Producer and director Julia Thompson goes on a 48-hour journey to find and interview someone who was at DJ Kool Herc and Cindy Campbell's Back to School Jam at 1520 Sedgwick Avenue in the Bronx on August 11, 1973—a moment that is commonly known as the birth of hip-hop.

This episode features interviews with:

CREDITS

'You Had To Be There' is a Hi Barr production.

Created by Hi Barr.

'DJ Kool Herc and the Birth of Hip Hop’ was written and hosted by Julia Thompson.

Produced by Julia Thompson and Web Barr.

Edited by Julia Thompson.

Edit, Sound Mix, and engineering by Vishal Nayak.

Original score by Teeny Lieberson.  

Artwork created by Dylan Lathrop.

Special thanks to Carey Clark, BG183, Chris Carr, and Dan Runcie.

Special thanks to our parents, friends and chosen family. And most importantly, thank you to the artists who’ve inspired us because they had to do it.

Listen to Hi Barr's newest podcast, Media Moguls with Web Barr on your favorite podcast app now.

Sign up to receive our newsletter.

Follow us on Instagram and YouTube.

For business inquiries, please email: [email protected].

Were you at one of the events covered on the show? If so, we'd love to talk! Please get in touch via email and/or social media channels like Instagram or X.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices