A Bronx tale

Angus Batey on how hip-hop conquered the world

There wasn't much to the South Bronx in the early 1970s. The only cultural cachet the run-down New York suburb possessed was as a backdrop for film-makers looking to evoke a broken down society. Yet out of the rubble grew a culture that has become globally dominant.

Hip-hop, a catch-all name for a cutural explosion that encompassed rap music, graffiti art and a new type of gymnastic dancing, has proved one of the most revolutionary musical forms of the post rock'n'roll era.

Rap music has claimed a place in almost every branch of pop and rock; advertisers use graffiti art and breakdancing to suggest urban cool; and fashion designers from Tommy Hilfiger to Ralph Lauren have been adopted by, and cater to, the hip-hop generation. Yet these styles, sounds and innovations can be traced to a small number of people.

A new exhibition and book, Yes Yes Y'all, traces the evolution of hip-hop's four key disciplines – breakdancing, DJ-ing, rapping and graffiti art – between 1973 and 1983.

From simply spraying their nicknames on walls in displays of territorial bravado, artists were soon creating murals the size of advertising hoardings. The early hip-hop parties, meanwhile, took place in unusual spaces. The "godfather" of hip-hop, DJ Kool Herc, played in the recreation room of a tower block. Other "jams" took place on street corners, or in parks or playgrounds.

DJs, dancers and rappers created new sounds and moves. With elements of gymnastics and martial arts, "break" dancing preferred the percussion breakdowns of funk and soul records played at the parties. Cutting between copies of records to isolate these sections, hip hop's founding DJs – Kool Herc, Afrika Bambaataa and Grandmaster Flash – created a sound that took elements of existing music and transformed them into something new.

Rap was the most easily packaged, hence its absorbtion into global culture's mainstream – its edge arguably lessened. Even graffiti gained artistic respectability, most notably in the work of Jean-Michel Basquiat and Keith Haring.

Other disciplines did not prove as transportable. Despite its periodic fashion revivals, attempts to have breakdancing considered a sport have been shunned.

For Grandmaster Flash, though, hip-hop retains its originality: "I always knew that...for those who never heard this music that if they had a chance, they would have no choice but to love this."