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DJ Kool Herc

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Musician

The Resume

    (April 16, 1955- )
    Born in Kingston, Jamaica
    Birth name is Clive Cambell
    Hosted the 'Back to School Jam' at 1520 Sedgwick Ave (August 11, 1973)
    Recorded 'Let Me Clear My Throat,' 'Old School,' 'I Got Dat Feeling,' and 'Herc Merry Go Round'
    Pioneered Hip-Hop by isolating the instrumental portion of the record which emphasized the drum beat (the break)
    Appeared as himself in the Hollywood movie 'Beat Street'

Why he might be annoying:

    He admitted to abusing cocaine in the mid-1980s.
    He never made the move into commercially recorded Hip-Hop in its earliest years.
    He is overshadowed by contemporaries Grandmaster Flash and Funkmaster Flex, whose careers gained traction around the time he started to fade.
    He sued HBO over claims that his identity, name and voice were used without permission for their 'Vine' miniseries.

Why he might not be annoying:

    He comes off as down-to-earth and real in public appearances.
    He first held the Back to School Jam, which arguably birthed the Hip-Hop genre, to help his sister raise money for school supplies.
    He called his dancers 'break-boys' and 'break-girls' (or 'b-boys and b-girls'), which led newspapers to invent the term 'breakdancing.'
    He was stabbed at an Executive Playhouse party while trying to intercede in a fight, causing him to scale down his DJ activity.
    His main venue burned down, leading him to briefly move back to Jamaica before returning to a run a record shop in the Bronx.
    He fell gravely ill after kidney stone surgery in early 2011 and was said to lack health insurance, prompting fundraising efforts on his behalf.
    He released his first vinyl record ever, 2019's 'Last of the Classic Beats,' to critical acclaim.

Credit: BoyWiththeGreenHair


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    In 2023, Out of 5 Votes: 80.0% Annoying
    In 2022, Out of 2 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 5 Votes: 60.0% Annoying
    In 2020, Out of 3 Votes: 66.67% Annoying
    In 2019, Out of 18 Votes: 50.0% Annoying