HIP-HOP'S INFLUENCE REACHES BEYOND POP CULTURE
By Tonya Jameson, Knight Ridder Newspapers

When experts talk about hip-hop milestones, 1974 and 1979 surface as historic years.

The first marks the year DJs Kool Herc and Grandmaster Flash are recognized with inventing modern DJ'ing. Five years later, the Sugar Hill Gang's "Rapper's Delight" announced the genre's commercial arrival.

Thirty years later, 2004 also will be remembered as a historic year for the culture that started as a voice for street kids in New York and grew into a multibillion-dollar industry. Today it influences entertainment, fashion, marketing and anything else that wants to be cool.

Hip-hop kicked butt in 2004 -- musically and politically. In doing so, the culture proved that it can rule the charts with mostly party and gangster songs and also be taken seriously in the political arena.

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