DJ Kool
Herc, the man credited as the creator of hip hop music and culture.
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Hip hop music can be divided into three eras. The old school hip hop era, from 1970 to 1984, spanned from the beginning of hip hop until its emergence into the mainstream. The golden age of hip hop, from 1985 to 1993, consolidated the sounds of the East Coast and the West Coast and transitioned into the modern era with the rise of gangsta rap and G-funk. The Modern era of hip hop, from 1993 to the present day, saw hip hop music becoming one of the most popular and successful forms of American music.
The roots of hip hop music are in West African and African American music. Discussion of the roots of hip hop (and rap) must mention the contributions of griots The Last Poets and Jalal Mansur Nuriddin, whose jazzy and poetic "spiels" commented on 1960's culture. Hip hop arose during the 1970s when block parties became common in New York City, especially in the Bronx. Block parties were usually accompanied by music, especially funk and soul music. The early DJs at block parties began isolating the percussion breaks to hit songs, realizing that these were the most danceable and entertaining parts; this technique was then common in Jamaica (see dub music) and had spread via the substantial Jamaican immigrant community in New York City, especially the godfather of hip hop, DJ Kool Herc. Dub had arisen in Jamaica due to the influence of American sailors and radio stations playing R&B. Large sound systems were set up to accommodate poor Jamaicans, who couldn't afford to buy records, and dub developed at the sound systems (refers to both the system and the parties that evolved around them).
The 1962 pop parody hit, "Monster Mash", is sometimes considered the first rap recording. It featured a rhyming Dracula with doo wop style background singing. It is still a popular Halloween favorite and has recently been remixed with heavier, more modern-sounding percussion. Whether it actually influenced later rap is difficult to tell.
DJ Kool
Herc, the man credited as the creator of hip hop music and culture.
Herc was one of the most popular DJs in early 1970s New York, and he quickly switched from using reggae records to funk, rock and, later, disco, since the New York audience did not particularly like reggae. Because the percussive breaks were generally short, Herc and other DJs began extending them using an audio mixer and two records. Mixing and scratching techniques eventually developed along with the breaks. (The same techniques contributed to the popularization of remixes.) As in dub, performers began speaking while the music played; these were originally called MCs; Herc focused primarily on DJing, and began working with two MCs, Coke La Rock and Clark Kent—this was the first emcee crew, Kool Herc & the Herculoids. Originally, these early rappers focused on introducing themselves and others in the audience (the origin of the still common practice of "shouting out" on hip hop records). These early performers often emceed for hours at a time, with some improvisation and a simple four-count beat, along with a basic chorus to allow the performer to gather his thoughts (such as "one, two, three, y'all, to the beat, y'all"). Later, the MCs grew more varied in their vocal and rhythmic approach, incorporating brief rhymes, often with a sexual or scatological theme, in an effort at differentiating themselves and entertaining the audience. These early raps incorporated similar rhyming lyrics from African American culture (see roots of hip hop music), such as the dozens. While Kool Herc & the Herculoids were the first hip hoppers to gain major fame in New York, more emcee teams quickly sprouted up. Frequently, these were collaborations between former gang members, such as Afrika Bambaataa's Universal Zulu Nation (now a large, international organization). During the early 1970s, breakdancing arose during block parties, as b-boys and b-girls got in front of the audience to dance in a distinctive, frenetic style. The style was documented for release to a world wide audience for the first time in Beat Street.
The public at large was first introduced to hip hop by the releases of the first two commercially issued hip hop recordings, "King Tim III" by The Fatback Band and "Rapper's Delight" by The Sugarhill Gang. Neither act had significant roots in the culture; the Fatback Band was primarily a funk act, while the Sugarhill Gang was the studio creation of Sugar Hill co-founder Sylvia Robinson. Nevertheless, "Rapper's Delight" became a Top 40 hit on the U.S. Billboard pop singles chart, and after the releases of follow ups by acts such as Kurtis Blow ("The Breaks"), The Sequence ("Funk You Up"), and Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five ("Freedom"), hip hop was pegged as a successful, yet temporary, trend in music.
Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five were one of the earliest hip hop recording
acts, best known for their seminal 1982 single "The Message".
The 1980s saw intense diversification in hip hop, which developed into a more complex form. The simple tales of 1970s emcees were replaced by highly metaphoric lyrics rapping over complex, multi-layered beats. Some rappers even became mainstream pop performers, including Kurtis Blow, whose appearance in a Sprite commercial made him the first hip hop musician to be considered mainstream enough to represent a major product, but also the first to be accused by the hip hop audience of selling out. Other popular performers among mainstream audiences included LL Cool J, Slick Rick, and DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince, who won hip hop's first Grammy Award in 1988.
The techniques used in hip hop changed during the 1980s as well. Most important were the DJ records such as Grandmaster Flash's "Adventures on the Wheels of Steel" (known for pioneering use of scratching, which was invented by Grandwizard Theodore in 1977) as well as electronic recordings such as "Planet Rock" by Afrika Bambaataa and Run DMC's very basic, all electronic "Sucker MC's" and "Peter Piper" which contains genuine cutting by Run DMC member Jam Master Jay. Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five released a "message rap", called "The Message", in 1982; this was one of the earliest examples of recorded hip hop with a socially aware tone. In 1984, Marley Marl accidentally caught a drum machine snare hit in the sampler; this innovation was vital in the development of electro and other later types of hip hop.
Run-D.M.C. Raising Hell (1986), one of the most important releases from the
golden age of hip hop.
A number of new hip hop styles and subgenres began appearing as the genre gained popularity. Run-D.M.C.'s collaboration with hard rock band Aerosmith on "Walk This Way" was an early example of rock and hip hop fusions. Also, the mid-1980s saw the rise of the first major black female group, Salt-N-Pepa, who hit the charts with singles like "The Show Stoppa" in 1985. Ice-T's seminal "6n' Da Mornin'" (1986) is one of the first nationally successful West Coast hip hop singles, and is often said to be the beginning of gangsta hip hop (along with Schoolly D, LL Cool J and N.W.A.).
In 1987, Public Enemy brought out their debut album (Yo! Bum Rush the Show) on Def Jam - one of hip hop's oldest and most important labels, and Boogie Down Productions followed up in 1988 with By All Means Necessary; both records pioneered wave of hard-edged politicized performers. The late 1980s saw a flourishing of like-minded rappers on both coasts, and Public Enemy's It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back became surprisingly successful, despite its militant and confrontational tone, appearing on both the club and rap charts, and peaking at #17 and #11, respectively. Aside from the lyrical innovations, Public Enemy's Bomb Squad production team (along with Eric B. & Rakim and Prince Paul among others) pioneered new techniques in sampling that resulted in dense, multi-layered sonic collages.
Hip hop was almost entirely unknown outside of the United States prior to the 1980s. During that decade, it began its spread to every inhabited continent and became a part of the music scene in dozens of countries. In the early part of the decade, breakdancing became the first aspect of hip hop culture to reach Germany, Japan and South Africa, where the crew Black Noise established the practice before beginning to rap later in the decade. Meanwhile, recorded hip hop was released in France (Dee Nasty's 1984 Paname City Rappin') and the Philippines (Dyords Javier's "Na Onseng Delight" and Vincent Dafalong's "Nunal"). In Puerto Rico, Vico C became the first Spanish language rapper, and his recorded work was the beginning of what became known as reggaeton.
Nas's debut album, Illmatic, had a profound impact on East Coast hip hop during
the mid-1990s
In the 1990s, gangsta rap became mainstream, beginning in about 1992, with the release of Dr. Dre's The Chronic. This album established a style called G Funk, which soon came to dominate West Coast hip hop. Though G Funk was the most popular variety of hip hop in the early 1990s, New York's hip hop scene did not disappear, and remained an integral part of the industry, producing such well-regarded acts as The Wu-Tang Clan, Nas, AZ, Mobb Deep, and Busta Rhymes. The reemergence of New York as a growing entity in mainstream hip hop soon spawned an inevitable confrontation between the East Coast and West Coast and their respective major labels. This sales rivalry eventually turned into a personal rivalry, provoked in part by famous West Coast rapper Tupac Shakur's 1995 shooting, which he blamed on The Notorious B.I.G. and his Bad Boy label. Artists from both labels traded disses (most notably Tupac's "Hit 'Em Up,") and the feud's escalation resulted in the still unsolved deaths of both rappers.
Dr. Dre's The Chronic (1992) is a seminal album that redefined West Coast hip
hop
Though mainstream and crossover acceptance has been generally limitted to gangsta rap and pop rap, isolated artists with a socially aware and positive or optimistic tone or a more avantgarde approach have achieved some success. They are usually referred to in mainstream musical circles as "conscious hip hop" due to their focus on political issues surrounding the black community, which differentiates them from gangsta rappers. Fans of such rappers tend to view this subgenre as more authentic hip hop, claiming that they harken back to hip hop's early days where several artists rapped about "socially conscious" issues and gangsta rap had not yet gained mainstream acceptance. In 1988 and 1989, albums from the Native Tongues collective like De La Soul's Three Feet High and Rising, A Tribe Called Quest's People's Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm and the Jungle Brothers' Straight Out the Jungle are usually considered the first conscious rap albums, with jazz-based samples and quirky, insightful lyrics covering a diverse range of topics (see jazz rap) and strongly influenced by the Afrocentric messages of Bambaataa's Zulu Nation. This period, between 1988 and 1992, when the Native Tongues (together with other crews such as Pete Rock and CL Smooth) were at their creative peak, is considered the golden age of hip hop.
