Exhibition: Beat Positive

An exhibition brings to life the dawn of hip hop culture in a series of vibrant photographs.

On view from 31 May to 4 August, the exhibition showcases iconic images from British photographers Janette Beckman and David Corio alongside never before seen material from the Michael Ochs, Right On! and Redferns archives.

Now one of the biggest selling musical genres globally, hip hop began with a much simpler goal: to get people moving. On the evening of August 11, 1973, Clive Campbell, better known as DJ Kool Herc, set up two turntables in the recreation room at 1520 Sedgewick Ave in the Bronx in order to entertain the crowd gathered for his sister Cindy’s birthday party. In a completely new technique he called the Merry Go-Round, Herc extended short drum breaks, now known as break beats, using two copies of the same records. The crowd went wild, the party went late, and though no one at the time was aware, a new genre was born.