44th Anniversary of the Birth of Hip Hop

In celebration of the 44th anniversary of the birth of hip hop, today’s Google Doodle is a pair of working turntables and a crate of records to scratch and mix.

On August 11, 1973, an 18-year-old, Jamaican-American DJ who went by the name of Kool Herc threw a back-to-school jam at 1520 Sedgwick Avenue in the Bronx, New York. During his set, he decided to do something different. Instead of playing the songs in full, he played only their instrumental sections, or “breaks” — sections where he noticed the crowd went wild. During these “breaks” his friend Coke La Rock hyped up the crowd with a microphone. And with that, Hip Hop was born.

DJ your own mix with turntables & legendary beats right here or download djay for your phone, tablet, Mac, or PC.