The Low End Theory, a 1991 LP by alternative hip hop act A Tribe Called Quest.
Later in the 1990s, record labels based out of Atlanta, St. Louis and New Orleans gained fame for their local scenes. By the end of the decade, especially with the success of Eminem, hip hop was an integral part of popular music, and nearly all American pop songs had a major hip hop component. In the 1990s and into the following decade, elements of hip hop continued to be assimilated into other genres of popular music; neo soul, for example, combined hip hop and soul music and produced some major stars in the middle of the decade, while in the Dominican Republic, a recording by Santi Y Sus Duendes and Lisa M became the first single of merenrap, a fusion of hip hop and merengue. In South Africa, pioneering crew Black Noise began rapping in 1989, provoking a ban by the apartheid-era government, which lasted until 1993. Later, the country produced its own distinctive style in the house fusion kwela. Elsewhere in Africa, Senegalese mbalax fusions continued to grow in popularity, while Tanzanian Bongo Flava crews like X-Plastaz combined hip hop with taarab, filmi and other styles.
In Europe, hip hop was the domain of both ethnic nationals and immigrants. Germany, for example, produced the well-known Die Fantastischen Vier as well as several Turkish performers like the controversial Cartel. Similarly, France has produced a number of native-born stars, such as IAM and the Breton crew Manau, though the most famous French rapper is probably the Senegalese-born MC Solaar. Swedish hip hop emerged in the mid 1980s and by the early 1990s a lot of 'ethnic Swedish acts' like Looptroop, 'immigrant acts' like The Latin Kings and mixed acts like Infinite Mass switched from English to rapping in "Rinkeby Swedish", a pidgin language of sorts, when they were making records for the domestic market. The Netherlands' most famous rappers are The Osdorp Posse, an all-white crew from Amsterdam, and The Postmen, from Cape Verde and Suriname. Italy found its own rappers, including Jovanotti and Articolo 31, grow nationally renowned, while the Polish scene began in earnest early in the decade with the rise of PM Cool Lee. In Romania, B.U.G. Mafia came out of Bucharest's Pantelimon neighborhood, and their brand of gangsta rap underlines the parallels between life in Romania's Communist-era apartment blocks and in the housing projects of America's ghettos. Israel's hip hop grew greatly in popularity at the end of the decade, with several stars emerging from both sides of the Palestinian (Tamer Nafer) and Jewish (Subliminal) divide; though some, like Mook E., preached peace and tolerance, others expressed nationalist and violent sentiments.
North of the U.S. border, in Canada, hip hop became popular thanks to home-grown rap artist Maestro Fresh Wes in the late 1980s. His single, "Let Your Backbone slide", dominated the charts for over a year. In the early 90's, more artists such as Michee Mee and The Rascalz established themselves in the growing Canadian urban music scene, primarily located in the diverse backdrop of Toronto and Vancouver. More recently, rappers such as Choclair, Saukrates, Kardinal Offishall, Hugh "MC Son" Ryan, Black Jays, Jelleestone and K-OS have become household names in the Canadian urban music scene, although they have failed to earn mainstream recognition south of the border in the U.S. market.
In Asia, mainstream stars rose to prominence in the Philippines, led by Michael V., Rap Asia, MC Lara and Lady Diane, and in Japan, where underground rappers had previously found a limited audience, and popular teen idols brought a style called J-rap to the top of the charts in the middle of the 1990s.
Latinos had played an integral role in the early development of hip hop, and the style had spread to parts of Latin America, such as Cuba, early in its history. In Mexico, popular hip hop began with the success of Calo in the early 1990s. Later in the decade, with Latin rap groups like Cypress Hill on the American charts, Mexican rap rock groups, such as Control Machete, rose to prominence in their native land. An annual Cuban hip hop concert held at Alamar in Havana helped to popularize Cuban hip hop, beginning in 1995. hip hop grew steadily more popular in Cuba, due to official governmental support for musicians.
The commercial success of
The Notorious B.I.G.'s Ready to Die (1994) was instrumental in revitalizing the
East Coast hip hop scene.
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