Can't Stop Won't Stop (Young Adult Edition): A Hip-Hop History

“If blues culture developed under the conditions of forced labor, hip-hop culture would arise from the conditions of no work at all.”

Hip-hop’s roots lie in the Bronx during a time when unemployment was at its peak, half the borough was destroyed for the sake of highway development, and dozens of youth gangs formed in the wake of no job opportunities. In the midst of this gang culture, people wanted and needed something more—a way to escape, to socialize, and to express their anger in a non-violent way. Hip-hop arose out of this situation and to this day carries with it a legacy of battling hardship, a voice for the voiceless, and a means to rise above.

“Youthful energies had turned. Gangs had begun dissolving, turfs were disintegrating. The new kids coming up were obsessed with flash, style, sabor. If the gangs once had made people afraid of being on the street, a new generation would find their release in block parties under the afternoon sun or evening moonlight. Give them an apocalypse, and they would dance.”

As hip-hop music began to develop in the Bronx led by various crews, such as DJ Kool Herc and Afrika Bambaataa, youth in gangs began turning their attention away from gang life and toward the music. Rather than competing for turf or using violence, kids found new ways to compete with each other through MCing and b-boying/b-girling. The block parties that birthed the hip-hop culture would do more than that—they would unite a divided youth.