When the Beat Was Born DJ Kool Herc and the Creation of Hip Hop [Hardcover]

A John Steptoe New Talent Award Winner

Before there was hip hop, there was DJ Kool Herc.

On a hot day at the end of summer in 1973 Cindy Campbell threw a back-to-school party at a park in the South Bronx. Her brother, Clive Campbell, spun the records. He had a new way of playing the music to make the breaksthe musical interludes between verseslonger for dancing. He called himself DJ Kool Herc and this isWhen the Beat Was Born. From his childhood in Jamaica to his youth in the Bronx, Laban Carrick Hill's book tells how Kool Herc came to be a DJ, how kids in gangs stopped fighting in order to breakdance, and how the music he invented went on to define a culture and transform the world.

Laban Carrick Hillis the author ofAmerica Dreaming: How Youth Changed America in the 60s,Harlem Stomp!: A Cultural History of the Harlem Renaissance, which was a National Book Award finalist, andDave the Potter, a Caldecott Honor book, illustrated by Bryan Collier. He lives in Burlington, Vermont.

Theodore Taylor IIIis an artist, designer, and photographer living in Washington, D.C.When the Beat Was Bornis his first picture book.

...an expert biography of a hip hop and rap pioneer, and a not-to-be-missed picture-book debut by Taylor, a Washington, D.C. based artist Publishers Weekly

Hill also highlights the positive social force of hip-hop and the boundless energy of musical joy. It's all matched by Taylor's freewheeling artwork. A treat from an underrepresented corner of music history. Booklist

Hill's descriptive writing is paired with Taylor's vibrant artwork, which features large crowds dancing, close-up shots of breakdancing, or Herc's hands masterfully spinning the dual turntables. School Library Journal

Hill's narration deftly balances detail and momentum, addressing technical innovations while conveying the excitement of listeners on the scene at tlsl