Curated playlist
American hip-hop DJs
- DJ HollywoodDid DJ Hollywood invent hip-hop style rapping? Kurtis Blow points to him, yet little was taped.
- Disco King MarioDisco King Mario helped launch hip-hop without ever releasing a record. He threw Bronx park jams in the early 1970s.
- Grand Wizzard TheodoreThe scratch on a record began as a Bronx teenager's accident. Grand Wizzard Theodore says he found it in 1975.
- Marley MarlMarley Marl's studio mistake with a snare drum changed how hip-hop beats were built.
- Large ProfessorLarge Professor turned down an executive producer credit on Nas's Illmatic. He still produced three of its ten songs.
- DJ QbertDJ Qbert, born Richard Quitevis, was handed a Fisher-Price turntable while still a toddler. Decades later he was a composer and a turntablist, a DJ who plays records as a musical instrument rather than simply queuing songs. Fellow DJs and…
- Mark RonsonMark Ronson was twelve years old when he pestered Jann Wenner, the founder of Rolling Stone, until the magazine gave him an internship. By his own description he was a music nerd, and the persistence paid off. Decades later he had won ten…
- Afrika BambaataaAfrika Bambaataa turned a street gang into a global peace movement. He wanted hip-hop to draw angry kids out of gangs.
- Shaquille O'NealShaquille O'Neal twice broke steel backboard supports with his dunks. The NBA then redesigned its equipment.
- MadlibMadlib sampled his first song at 11 years old, using his father's record.
- DJ Kool HercDJ Kool Herc played two copies of one record to stretch a drum break. He debuted the trick at a Bronx party in 1973.
- Lil JonLil Jon, the yelling voice of crunk, later made two albums of guided meditation.
- DJ Jazzy JeffDJ Jazzy Jeff went home in tears after winning a Grammy. He had just $500 in his bank account.