It was 50 years ago this summer that the sights and sounds of hip-hop culture first emerged on the streets of the Bronx. To commemorate this milestone, WNYC and Gothamist are sharing the voices of the many women from our area who are leaving their own mark on the genre.
Debora Hooper, also known as Debbie D, is one of hip-hop’s earliest female MCs. The Harlem native moved to the South Bronx when she was a teenager, and quickly immersed herself in the burgeoning hip-hop scene.
She recalls being drawn to the music she heard emanating from one of the parks below her 19th floor apartment in the Webster Houses in the summer of 1977, and wanting to be on the mic. After getting that opportunity, she never looked back and went on to join the group, known as DJ Patty Duke and the Jazzy 5 MCs. Debbie D later put her skills to work in Harry Belafonte’s hip-hop film “Beat Street.” She is now a hip-hop scholar/historian and a pioneer in residence at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center.
MC Debbie D talked with WNYC and Gothamist about her early days in hip-hop, as well as both her and the genre’s staying power.
The conversation has been lightly edited for clarity and content.
When did you first catch on to hip-hop?
I was born and raised until my teenage years in Harlem. All of my schooling was in Manhattan and around 13 years old, we had a fire, unfortunately, where we lived in Harlem, and we wound up moving to the Bronx.
We moved to the West Bronx first and we stayed there for a couple of months and then we landed in the South Bronx in Webster Houses. That’s basically how it all started. I heard the music there in my bedroom and was curious as to the noise and what was going on. It was my first time actually hearing anything remotely that sounded similar to hip-hop in terms of the beats and the DJing outside, and the break dancing and all of that. So I went downstairs and followed the music, and that’s the first time I got exposed to it. Outside in one of the parks is…
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