I usually write this column based on whatever music I’m listening to during the week. Along with this column, my radio show on Wednesday nights follows the same idea, an hour of what I’ve been ...

What people seem to have forgotten is that hip-hop, in its purest form, is the domain of the DJ — that for the better part of the genre's existence, the DJs were the stars, the focus and the creative ...

Aug. 11, 1973 marks the first documented hip-hop party in the Bronx, New York, thrown by DJ Kool Herc. This is largely considered to be the birth of the genre. On the 50th anniversary of this date in ...

Hip-hop live performances started out slim and simple: two turntables and a microphone, along with the unsung hero, a simple mixer with a sturdy crossfader. Throughout the 2000s, concert presentations ...

When Jerry Leader was growing up, he made himself a toy set of DJ equipment. Two empty cereal boxes were the turntables. For the records, he cut circles out of cardboard. The needle, a plastic spoon.

Beginning with looping a sample on a turntable in 1973, hip-hop’s evolution into the present day has technology baked into its DNA. Reading time 6 minutes This story is part of our new Hip-Hop: ’73 ...

A handful of gadgets released in the late 20th century grew alongside hip-hop and paved the way for the sounds now heard in chart-topping music. Reading time 1 minute This story is part of our new Hip ...

Black DJs helped craft music culture. Black disc jockeys have crafted music culture through their ear for sound, crowd control, and the creation of atmosphere, long before automated playlists and ...