When compared to the other rap hits of the time, Run DMC's sound was very unique in the sound of the beats and the skillful, push it to the limit vocals. By the mid 80's, Simmons had founded the hip hop record label Def Jam, and Run DMC became the most powerful group in hip hop. Run DMC then started to experiment mixing their sound with samples of heavy metal guitars, basically combining the sound of each genre to create a gritty, street savvy sound. Run DMC's success showed the rest of the hip hop world that success could be achieved by delivering constant new material that challenged the status-quo with unique sounds and challenging lyrics. Their 1986 album Raising Hell was preceded by the top ten hit “My Adidas”, and then the release of a cover of Aerosmith's “Walk This Way”, off the same album, became the groups biggest commercial hit.
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.
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.
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.
The roots of Hip-Hop can be traced back to the early 1970’s in New York. It was a movement that developed and quickly spread throughout the African American community of the South Bronx. Hip-Hop was way more than just a style of music, it became an entire subculture consisting of four elements. 2 The graffiti artists, who would provide visual arts in various forums, the break dancers or B-Boys, who would perform complex dance moves to a rhythm, the DJ, who would and blend the background music, and finally the MC, or rapper. The MC began as an individual who would announce the DJ and hype the crowd, but over time developed into the rapper who would grow to play a much larger role in the production.
These artists wrote about various meaningful topics - unity, social issues, politics, and the search for identity. These are the kinds of songs I would listen to because these are topics that people could easily relate to, while also providing an insight. Rap artists today always rap about how much money they can wave in their hands, wearing Versace, and clubbing. This made me realize how prejudice I was
This forced Kool DJ Herc to find another appealing sound in order to please his audiences, which he did. Kool DJ Herc adapted a new style, which involved him by chanting over the instrumental or percussion sections of the popular music of the day. He learned that by taking two identical records using an audio mixer, that he could play any segment over and over, there fore extending one segment for entire song (Light, 1999). In the early 1970’s and with the emergence of disc jockeys such as Kool DJ Herc, hip-hop began to spread through urban areas of New York like “wild fire.” Kool DJ Herc, who actually coined the term “hip hop,” began to realize that this was the beginning of a new genre (Light, 1999). As this phenomena evolved the party shouts became more elaborate, d jays began to incorporate little rhymes such as “throw your hands in the air and raise ‘em like you just don’t care.” With regards to Kool DJ Herc, as he progressed eventually turned his attention to the complexities of d-jaying and let two friends Coke La Rock and Clark Kent handle the microphone duties.
Changes in Hip Hop Subculture The history of Hip hop subculture has come a long way and has made many changes along its way. Hip hop as it may seem started off as being positive and coming from the heart and having meaning to now people becoming a part of it and not even knowing the real meaning of its background. Now, it is said that many people are in the “rap game” just for the love of money and not because it’s something that they really love to do. Hip hop started in the late 60s early 70s in the Bronx, New York. Clive Campbell, known as DJ Kool Herc, is the credited as being the pioneer of hip hop in the United States.
Ronnie Brown 6/10/11 How Has Rap Impacted Society It is safe to say that Rap music has been an influence to society, and still is influencing society as we speak. How Rap music has influenced society can be examined from both good and bad angles. Rap is known to be a controversial topic, and will immediately ignite conversation. Evolving and changing over the years, Rap has been able to affect the entire world in more ways than one. Good or bad, it is still pretty impressive to witness how one of the youngest genres of music has grown and is still growing.
Like other genres such as Hip Hop, R&B, Rap, and Pop; Reggae has grown in many ways. It has always had a fairly large following in the United Kingdom, especially during the 1970s and 1980s. In the second half of the 1970s, the UK punk rock scene was starting to take off, and some punk DJs played reggae records during their DJ sets. Reggae has created some of the greatest artists whom paid the way for current artist today as well as those who are soon to come (Bogues, Anthony). Reggae music has its own style and culture that is distinctively unique.