DJ Kool Herc is a Jamaican American musician and producer, generally credited as the inventor of hip hop during the 1970s. He was a pioneer in the development of break-beat DJing, wherein the breaks of funk songs, being the most danceable part, were isolated for the purpose of all-night dance parties.

During the later part of the decade, Herc was stabbed at one of his own parties, sidelining him during most of the 1980s as hip hop spread throughout the country. In the 1990s, he made several appearances and gave interviews, and appeared on The Godfathers of Threat by Terminator X (of Public Enemy), but he has essentially retired from the music business.