SouthSide Jamaica, Queens Hip Hop history - Black History month 2021

DJ Professor MC Eva Marie King, BA, MS, est. 1970 - Celebrate Black History month 2021

House parties and park jams in the 1970s were my introduction to what is now referred to as SouthSide Jamaica Hip Hop Movement, Culture and Music.  Please don't confuse this with what started in the South Bronx in the early 1970s. 

Though each town used many of the same instruments the outcome of the art was different. Instruments such as 2 turntables, mixers, fader boxes, echo chambers, amplifiers, receivers, Cerwin Vega speakers, homemade speakers and microphones.

Those of us who were there knew how the culture evolved throughout the five boroughs. For a young preteen like me, partying at Bronx River Houses Community Center in 1976, The Hotel Diplomat in 1977 and Fantasia in 1977 gave me a diverse view of how different crews created breakbeat DJing that preceeded recorded Rap and/or Hip ip Hop in 1979.

Cipher of Sounds (DJ/MC Crew) was the first crew that I watched Jam in St. Albans Park (Baseball Field) during the summer of 1975 as a 9-year-old to what was known as B-Boy Music later to be referred to as Hip Hop Music. DJ Rob aka The Genie brought his 2 turntables and either mixer or fader box to a house party at my house in January 1973 on 118th Avenue in SouthSide Jamaica, Queens. DJ Rob played continuous music on his 2 turntables with professional DJ equipment and rocked my sister Cookie's sweet sixteen birthday celebration.

In 1974 the Disco Brothers Connection (DBC) Park Jams exposed me to long form DJing at major park jams at Saint Albans that filled all 3 parks. The DBC sponsored the largest park jams and played breakbeats and various genres of music. Their DJing included blending, mixing and cutting various records from Love is the Message by MFSB, to Apache by The Incredible Bongo Band, to Bra by Cymande and Soul Makosa by Manu Dibango.

Growing up in SouthSide Jamaica, Queens I studied dance at Gloria Jackson Dance School, lead guitar and singing in the Glee Club at Edward Kennedy Ellington School (P.S. 140 Queens), alto saxophone at The Catherine and Count Basie School (I S. 72 Queens) and began DJing and MCing in 1976-1977 with my crew The 169th Street Crew Girls as MC Juiccy E in battles at Baisley Park Houses (Baisley Projects) with my first DJ, Michael Strong professionally known as DJ Mike D of the M&M Crew and Fantasy Disco Crew (DJs) Wayland Gillian p/k/a DJ Mr. Nice and Kevin L. Mapp p/k/a DJ C.C against DJ Markski and his CBS Crew (Can't Be Stopped).

My history embedded is SouthSide Jamaica, Queens Hip Hop history. Everyone became involved in the movement at different stages in their lives. For me, I witnessed 2 turntable DJing live in my living room in 1973. I was influenced by original BGirls and FlyGirls since 1970 on the streets in my neighborhood, for me it was all apart of Black Culture. The Black Churches, The Blank Panther Party, Nation of God's and Earths and The Nation of Islam were present in SouthSide Jamaica, the first Black middle-class of New York City and influenced many of us.

Let us all document our history and leave a detailed account of our culture for generations of Black people to follow.


Written entirely by:
Professor Eva Marie King, BA, MS
on Saturday, February 13, 2021
for my SouthSide Jamaica, Queens Hip Hop Black History month 2021 essay series