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East Village Bar Holds Benefit to Pay Hip Hop Legend Kool Herc's Medical Bills

By DNAinfo Staff on February 1, 2011 7:50am

Friends of DJ Kool Herc, known as the father of hip hop, were planning a fundraiser at Sutra Lounge in the East Village Tuesday to raise money for his medical bills.
Friends of DJ Kool Herc, known as the father of hip hop, were planning a fundraiser at Sutra Lounge in the East Village Tuesday to raise money for his medical bills.
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AP Photo/Henry Ray Abrams

By Gabriela Resto-Montero

DNAinfo Reporter/Producer

EAST VILLAGE — Friends and fans of DJ Kool Herc hope to help the father of hip-hop pay his medical bills with a party fundraiser Tuesday at Sutra Lounge.

Herc, credited with starting the hip hop movement in 1973 at a Bronx party, was recently hospitalized for kidney stones and has been unable to pay his medical bills, the New York Daily News reported.

Sutra, located on First Avenue between East 1st and East 2nd streets, has long been a gathering place for hip-hop pioneers like DJ Premier and Kool Herc, who are both regulars, said Ariel Palitz, the bar's owner.

"I think people are going to give what they can," Palitz said of the fundraiser scheduled for Tuesday night.

DJ Premier sent out Twitter messages to his followers Monday, publicizing the party and Kool Herc's condition.

"Just spoke to Kool Herc. He's ok and in good spirits. Needs surgery," DJ Premier wrote.

Hip-hop blogs picked up on news of the pioneer's illness and established a post office box where fans could send donations.

Although credited with introducing turn table mixing into music and jumpstarting hip hop, Kool Herc, whose real name is Clive Campbell, never attained the degree of commercial success as other old school acts like Run DMC.

Palitz said she hoped that hip-hop's current stars would stop by to support Kool Herc.

"When Kool Herc is involved, all of the pioneers come and since this is in his honor, you never know who's going to show up," she said.