AFTR/IMG · ROOM · ECSTASY-GARAGE · CONF VERIFIED
Ecstasy Garage
Overview
South Bronx indoor hip-hop venue at 1508 Macombs Road, where Buddy Esquire's Cornell-archived flyers document sets by the Funky 4+1 More (with Sha-Rock), Cold Crush Brothers, Afrika Bambaataa, the Furious Five, Kurtis Blow, the Treacherous Three, and Lovebug Starski; part of the Morrisania indoor infrastructure that institutionalized hip-hop in the late 1970s.
Ecstasy Garage Disco occupied 1508 Macombs Road in Morrisania, a South Bronx neighborhood that the New York Department of Cultural Affairs and the Explore Parts Unknown profile of the area have both identified as integral to hip-hop's origin, alongside the more-cited 1520 Sedgwick Avenue and Bronx River Community Center. The club was active from approximately 1977 through the early 1980s, with the most densely documented period concentrated in 1980–1982 based on preserved event flyers. Those flyers, several designed by Buddy Esquire, known as 'The Flyer King' for his foundational role in creating the visual language of early hip-hop promotion, document performances by the Funky 4+1 More (including MC Sha-Rock, one of the first women in hip-hop), the Cold Crush Brothers, Afrika Bambaataa, Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, Kurtis Blow, the Treacherous Three, and Lovebug Starski. That roster placed Ecstasy Garage alongside the T-Connection and Disco Fever in the Bronx's indoor-venue circuit, which moved hip-hop off the park lawns and into paid indoor nights. Multiple Ecstasy Garage Disco flyers, dated June 21, 1980; August 30, 1980; September 12, 1980; November 14, 1980; November 21, 1980; April 4, 1981; and April 24, 1981, are preserved in the Cornell University Library Hip Hop Party and Event Flyers collection, one of the largest institutional archives of early hip-hop material.
Oral histories & archival media
Archive plates
Plates fill in as scans clear rights
Sonic profile
Cultural role
DJs, promoters & people
Buddy Esquire
Designer · 'The Flyer King'; designed many Ecstasy Garage Disco event flyers, now preserved in the Cornell Hip Hop Collection. His graphic work is considered among the earliest hip-hop visual art.
Sha-Rock
Performer · MC of the Funky 4+1 More; one of the first women in hip-hop; performed at Ecstasy Garage. Full name Sharon Green.
Afrika Bambaataa
Hip-hop pioneer associated with the Roxy · Performed at Ecstasy Garage; documented on preserved flyers.
Lovebug Starski
Performer · MC and early hip-hop figure; performed at Ecstasy Garage.
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