Hip hop

Hip hop (also spelled hip-hop or hiphop) is both a cultural movement and a genre of music developed in New York City in the 1970s by African Americans and Latinos.^[1] Since first emerging in The Bronx and Harlem^[2], the lifestyle of hip hop culture has today spread around the world.^[3]

Hip hop culture includes breakdancing (a street dance style done over funk or hip hop music rhythm breaks), graffiti (also known as 'writing'), rapping, beat-boxing and hip-hop fashion (a style of dress).

When hip hop music developed in the 1970s, it was originally based around DJs who created rhythmic beats by "scratching" with record players, and "rapping" (a rhythmic style of chanting).

Etymology

The word hip was used as African American Vernacular English (AAVE) as early as 1904. The colloquial language meant "informed" or "current," and was likely derived from the earlier form hep. Hip hop pioneer and South Bronx community leader Afrika Bambaataa credits the first use of the term "Hip Hop," as it relates to the instant culture to Lovebug Starski a DJ who put out a single called "The Positive Life" in 1981.^[4]

Keith Cowboy, a rapper with Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five has been credited with the coining of the term hip hop in a musical sense. Though Lovebug Starski, Keith Cowboy, and DJ Hollywood used the term when the music was still known as disco rap, Cowboy claimed to have "created" the term while teasing a friend who had just joined the US Army, by scat singing the words "hip/hop/hip/hop" in a way that mimicked the rhythmic cadence of marching soldiers.^[5] Cowboy later worked the "hip hop" cadence into a part of his stage performance, which was quickly copied by other artists; for example the opening of the song "Rapper's Delight" by The Sugarhill Gang.^[5]

Bambaataa, a former Black Spades gang member is credited with first using the term to describe the subculture that hip hop music belongs to, although it is also suggested that the term was originally used derisively against the new type of music. ^[6]

History of hip hop music

Main article: History of hip hop music

1970s

DJs: rhythmic grooves from the turntable

In the early 1970s, Clive Campbell, a Jamaican born DJ who went by the name "Kool Herc," arrived in New York City. In Jamaica, Herc was known for his dancehall beats, a key component to the movement of music in NYC and the Bronx. This idea of dancehall had nothing to do with where the music was played, but more of a feeling of getting the people of Kingston, Jamaica to get on their feet and dance. This music, known as reggae, became a staple in the new music made in the Bronx. ^[7] Herc introduced the Jamaican tradition of toasting, or boasting impromptu poetry and sayings over Reggae, Disco and Funk records, during parties held in parks in the Bronx, New York.

Herc and other DJs would tap into the power lines at public basketball courts to connect their equipment and perform. Their equipment was composed of huge stacks of speakers, turntables, and one or more microphones.^[8] Herc was also the developer of break-beat deejaying, where the breaks of funk songs—the part most suited to dance, often featuring percussion—were isolated and repeated for the purpose of all-night dance parties.

Later Djs such as Grandmaster Flash refined and developed the use of breakbeats, including cutting.^[9] The Bronx building "where hip hop was born" is 1520 Sedgwick Avenue, where Kool Herc started spinning records,^[10] and is now eligible to be listed on the national and state register of historic sites.^[11]The approach used by Herc was soon widely copied, and by the late 1970s DJs were releasing 12" records where they would rap to the beat. Popular tunes included Kurtis Blow's "The Breaks", and The Sugar Hill Gang's "Rapper's Delight."

The Hip Hop Movement

Beginning in the 1970s, DJs such as Kool DJ Herc, Afrika Bambaataa and Grandmaster Flash created rhythmic sounds and music by touching and moving records on phonograph turntables while using a DJ mixer. Rhythms were also created just by using the human body, using the vocal percussion technique of beatboxing. Early 1980s pioneers such as Doug E. Fresh, Biz Markie, and Buffy from the Fat Boys made beats, rhythm, and musical sounds using their mouth, lips, tongue, voice, and other body parts. As well, they would sing or imitate turntablism scratching or other instrument sounds.

Emceeing is the rhythmic spoken delivery of rhymes and wordplay, delivered over a beat or without accompaniment. Rapping occupies a gray area among speech, prose, poetry, and song. Rap is derived from the griots (folk poets) of West Africa, and Caribbean-style toasting. Rapping developed both inside and outside of hip hop culture, and began with the street parties thrown in the Bronx neighborhood of New York in the 1970s by Kool Herc and others.

