Celebrate the history of hip hop with Google’s epic, interactive doodle
Let’s take a look at hip hop, it’s history and the groovy Google Doodle especially designed for its 44th year of existence.
To mark hip hop’s 44th year of existence, Google decided to make an epic, first-of-its-kind Google Doodle that lets you mix your own songs from ‘a crate full of hot records‘.
The doodle features a custom logo designed by graffiti artist Cey Adams and interactive turntables on which users can mix samples from famous tracks.
What’s even more awesome is the fact that the whole experience is narrated by Hip Hop icon Fab 5 Freddy, former host of Yo! MTV Raps. Freddy starts off by introducing viewers to hip hop and its history, after which he helps them through a tutorial on how to operate the turntables. Here viewers can flip through and choose their choice of hip hop music, which includes old-school George Clinton and Betty Wright to brand-new Prince Paul beats.
Looking back on the day Hip Hop was born:
Hip Hop was born in the year of 1973, when 18-year-old Jamaican-American DJ, Kool Herc threw a back-to-school jam at 1520 Sedgwick Avenue in the Bronx, New York.
He wanted to ‘turn things up’ and do something different during his set. That’s why instead of playing the songs in full, he played only their instrumental sections, or “breaks” where he noticed the crowd went wild. During these “breaks” his friend Coke La Rock hyped up the crowd with a microphone. And 44 years later, people are still talking about it.
For the occasion, Google invited the project’s executive consultant and partner, YouTube’s Global Head of Music, and former head of Def Jam Records, Lyor Cohen to share his thoughts. He says that the progression of this culture and sound – from Kool Herc spinning James Brown breaks at a block party to Jay-Z, Kanye West, and Drake being some of the biggest forces in music 44 years later, is something that few people at that first party could have anticipated.
“Hip Hop has done exactly what its founders set out to do, whether wittingly or unwittingly. It placed an accessible culture, relatable to any marginalized group in the world, at the forefront of music. In that spirit, here’s to BILLIONS of people getting a brief reminder that ‘Yes, yes y’all! And it WON’T stop!'”
