The AP is reporting that the project apartment building in the Bronx where it is said DJ Kool Herc pioneered this thing we call Hip Hop is now eligible to be listed on national and state registers of historic sites. It was here, 1520 Sedgwick Avenue, that Herc started spinning break beats off dance records for parties held in the recreation room back in 1973. That’s real dope…a museum from the delivery room, so to speak of rap.

The building’s owner HAD planned to sell the structure to developer, Mark Karasick’s who planned to then eradicate the affordable housing units and instead renovate and sell the units as condos. However due to the Department of Housing Preservation and Development’s decision these plans have been put on hold (I would imagine pending appeal). There had been reports that DJ Kool Herc (born Clive Campbell) wanted to purchase the property…those in fact were false. All in all this is probably better however.

The new owner hoped to abandon the Mitchell-Lama program, under which the previous owner received incentives such as low-rate mortgages and tax breaks in exchange for charging tenants low to moderate rents. Sen. Charles Schumer said the city rejected the proposed sale to a developer because current rents could not be sustained if the sale was executed.

“This building, which housed hip-hop’s founding father … is a New York treasure that must be preserved as a bastion of affordable housing,” Schumer said.

The decision allows the current owner to negotiate with tenants on a sale. The New York Times reported that the asking price was a ridiculous $14 million, more than the double its $6 million value estimated by housing advocates based on future rents.

Although it seems that the preservation is more about an economic issue than saving the historic record of our culture. I feel obliged to take a bow none the less. From the looks of it the fight isn’t over but its important for us ALL to be aware of this very issue. Hip Hop has changed so much over the years and when our children become the historians we need to make sure they understand that Eminem or better yet Young Jeezy didn’t start Hip Hop.