Rap Music Style and Its Interpreters

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Rap music a style of music from the Hip hop genre has evolved over the years. Rap is spoken poetry; you come up with some nice rhythms and add a nice beat to back it up. No one can really say how rap started; some say “Rap received its roots in the beat poets of the 1950's. They would read their poetry over the beats of jazz musicians”. While some believe it started in the Bronx, “Rap was started in the Bronx, New York in the 1970′s. Because of personal recollections and the myth-making aspect of Hip hop.” Rap music is more than just a genre of music, it has become a way of life for many people. Rapping is “a vocal style in which the artist speaks lyrically, in rhyme and verse, generally to an instrumental or synthesized beat.” Rap goes way back to Africa “Rapping can be traced back to its African roots. Centuries before Hip hop music existed, the griots of West Africa were telling stories rhythmically, over drums and sparse instrumentation. Such connections have been acknowledged by many modern artists, modern day "griots", spoken word artists, mainstream news sources, and academics”

There are four main components to Hip hop, Graffiti, DJing, B-Boying, and Emceeing. The first of the four original elements of hip-hop, Graff-writing (aka graffiti). Graffiti is words or drawing that have been “scribbled, scratched, or sprayed illicitly on a wall or other surface, often in a public place.” Graffiti can be just a simple word to detailed wall portraits. Graffiti is said to have commenced in Washington Heights in the late 60’s-70’s. Graffiti was a way for people to express themselves, and for ganna to mark their territory. The presents of graffiti to Hip-hop is tremendous. Grafting was a milestone of inner-city self-expression.

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