Birthplace of Hip-Hop / 1520 Sedgwick Avenue

The Story

This 102-apartment residential building in Morris Heights, the Bronx, is officially recognized as the birthplace of hip-hop. On August 11, 1973, Cindy Campbell rented the ground-floor party room to host a back-to-school party. It was there that her brother, Clive Campbell, DJ Kool Herc, debuted the technique of using two identical turntables to play instrumental break sections from funk and soul records. This innovation, combined with an MC who began rapping over the beat, laid the foundation for hip-hop culture. In 2016, the street in front of the building was renamed Hip Hop Boulevard, and in 2021, a resolution by the U.S. Congress officially declared the address the birthplace of the genre. It's a common residential building with no internal public access, but guided tours of the Bronx take fans to see the facade and surrounding murals.

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