Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations
Local Newscast
Hear the latest from the WRKF/WWNO Newsroom.

Monday, Jan. 20, 2025, 4:15 p.m.: WRKF's transmitter will begin running at reduced power at midnight. This measure is intended to protect our transmitter in case of weather-related power fluctuations. FM and HD listening may be affected, but online listening will not be affected. We plan to return to full power Wednesday night. Thank you for your patience.

DJ Kool Herc and the Birth of the Breakbeat

DJ Kool Herc.
Scott Gries
/
Getty Images
DJ Kool Herc.

DJ Kool Herc is known as the father of the DJ breakbeat — isolating and repeating breaks, the most danceable portions of songs that form part of the foundation of modern hip-hop. He also wrote the introduction to the recent book Can't Stop Won't Stop: A History of the Hip-Hop Generation by Jeff Chang.

Kool Herc kicks off Fresh Air's Hip-Hop Week, featuring interviews with the greatest names in rap. (This interview originally aired March 30, 2005.)

Copyright 2023 Fresh Air. To see more, visit Fresh Air.