The History of Hip Hop
Collection
Eric Reese
Copyright 2020 by Eric Reese
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
For all the real fans of Hip-Hop worldwide!
Contents
Volume One
Introduction
What i Hi Hop? The word n mn mn thing t diffrnt l. T m, it i a lifestyle. To thr, it is iml a genre of music - revered by m, nd dimid b thr. On thing is fr ur: Hi H h a lengthy history, whih udibl nd viibl tll the tr f thund of innr-it lives. So, whr xtl did it m from?
Hip H established it roots in the 1970's in New Yrk Cit, sifill, lrgl Afrin-Amrin rt of the Brnx nd Brooklyn. DJ wr using turntbl t create mui tht w fud frm rt rrd. Th wuld create a rhthm uing th "bt" and create lril tr over the lid und t mk wht is th ntil fundtin f ll hi h nd r mui td.
Sin th rl d, Hi Hop h xndd quit a bit. Whil it w riginll a frm f musical poetry (so t speak), it has dvld vrl ubgnr uh as "runk", "gngt rap", and more. Crunk music, or runk r, is a tl of Hip-Hop tht developed in th uthrn United States. Its lud nthm nd crowd-oriented singalongs are dvld ifill t gt th dnflr mving. Gngt R developed in the lt ighti in Los Angl and Nw Yrk City and was ntrlizd on hrd beats which narrated lif in th ghtt.
Btwn the mid-1980 nd the early 1990, hi-h bgn t go through a mtmrhi. Th art f MCing began t grow rtit trtd ing mr ttntin t ng trutur with 4-bar choruses nd 16-br vr, nd descriptive nrrtin in r.
Erl r ttr used wordplay. MCs brnhd away frm nd-rhymes rhming ult and bgn different literary rh uh intrnl rhm nd chain rhm. Hip-Hop trnitind frm th break bt t hrtriti of ul, funk, nd jzz.
Whn major lbl began to seek out artists, Hip-Hop drtill grw and ntrd tlviin mdi on rgrm such as MTV and BET. Run from the hip-hop legends known as Run-DMC was once quoted saying, "At a time when hi-h w bming rll ulr in ll five brugh in Nw Yrk, Bmbt, Grndmtr Flh, vrbd started drin' u 'u th hd a littl bit of mn. Th Cld Cruh Brothers would jut come to th parties i nd do their performance."
Sin it inception in th vnti, Hip Hop h n nidrbl hng nd vlutin. Whil it m in mn frm, hi h will lw rv a lking gl t the outside world into Afrin-Amrin culture - fr bttr r for worse. As it ntinu to hng through th 2000's, hi h will frvr tnd both a lifestyle and a tl f mui whih pays hmg t it ultur thrughut over thirt years f hitr.
1980s
R did nt rll m in to l until th 1980 bu f th dminn of di. Because f hrdhi nd inequality, young mn who hd mr tlnt than money ut bit nd i of vrbd tracks while utting their tr on t of their agendas. The B-B wr from th ghtt, while di w for th middle l nd th rich. But thr w hi-h in both worlds. It was the Hip-Hop tug-'-wr -- disco rr versus the B-B. Th '80s marked a new reality: Et mt west, with the nw, Clifrni-bd brd seemingly taking their counterparts to the cleaners, businesswise nd l wi. Th 80 brught a new innvtiv und nd ulturl influn to Hi-H mmunit nd w knwn as the Gldn Age r f Hi H. Fmu artists frm thi r include Run D-M-C, Publi Enemy, Slik Rik, Slt-N-P, and Big Ddd Kane.
In 1981, Africka Bmbt rvlutinizd th und f Hi-H b mking n Eltr-funk bt t th ng Planet Rock. Thi fostered imilr rtivit thrughut th Hi H wrld as other artists rtd thir wn tl of music uh r gru Run DMC, who created Rap Rk (A fu f vl nd intrumntl Hi H lmnt mbind with forms f Rk-N-Rll). This creative innvtin during the 80s i how the name Gldn Age m but.
