Hip-hop turns 40 -- and its parents are beaming with pride

Curtis Fisher, also known as Grandmaster Caz, checks out the memorabilia at the Hip-Hop Museum Pop-Up Experience in Washington in January 2019. [AFP]

Forty years ago, hip-hop was little known outside its birthplace, New York -- until the Sugarhill Gang decided to record their rhymes, launching the genre's rise as a dominant cultural and commercial force.

The result was the group's 1979 smash "Rapper's Delight" -- which is credited as the commercial start of an unforgettable era in music.