Hip-hop, while opposed to rap, generally defines the whole culture. Rap formed during the 1970s with the rise in popularity of block parties in New York, particularly among African American youth residing in the Bronx. Rapping developed as a vocal style in which the artist speaks along with an instrumental or synthesized beat. The roots of rapping are found in African-American music and ultimate African music, with roots originating from the griots of west African culture. The African American traditions of signifyin' (an early form of wordplay), the dozens (game of spoken words between two communities) and jazz poetry all had an influence on rap music.
What is Hip-Hop? Hip-hop is a cultural movement best known for its impact on music in the form of the musical genre of the same name. It has its origins in the Bronx, in New York City, during the 1970s, mostly among African Americans but with some influence from the Latin American population of the area as well. The culture has gone from being a relatively underground style to being a major style throughout the world, and it has been commercialized and popularized, especially in the United States. The four traditional pillars of hip-hop are DJing, rapping, breakdancing, and graffiti art.
3. The audience are people that believe in the stereotypical ideas of what New York and California are like and what they have done for hip hop. People knowledgeable about those who were influential in music, particularly in hip hop and bebop. 4. Smith finds many rhetorical devices that grabs our attention i make us catch his message.
Clive Campbell, known as DJ Kool Herc, is the credited as being the pioneer of hip hop in the United States. “Kool Herc was inspired by the Jamaican tradition of impromptu poetry during toast, and thus decided to accompany it with rhythmic beats generated by sampling. “ (Chan) Hip hop offered the youth a way to express themselves and bought forth new ideas. Hip hop was a way youths in black inner city neighborhoods to express what they were feeling, seeing, and living and to many it became a form of entertainment. Back in the days as some people may call it hip hop was a way that a certain person felt and the things that they would say was things that happens in real life everyday situations.
The notion of subcultural theory has mainly been used to explain deviance and crime in the past. However, it works well in analyzing certain subculture groups like that of the unique world of breakdancing in the hip hop subculture and its values and norms from the rest of society. This leads into the term of subcultural style that is performed through an individual’s lifestyle choices which is practiced consciously and unconsciously through aspects such as their fashion, their values, norms, beliefs, music, dance and the list goes on. It is an expression of an individual’s identity that is made to reflect, express, and resonate important aspects of who they are, and what they represent (Hebidge 57). This is similar to that of the hip hop subculture that represents a group, history and a type of world that can be seen through its aesthetics, specifically the area of breakdancing.
These distinctive beats and bass lines became the foundation of a new type of music in these clubs, and Djs can be seen as the prime movers of hip hop.” “MCs (Master of Ceremonies) in the clubs were there to introduce the hot new DJ. Between songs, though, MCs began to talk to the crowd. Like MC's even today, this talk varied between jokes, biographical anecdotes, as well as attempts to excite and energize the audience. Eventually, some local MCs began to talk over the music, and this talk soon became part of the music performance. These MC's became known as "rappers".” “Eventually, "rap music" was refined to become a mixture of rhythmic poetry, and rappers were getting noticed by 1979 and some commercially successful records were selling locally, though rap had hardly made an impact on the U.S. mainstream.” As the eighties went by, hip hop got more popular and we had some station that would play our music such as BET, but MTV only played everything besides African American music.
The members of this group quickly became famous as the new bohemian hedonists, who celebrated the way of rebelliousness and natural creativity (Gair, 2008, P. 26). The beat generation originally met in New York but later on they all except for Burroughs moved on to San Francisco and started associating with San Francisco Renaissance in early 1960s. This was a huge transformation to the sixties culture which by the duration of time changed beatnik to “hippie” in the urban life and nationwide. It is very interesting to know where the beats got their name from. The name “beat” was originally brought up by Jack Kerouac in 1948 to differentiate the underground and rebellious youth group in New York.
HISTORY OF HIP HOP Hip-Hop emerged in the 1970’s upon the arrival of a one Kool DJ Herc. Kool DJ Herc migrated to the United States from Kingston, Jamaica and settled in the West Bronx of New York. Kool DJ Herc was a disc jockey that attempted to incorporate his Jamaica style of disc jockeying, which involved reciting improvised rhymes over reggae records. Unfortunately for Kool DJ Herc New York seemed uninterested in reggae at that time. This forced Kool DJ Herc to find another appealing sound in order to please his audiences, which he did.
In 2001, this and other strains of dark garage music began to be showcased and promoted at London's night club Plastic People, at the "Forward" night (sometimes stylised as FWD>>), which went on to be considerably influential to the development of dubstep. The term "dubstep" in reference to a genre of music began to be used by around 2002 by labels such as Big Apple, Ammunition, and Tempa, by which time stylistic trends used in creating these remixes started to become more noticeable and distinct from 2-step and grime. [2] A very early supporter of the sound was BBC Radio 1 DJ John Peel, who started playing it from 2003 onwards. In 2004, the last year of his show, his listeners voted Distance, Digital Mystikz, and Plastician (formerly Plasticman) in their top 50 for the year. [3] Dubstep started to spread beyond small local scenes in late 2005 and early 2006; many websites devoted to the genre appeared on the internet and aided the growth of the scene, such as dubstepforum, the download site Barefiles and blogs such as gutterbreakz.
As I researched on what Hip Hop is, I found out that it isn’t just a music genre, but a massive culture that originated within the Bronx during the 1970s. Hip Hop was established to stop gang violence on the foundations of expression, peace, love, unity, and having fun with the addition of having four elements: Graffiti art, DJ-ing, breakdancing, and rapping. These four elements, together, acted as positive pastimes to keep kids from becoming involved with gangs by organizing artistic “battles” on who’s the better person. These Hip Hop battles take place in organized events, promoting a positive and peaceful way to resolve conflict, while also providing a safe, friendly community for urban youth. This surprises me because I never would’ve thought that Hip Hop is a culture, especially the fact that it started out as a peaceful youth community.