Can't Stop Won't Stop (Young Adult Edition): A Hip-Hop History

In the early days in the Bronx in New York City, hip-hop was first and foremost a source of unity for those who were divided by racial segregation and systemic oppression. When a large portion of the Bronx was destroyed, President Jimmy Carter “emerged from a state motorcade at Charlotte Street in the heart of the South Bronx—three helicopters overhead, Secret Service agents at his side—to gaze silently upon four square blocks of dead city” (3) in 1977. What he saw was rubble, emptiness, and a community torn apart. However, neither he nor his government acted to help or protect the people of the Bronx. Unemployment skyrocketed, especially among the youth, and the white families who lived there moved away. What was left were Black and Latinx families struggling to make ends meet. Over one hundred gangs formed during this time, and the neighborhood was torn apart by violence and turf wars. Hip-hop music was what brought them together, and, as hip-hop expanded across the globe, it united countless communities and made friends out of foes.

DJ Kool Herc brought his community together with the block parties he would hold and the new musical