A South Bronx street was renamed in honor of a gang leader and peacemaker, whose death a half-century ago is widely credited with sparking a period of relative calm, and even paving the way for the birth of the hip-hop movement.
“When Black Benjie became a peace counselor, that was like a real beam of light … a ray of hope in a darkness,” said Lloyd Murphy, 64, a former member of another gang from that era, the Ebony Dukes. He attended the renaming ceremony, joined by several hundred others. “As young people growing up, we just basically were waiting our turn to die.”Arya Sundaram / Gothamist
The relative peace after the treaty gave rise to safer streets and made it easier for rival gang members to travel between communities, longtime neighborhood residents said. That gave rise to a growing block and house party culture – conditions that made space for the collaboration and creativity that gave rise to the nascent hip-hop movement, which this year marks its 50th anniversary.
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