Kool Herc is generally credited with being the creator of hip-hop with Afrika Bambaataa and Grandmaster Flash also being recognized as forefathers of the culture. Though no one refutes them as being pioneers, resident b-boy of the Rock Steady Crew Crazy Legs says that culture was being birthed all over during the late 1970s, so there is no way one person can take credit for creating it.
“For someone to say that hip-hop was this back then and it was meant to be this, that’s impossible because there was no agenda,” he told AllHipHop’s CEO Chuck Creekmur. “Usually people did three elements. [Afrika Bambaataa] applied the Zulu Nation principles to hip-hop and gave it a direction in 1982 because his whole thing was peace, unity love and having fun. Then it became to be ‘what is hip-hop?’ from that point on.”
The Bronx native says many early acts laid the foundation for what hip-hop was to become.
“When you apply Kool Herc and Bambaataa and The L Brothers and all that together and see what everyone was doing, I think it becomes a collective more than [just] one particular person but Kool Herc does get praise from a lot of people.”
Though Crazy Legs has retired from break dancing, he’s still active with the Rock Steady Crew. The collective is hosting the Puerto Rock Steady Music Festival to Puerto Rico in May. Click here for more details.
Watch the sit down below.