This week marks 50 years of hip-hop. What started as a party-centric neighborhood phenomenon half a century ago became a global juggernaut of culture, commerce, and celebration. It would be impossible to name every important name and movement keeping the rap world’s turntables spinning. Instead, we’re highlighting unique and vital artists, songs, scenes, and styles that have left an impact across generations but remain overlooked by some.

Today, we stop, look, and listen to the pioneers who established the template for what we know today as hip-hop. Any number of well-meaning hip-hop histories will tend to mention, in this exact order, Sugarhill Gang's "Rapper's Delight," Grandmaster Flash and Melle Mel's "The Message," and RUN-D.M.C.'s "Sucker MC's." All of them are infinitely important, no question, but here are five pieces of history that helped set the table for hip-hop to be such a multifaceted force.

See also: A firsthand account of hip-hop's early days in Minnesota

Blowfly - "Rapp Dirty" 

The earliest and biggest recorded influences on rap were what were known as "party records." Often containing outrageous tales told in rhyme over infectious grooves, Rudy Ray Moore, AKA Dolemite, and Blowfly became the template. They inspired the first MCs wanting to rock a party. Blowfly, in particular, is credited with the first rap "recording." While not officially released until well into the rap-on-record phenomenon started, Blowfly — known better as industry veteran and R&B favorite Clarence Reid — originally recorded "Rapp Dirty" allegedly back in the mid-’60s. The version heard above, finally released in 1980, shows him as the event horizon for what hip-hop would become.

Lightnin’ Rod - "Sport" (1973)

In 1973, that same year a Bronx house party is first credited with birthing hip-hop, Jalal Mansur Nuriddin of the Last Poets released a story told in rhyme over funk and jazz under the name Lightnin' Rod called Hustlers Convention. His sharp storytelling took the cool elements of proto-rap like Moore and Blowfly, but gave it a thoughtful, poignant angle. Without shock factor or overt comedy, it sits at the center of a Venn diagram comparing Dolemite and Gil Scott-Heron.

The Fatback Band - "King Tim III (Personality Jock)" (1979)

As the ’70s continued, hip-hop parties grew with the DJs at the forefront. Most notably there was DJ Kool Herc, whose 1973 party was seen as the official birth of hip-hop; DJ Hollywood, credited as the first DJ to speak in rhyme in the traditional rap cadence; and Grand Wizzard Theodore, the inventor of the record scratch. The "rap cadence" began to seep into mainstream disco and funk records, with a favorite being Jimmy Castor's 1974 single "Hallucinations." But the very first hip-hop/rap single ever released was the Fatback Band's "King Tim III (Personality Jock)." (Even the most conservative estimates have it beating "Rappers Delight" to record store shelves by two weeks.) This and other early rap singles were notable not for how long they were — often between six and eight minutes each — but how well they distilled the energy of an all-night MC leading a party within the length of a traditional song.

Kool Moe Dee battles Busy Bee (1981)

Probably the most significant moment that changed the trajectory of hip-hop was thankfully caught on tape and still exists today. By 1981, the top rappers of New York and the surrounding area had their routines and songs down pat. At house parties and block parties, they’d aim to win bragging rights and sometimes money. These were, while impressive, largely interchangeable repeating routines featuring all the classic early rap tropes, such as asking your zodiac sign, saying your name and what you were here to say, etc. Then at the 1981 Christmas party at Harlem World, Kool Moe Dee of the Treacherous Three had the unenviable task of competing following universally beloved chief rocker Busy Bee. As heard in the excerpt above, Moe Dee followed Busy's routine with an impromptu diss, delivered in a rapid-fire cadence wholly unheard of at the time. Bootlegs of the cassettes spread throughout New York and it set a new standard.

Whodini - "Big Mouth" (1984)

While RUN-D.M.C. are rightfully considered hip-hop's first global icons, they were preceded by the genre's first real superstars — and the first rap group to hit the Top 40 charts — Whodini. Still remembered today for classics like "Friends" and "Freaks Come Out at Night," it's often overlooked how their national touring and crossover success showed rap’s potential reach. A great example of their influence can be seen in the 1984 video for "Big Mouth." Featuring cameos from several future rap stars, the high-concept presentation took audio sampling and brought it into the visual medium. Additionally, Jalil and Ecstasy's flow and wordplay here were as avant-garde as it was state of the art, helping further push the new directions where rap was headed.

Kurtis Blow - Sprite Commercial (1984)

While mainstream outlets were still hesitant to outright play rap music, they seemingly had far fewer qualms about taking advertising money to play commercials with rappers in them. Not including Debbie Harry of Blondie's vocals in "Rapture," Fat Boys' Prince Markie Dee in a commercial for Swatch watches was the first emcee seen rapping on MTV. Around the same time, Sprite began their decades-long relationship with hip-hop by having Kurtis Blow star in the first national hip-hop advertisement.

Read more:

Hip-hop at 50: The hip-hop heart of Texas

Hip-hop at 50: The counter-counterculture

Hip-hop at 50: Women in rap