Introduction - What is hip-hop? Credited as "the birthplace of hip-hop" by legions of hip-hop fans around the world, the Rec Room at 1520 Sedgwick Avenue is the birthplace of hip-hop. In what is now called the Bronx "Boogie Down", what is recognized as the world's first hip-hop party took place on August 11, 1973 when DJ Kool Herc spun records for his sister Cindy's, " Back to School Jam” from 9:00 p.m. until 4:00 a.m. Although it is accepted that hip-hop did not originate specifically in rec halls and in fact developed in different regions of New York State, it is accepted that the party has had a major influence on the rise of the genre that would become known as hip-hop. Since that holiday forty-one years ago, hip-hop music and hip-hop culture in general have grown significantly. From record labels to clothing brands to television networks and beyond, hip-hop has become an international favorite, crossing boundaries between gender, race and language. Since its rise to fame more than four decades ago, hip-hop has become one of the biggest in the world. cultural phenomenon encompassing the four corners of the globe with its sometimes brutal honesty and raw flavor but what is hip-hop and what exactly does it represent? According to Dr. Cornel West, “Hip-hop music was created by talented black urban youth in the United States who fused New World African musical forms and rhetorical styles with new postmodern technologies. Like spirituals, blues and jazz – the greatest art forms to emerge from the United States – hip-hop music expressed and implemented Socratic parrhesia (bold, frank and simple speech in the face of conventional morality and rooted power). » Based on the beliefs of the community's proclaimed "Godfather of Hip-Hop", Universal Zulu Nati...... middle of paper ......n Hill, released to universally rave reviews. Known to many fans simply as The Miseducation, the album quickly rose to the top of the Billboard charts. Breaking numerous records, Hill was nominated for ten awards at the 41st Annual Grammy Awards, the most for a woman at the time, until he was beaten by music superstar Beyoncé in 2010. Hill went on to win five of those ten awards on the show, the most awards won by a woman in a single night. This feat remained intact until R&B singer Alicia Keys' victory in 2002. Hill also broke the record for first-week sales by a female artist, according to Nielsen SoundScan records. These factors have contributed to hip-hop and neo-soul music being brought to the forefront of the music industry. Many consider hip-hop to be a derogatory genre, primarily promoting violence, gangbangs and exploitation of women..