EXACTLY my point! Hip-Hop did not begin in 1979 with Rapper's Delight, nor did it begin in the 80's with Def Jams records or Run-DMC, though they were an amazing group till they teamed up with Kid Rock (Oh the shame).
Nah, actually Hip-Hop's origins could more accurately be traced back to about 1970 with Gil Scott Heron and The Last Poets, followed shortly after by break beats and styles of Kool Herc, Afrika Bambaataa and the like.
There is, like the story of Amiga, so much to tell, and so much that the captains of industry will not tell as it (not unlike many sold out things being churned out by mega corporations) was actual grass roots stuff and from the heart, not for the pay check, for at the time there was no pay check to be had, Hip-Hop was shunned, ignored, though of only as ghetto music.
In fact people like Afrika Bambaataa and the like saw early Hip-Hop as an alternative to the disco parties that the poor colored people of New York were not invited to. They used it to form their own thing, and with that they pulled upon the energies of local gang bangers and the like to throw underground Hip-Hop parties and raise money to put back into the community. Unlike rap today, Hip-Hop used to be about intelligence, pulling together the community and family, rising against violence, self dependance, non-reliance upon the main stream, and just plain fun.
As for break dancing, well that traces back to India's Yoga, and the complex dancing of African tribes which many still practice to this day.