Rapping and emceeing

In the 1970s, rapping developed, as MCs would talk over the music to promote their DJ, promote other dance parties, or take light-hearted jabs at other lyricists. This soon developed into the rapping that appears on earlier basic hip-hop singles, with MCs talking about problems in their areas and issues facing the community as a whole. Melle Mel, a rapper/lyricist with The Furious Five is often credited with being the first rap lyricist to call himself an "MC".^[12]

By the late 1970s, myriad DJs were releasing 12" cuts where MCs would rap to crowd-moving beats. Popular tunes included Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five's "Supperrappin'," Kurtis Blow's "The Breaks," and The Sugar Hill Gang's "Rapper's Delight". In 1982, Melle Mel and Duke Bootee recorded "The Message" (officially credited to Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five), a song that foreshadowed socially conscious hip hop.^[13]

1980s

Hip hop as a culture was further defined in 1983, when Afrika Bambaataa and the Soulsonic Force released a track called "Planet Rock." Instead of simply rapping over disco beats, Bambaataa created an innovative electronic sound, taking advantage of the rapidly improving drum machine and synthesizer technology. The appearance of music videos changed entertainment: they often glorified urban neighborhoods, commonly called ghettos.^[14]. The music video for Planet Rock showcased the subculture of hip hop musicians, graffiti artists and breakdancers. Many hip hop-related films were released between 1983 and 1985, among them Wild Style, Beat Street, Krush Groove, Breakin, and the documentary Style Wars.

These films expanded the appeal of hip hop beyond the boundaries of New York. By 1985, youth worldwide were laying down scrap linoleum or cardboard, setting down portable "boombox" stereos and spinning on their backs in Adidas tracksuits and sneakers to music by Run DMC, LL Cool J, the Fat Boys, Herbie Hancock, EPMD, Soulsonic Force, Jazzy Jay, Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde, and Stetsasonic, just to name a few. The hip hop artwork and "slang" of US urban communities quickly found its way to Europe and Asia, as the culture's global appeal took root.

This musical genre became further popularized when in the early 1990s, hip hop was finally able to break the language barrier, as Spanish language and Latin musical style developed as integral features of the rap jargon. Artists such as Kid Frost, Mellow Man Ace, Gerardo, and El General all became well known internationally, as they brought to hip hop music and to hip hop listeners the addition of Spanish inflections and merengue rhythms.[3] Although Puerto Rican youth from El Barrio and the South Bronx had been involved in hip hop culture since its beginnings in the 1970's, it was not until these first Latin rap superstars came onto the scene in the early 1990's that hip hop transformed as a cultural space in which alternative perspectives and divergent cultures could come together to form bilingual and bicultural music.^[15]

Legacy

Early hip hop has often been credited with helping to reduce inner-city gang violence by replacing physical violence with hip hop battles of dance and artwork. However, with the emergence of commercial and crime-related rap during the early 1990s, an emphasis on violence was incorporated, with many rappers boasting about drugs, weapons, misogyny, and violence. While hip hop music now appeals to a broader demographic, media critics argue that socially and politically conscious hip hop has long been disregarded by mainstream America in favor of gangsta rap.^[16]

Though created in the United States by African Americans, the reach of hip hop is global. Youth culture and opinion is meted out in both Israeli hip hop and Palestinian hip hop, while France, Germany, the U.K., Brazil, Japan, Africa, and the Caribbean have long-established hip hop followings. According to the U.S. Department of State, hip hop is "now the center of a mega music and fashion industry around the world," that crosses social barriers and cuts across racial lines.^[17] National Geographic recognizes hip hop as "the world's favorite youth culture" in which "just about every country on the planet seems to have developed its own local rap scene." ^[18]

Current Commercial Hip Hop music has certainly been critiqued for the references to material goods and conspicuous consumption. ^[19] Since most hip hop artists come from inner city environments where they do not have access to an abundance of material goods, some argue that they should not boast about a lifestyle that they know most people do not live. This debate shows that hip hop is a genre of music that has evolved- it started off in one locale and now it has spread across the world.

At the same time, hip hop has benefited from the globalization of modern consumer culture by working from within the system rather than attempting to challenge it. The embrace of capitalism to an extreme in lyrics and imagery was necessary for hip hop to emerge on a global level. The commodification of hip hop has been a factor that has allowed it entry to and influence on cultures around the world.^[20]

Women in Hip Hop

The Recording Industry Association of America annual demographic survey of music purchasers in the United States asserts that from 1990 to 2007, hip-hop has been the most selling genre of music. However, while hip-hop has been a success from its early appearance in the 1970’s, it has always been a male-dominated music genre. Therefore women, particularly those of black descent, were highly discriminated against often being depicted with negative images which marked them as nothing more than sexual objects. This is also greatly portrayed within the lyrics of the songs themselves with videos that portray semi-naked women of all backgrounds, dancing provocatively and being depicted as objects of lust all the while undermining their standards.

