It’s 1977, and New York City is so broke that the city turned to the federal government for a bailout – but the mayor refused. The Bronx felt this financial strife the hardest. It was chaos: public programs were cut, poverty was everywhere, buildings were burning. But from the ashes, Black New Yorkers birthed something that changed the world.
On July 13th, 1977, the city that never sleeps experienced a massive blackout. Lightning storms had damaged the electrical system, and New Yorkers were plunged into a deep darkness. Scary? Sure. But some saw this as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
The city didn’t care about them. The economic system didn’t care about them. So “lootings” began as the sun went down – people took what they needed. DJs from the Bronx ran to music stores, picking up mixers in hopes they would be keys to another life.
Grandmaster Caz, a pioneer of early hip-hop, admits to stealing that night. “After the blackout, all this new wealth … was found by people and they just – opportunity sprang from that,” he said. “And you could see the differences before the blackout and after.”
If not for this stroke of luck, it’s possible that hip-hop wouldn’t have bloomed when it did! Sometimes we have to do what we need to survive, strive, and feed the community, no matter what.