Hip-hop at 50: A history of explosive musical and cultural innovation

https://www.npr.org/2023/08/11/ [login to see] /hip-hop-at-50-a-history-of-explosive-musical-and-cultural-innovation
On August 11, 1973, a young innovative DJ rocked a modest party for fellow teenagers in a small community room in a Bronx apartment building. What Kool Herc did behind the turntables at that back-to-school party helped ignite a music we now know as hip-hop. That spark — and the cultural explosion that followed — is what we're celebrating today, 50 years later.

There are so many ways of looking at this history, so All Things Considered has decided to mark the 50 years of hip-hop by zeroing in on moments that illustrate how the genre became a dominant musical force that has infused almost every corner of mainstream culture.