Kool Herc: From Sound System Selector to Father of Hip‑Hop
Clive "Kool Herc" Campbell was born in Kingston, Jamaica in 1955 and immigrated to the Bronx with his family in the late 1960s. He brought with him the culture of Jamaican sound systems — large mobile setups powered by custom speakers, deep bass, and the selector/deejay format that defined dancehall parties. In this structure, the selector played records while the deejay (MC) toasted over the music. Kool Herc internalized this format and used it as the foundation for something new.
Living in the Bronx, Herc saw an opportunity to blend his roots with the raw funk energy of American music. His early gigs were community-focused, often taking place in recreation rooms and public spaces. These were not commercial events — they were grassroots expressions of sound system values transplanted into a new environment.
The Two-Turntable Break — Herc’s Greatest Innovation
At a now-legendary party on August 11, 1973, at 1520 Sedgwick Avenue, Kool Herc introduced what would become the core of hip-hop DJing: the breakbeat. Noticing that the crowd reacted most intensely to the instrumental breaks in funk records, Herc began using two turntables and two copies of the same record to loop those sections — a method he called the "Merry-Go-Round." This kept the energy high and created space for dancers, later known as b-boys and b-girls, to take over the floor.
This technique — looping and extending breaks — was unheard of at the time. It was a revolutionary moment not just for DJing but for dance culture, MCing, and sampling in music production. Herc wasn’t just playing records; he was reformatting them live in front of an audience, turning the DJ into the architect of the night.
The Original Bronx Rig — Herc’s Hardware Was Heavy
Herc wasn’t just a DJ — he was a builder. He began with a basic PA system but quickly upgraded his setup to rival the power of Jamaican systems. His most iconic components included:
- GLI 3880 Mixer – Allowed seamless switching between decks, unlike his earlier acoustic mixer that required two hands to manage.
- Technics 1100A Turntables – Built like tanks, perfect for maintaining speed and torque even when the power dipped.
- McIntosh 300W Amplifier – Delivered raw power capable of rattling windows and filling basketball courts and parks with sound.
“That thing cost a lot of money and pumped a lot of juice… it was 300 watts per channel. As the juice start coming, man, the lights start dimming.” – Kool Herc
This system, later dubbed "The Herculoids," became known as one of the most dominant in the Bronx. It wasn’t just loud — it was legendary.
Sound System Culture Meets the Bronx
In Jamaican tradition, the selector picked the tunes and the DJ (deejay) spoke over them. Herc brought this model to the Bronx but restructured it. Over time, the roles evolved: the DJ became the one manipulating the turntables, and the MC took over as the crowd’s voice.
That subtle shift sparked a new culture: the DJ as performer, the MC as front-line poet, and the sound system as a complete experience. Hip-hop was born not just from records, but from how they were played and who they were played for.
From Selector to Superstar
Modern DJing, remixing, and live beat manipulation all stem from Herc’s foundation. His approach paved the way for Grandmaster Flash, Afrika Bambaataa, and countless others. But it started with a kid from Kingston who knew the power of bass, the power of breaks, and the importance of controlling the vibe.
PMDC: Where Hip-Hop Meets Dub — A Sound System Reborn in the Midwest
We are the Pure Michigan Dub Coalition — a sound system built from the ground up, powered by two forces: hip-hop and dub.
We don’t imitate. We amplify.
While most modern sound systems focus strictly on roots reggae or steppers, we come from a different path. Our background is hip-hop — MPCs, ciphers, crates, concrete. But we were also moved by dub — the echo chambers, the sirens, the stripped-down riddims that leave space for truth.
PMDC is what happens when the Bronx blueprint and Jamaican tradition reconnect through Midwest hands.
We're not here to preserve culture in a museum case.
We're here to build it — loud, raw, and real.
We’re not purists.
We’re not revivalists.
We are engineers of a new hybrid — where the selector is the producer, the MC is the operator, and the system is the stage.
Our mission is clear:
🔊 To bring sound system culture back into hip-hop — where it started, but where it rarely lives today.
We honor Kool Herc not just by posting his picture — but by living his method:
Build your own rig. Play your own records. Uplift your own people.
We don’t need clearance from scenes in London or Kingston.
We’ve got subwoofers, delays, lathe-cut dubplates, and voices with something to say.
From block parties to barn burners, forest raves to warehouse sessions — we’re bringing the system to the people.
Dub is our depth. Hip-hop is our edge.
Together, that’s the Pure Michigan Dub Coalition.
Built, not bought.
Cut, not copied.
Midwest. Independent. Unapologetically real.