earth outside of mid-century suburban America has ever deployed one woman per child without simultaneously assigning her such major productive activities as weaving, farming, gathering, temple maintenance, and tent-building. The reason is that full-time, one-on-one child-raising is not good for women or children.”
—Barbara Ehrenreich (b. 1941)