1520 Sedgwick Avenue - early hip hop party site

1520 Sedgwick Avenue in the Bronx is the site where DJ Kool Herc hosted a back-to-school party in 1973 that is widely cited as a formative event in the development of hip hop culture, featuring extended drum breaks and block-party DJ techniques. The building was a community gathering place in the Sedgwick Avenue housing projects and the 1973 party has been documented in oral histories and music histories as an influential moment for DJing and MCing practices. Scholars and historians note the event's importance while also debating whether it represents a single 'origin' of hip hop versus one of multiple formative moments across New York City. The site is therefore frequently referenced in accounts of hip hop's early, localized development.