A kid with little means and hard work could transform their turntable into a powerful instrument of expression (also illustrating hip hop’s technical innovation). The Bronx DJ’s and MC’s rose to the task and the city loved them for it. The youth needed an outlet - a unifying sound, a beat, a voice to call their own. Following the fallout from the construction of the Cross Bronx Expressway in 1972 that demolished a lot of the neighborhood, times were particularly tough.

It all started in the NYC Bronx, more commonly known as the Boogie Down Bronx. “Yes, yes y'all! And it don't stop!” Today we acknowledge and celebrate a cultural revolution that's spanned 44 years and counting. To dig deeper into the significance of this moment and culture from a personal perspective, we invited the project’s executive consultant and partner, YouTube’s Global Head of Music Lyor Cohen (and former head of Def Jam Records), to share his thoughts: What’s more, the whole experience is narrated by Hip Hop icon Fab 5 Freddy, former host of “Yo! MTV Raps.” Today, we celebrate the 44th anniversary of that very moment with a first-of-its-kind Doodle featuring a custom logo graphic by famed graffiti artist Cey Adams, interactive turntables on which users can mix samples from legendary tracks, and a serving of Hip Hop history - with an emphasis on its founding pioneers. During these “breaks” his friend Coke La Rock hyped up the crowd with a microphone. Instead of playing the songs in full, he played only their instrumental sections, or “breaks” - sections where he noticed the crowd went wild. During his set, he decided to do something different. On August 11, 1973, an 18-year-old, Jamaican-American DJ who went by the name of Kool Herc threw a back-to-school jam at 1520 Sedgwick Avenue in the Bronx, New York.

Scratch doodle monster