Hip-hop music was made at a house party in the Bronx, New York, 50 years ago. Hip-hop music started at a house party in the Bronx almost 50 years ago. A young New Yorker from Jamaica named “DJ Kool Herc” used turntables to play music breaks over and over again.
The method eventually gave rise to a whole new type of music, but it took a while for major record labels to notice it. In fact, the category wasn’t added to the Grammys until many years later, when big artists stopped going to the show.
Hip-hop is now more popular in America than rock, and Houston artists have been a part of that journey from the beginning. The first radio station in Houston to play hip-hop music by both national and local artists was KTSU.
The station is also celebrating its 50th birthday. It is on the campus of Texas Southern University. Ernest Walker, the General Manager of KTSU, joined Texas Radio Hall of Fame DJ “Madd Hatta” and legendary hip-hop artist Scarface on Great Day Houston to talk about Houston’s contributions to hip-hop over the years.
