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No One Saw It Coming

A teenager’s party created Hip-Hop

5/24/202626 min

It started with two turntables and a microphone and became a worldwide movement. Today, Hip hop is one of the biggest music genres in the world - and it all started at a teenager’s back to school party in the Bronx.

Jeff Chang (hip hop journalist and author) tells Marc Fennell (Stuff The British Stole) the story of how one girl’s party to raise money for new clothes led to a musical and cultural revolution.

Binge all the episodes of No One Saw It Coming now on ABC listen (Australia) or wherever you get your podcasts.

Get in touch:

Got a story for us? We'd love to hear from you! Email us at noonesawitcoming@abc.net.au

Clips

Blackout Fuels Hip-Hop Hardware Heist
Herc Invents The Endless Break
Hip-Hop's Open-Source DNA
Broken Glass Everywhere: The Message
From Gang Lines To Party Lines
Nobody Predicted Hip-Hop’s Birth

Transcript preview

First 90 seconds

  1. Speaker 10:00

    ABC Listen. Podcasts, radio, news, music, and more.

  2. Speaker 20:05

    [pensive music] A confession, a memory, a lie. What if all three could be wrong? Forensic is a new series from All in the Mind unpacking the hidden psychology of crime-solving. Why innocent people confess, how memories can be rewritten, the science behind true crime. All in the Mind: Forensic. Search for All in the Mind on ABC Listen or wherever you get your podcasts.

  3. Marc Fennell· Host0:37

    [pensive music] It's 1973 in the Bronx, and a teenage girl is writing a party invitation.

  4. Jeff Chang· Guest0:45

    They were doing a back to school party because Cindy's thing was, "I need to have new clothes to go back to school."

  5. Marc Fennell· Host0:52

    But Cindy doesn't actually have enough money to buy what she wants, so instead she decides she's gonna throw a party to raise some money, and the headline act is gonna be her brother.

  6. Jeff Chang· Guest1:01

    Who, you know, has been playing these records on their dad's, like, sound system.

  7. Marc Fennell· Host1:06

    So her brother will be DJing, and she will get enough money to buy some fresh new clothes. But what Cindy didn't realize at the time was that by penning that invitation and sending it out, she would set something in motion that would be much bigger than just a new wardrobe.

  8. Jeff Chang· Guest1:23

    No one saw it coming, that a teenage girl's back to school party would actually lead to the birth of hip-hop.

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