In th 1980, Hi-H fud less n the political nd marketing t n th music indutr nd mr n th lril ntnt nd vrll qulit of mui. For xml, rir to th institution of rlt fees fr using nit f r-rrdd mui, rr were givn way mr creative frdm bu th wr bl to ml. Corporate grd killed the creative music irit in Hi Hop.
80s Style
Erl fml hi-h rtits uh Rxnn Shante, MC Late and Qun Ltifh inflund fhin trends for wmn. Also, the film Breakin' nd Breakin' 2: Eltri Boogaloo showed l what t wr and what slang t say in rdr t b "hi. Rappers in gnrl during that tim wore leather, buttn, brlt, nd chains. Hi H artists tndd t wear excessive lrg gld jwlr in th 80s, along with the lrg utbrk f people wearing bktbll sneakers (uh Air Jrdn nd Adid shelltops) fr rrtinl nd fhinbl purposes.
Afr-ntrim and the Ntin of Ilm expanded tremendously in the 1980, so n inring munt f African-American ml wr Kente lth. Fml in the Hip Hop community wore enormous gld rring t rrnt rtig and wealth along with bright neon-colored lthing. Clr blocking (dign hm f mbining diffrnt lr and materials int a ingl grmnt) was intrdud into th Hi-H mmunit in th 80'.
Th Hi-T Fade w a vr ulr hirut in the 80s tht was introduced int th urban mmunit.
90s Purpose
"Thmtill, hi-h bgn pushing bnd th rtl rhymes nd battle r that hd dominated its rl lif t inlud everything from Blk Nationalist liti t Fiv-Prntr idlg t trtwi hrnil f th the riminl underground."
Yale (The Anthology of Rap)
Hip-Hop in the 1990 rvd as a platform to tell a litil and il story or to prove urlf as being an Afrin-Amrin.
90s Interpretation of Music
Rkim brught th deeper mning of r. Th rhthm f Jazz wr making their way into mui. They ud a lot f mthr. Fr xml, instead of uing n drtd image f a drug, Rakim in "Microphone Find" creates a song around a mthr: "I w a fiend bfr I became tn, I melted mirhn instead intd f n f ice cream" . It was one of the best rap songs ever.
The Plight of Hip Hop
Hi-h mrgd ut f a culture tht had an atmosphere of disappointment. After WWII, thr wr mn blk rfug tht settled in urban centers across Amri. An urbn center in th city of the Brnx, NYC started Hi-h. Yung l also gthrd tgthr in rk t rap vr sounds nd thr mldi. Ring w t th ntr of thi ultur, but Hip-Hop was mr thn just th music.
Social Connection
Hi-H w n as an utlt for people of colors ngr. Th were ngr bu th wr poor, black, dinfrnhid, bud, ignrd, t. At thi point in time, racial tensions were still on the rise. People of color wr angry t mainly the middle and upper-class whites bu th wr mainly dnid inclusion in the modern-days society resulting in unfair wages and good-paying jobs.
Politics
Majority f litiin were rih, whit ml. Iu of segregation wr still apparent, though th Civil Right Era w basically vr. Good enmi rtuniti wr very hrd t come by in th inner- iti, bu ll the whits moved out to th suburbs with their big businesses. This caused mjr iu fr th poor who either had to travel long distances to find a good-paying job or resort to working for less wages.
Hip-Hop is Art
Urban or street art tht revolved around Hi-H during the 1980s was generally nt td b th mjrit. Graffiti is Hi-H and police and many community residents w it vndlim. What they didnt realize that a new generation of urban folk w it art.
Motive
Th primary motive behind hi-h was to xr th ngr f the l of color with the system and the man. Artist used their music to draw attention to the plights of social justice and iu that ndd t be fixd.
Texture
In the beginning, rap artists gnrll rd t artificial bt (beatboxing) nd brrwd mldi. It rvlvd rund th production f und, nt th rrngmnt f intrumnt until the late 1970s.
Worldwide
- On f the countries outside th US where hi-h i mt popular i th United Kingdm.
- Hip Hop h glblizd int mn cultures wrldwid, vidnt thrugh the mrgn f numerous regional graffiti art scenes.
- Hip Hop h mrgd glbll a cultural mvmnt based un th roots of Hip Hop ultur; strife and struggle.