However, this did not stop some women from proceeding to change that image and fight for a higher position in this male-dominated industry. In the first place, producers and MCs did not expect women to rap. But, there are some woman who have taken such a strong stance when they grabbed the microphone that they must be mentioned. Women such as Roxanne Shante with the hit "Roxanne's Revenge" have taken the industry by storm along with other artists such MC Lyte, Queen Latifah, Salt-N-Pepa, Da Brat, Lauryn Hill, Lil Kim, Missy Elliot and so many others. With their individual styles and knock-em-out lyrics it is no wonder why they have shown that women can do more than shake their behinds in a music video.

^{[21] [22]}

International Awareness

Hip Hop has been the driving force for much social movement, political change, and the uniting of people. It comes as no surprise how its’ powerful presence has become prevalent in the lives of many, no only in the lives of the people from where it originated, but on a global spectrum. South Africa is one of the many of places who have embraced the same “concepts” of hip-hop to better a nation, and spread awareness. Through the use of music, South African artist can more effectively communicate, and bring about change. “Several acts leading the hip-hop charge write lyrics concerning issues like AIDS, poverty and violence against women.” (Coetzer, Diane) More importantly, as the spread of hip hop in South Africa increases, it becomes that much easier for people to help, and offer assistance on an international level; for a better cause. ^[23]

Globilization is said to be one of the main reasons for the spread for hip-hop. However this maybe true, the culture in which the music is brought to with all that is going on in each society changes hip-hop into something different for each of the cultures that this adopt type of music.^{[24] [25]}

Adaptation of Hip Hop: Cuban Style

Hip-hop prides itself on being the music of movement: not only physical movement but also mental movement. Its artists speak out about the reality of life, whether it is the good, the bad, or the cruel. Even as hip-hop’s message continues to grow globally, the realities of America are different from those of Cuba. The Cuban youth were banned from listening to American Hip-hop. They would try and get the music from Miami radio stations by creating handmade antennas^[26]. They loved the sound and the beats, but they could not relate with the American lifestyle. Soon, they wanted their own sound. At first this sound was not accepted and shows which were not authorized by the government would often get raided and shut down. However, in the spring of 1999, the government changed their minds about hip hop and recognized it as part of their culture. The raperos (rappers) did not change the core aspect of Hip-hop, but they put their own words and their style of dance to it. They took something that they liked and admired from somewhere else and made it their own. Artist include Amenaza (The Threat), Primera Base (First Base), Instincto (Instinct) which was the first female rap group in Cuba, Baja Mundo (Under World) and much more. They rapped about the reality of the places where they lived. On the downside of things, Cuban Hip-hop still has not gained as much respect as it could in in the United States. There are very few artist who have been able to make it make it to the U.S Market and even then, their cd's are not easy to find. ^[27].

Cuba is not the only country which has taken hip-hop and made it their own, Germany has also done this, creating what has become known as German Hip-hop culture, putting it in terms that connect with them^[28]. This globalization of Hip-hop is gaining huge support and continues to spread beyond the borders of America.

See also

• Hip hop culture
• Dancehall
• Reggaetón
• Rhythm
• Beats (music)
• Hip hop music
• Hip hop production
• Hip hop dance
• Hip hop fashion
• Hip hop theatre
• Universal Hip Hop Parade
• 2007 in hip hop
• Hip-hop magazines
• National Hip Hop Political Convention

References

• [Wunderlich, Annelise. “Cuban Hip-hop: Making Space for New Voices of

Dissent.” In The Vinyl Ain’t Final: Hip Hop and the Globalization of Black Popular Culture, ed. by Dipannita Basu and Sidney J. Lemelle, 167-79. London; Ann Arbor, MI: Pluto Press, 2006.]

• [4]

External links

• Sellin’ Out: An Essay on Commercial Hip Hop by Amrita Singh
• Tribe hip hop association Cakovec-Croatia by Antac
• Russischer, deutscher und internationaler Underground Rap by rasik.de
• The "Death" of Hip-Hop by David Drake
• Theses on Hip-Hop by the Democracy and Hip-Hop Project
• The Globalization of Hip-Hop Culture by Eric Richardson
• Don't blame hip-hop for society's sexism by Cousin Jeff

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