The History of Rap Music Rap music originated as a cross-cultural product. Most of its important early practitioners-including Kool Herc, D.J. Hollywood, and Afrika Bambaataa-were either first- or second-generation Americans of Caribbean ancestry. Herc and Hollywood are both credited with introducing the Jamaican style of cutting and mixing into the musical culture of the South Bronx. By most accounts Herc was the first DJ to buy two copies of the same record for just a 15-second break (rhythmic instrumental segment) in the middle.
The introducing of MTV only made hip hop more mainstream. Next were the Beastie Boys were diversified hip-hop by being a white trio who broadened rap’s audience and popularized digital sampling by composing with music and sounds electronically extracted from other recordings. Beginning in 1989 the populur group N.W.A came out with a dynamic album Straight Outta Compton. N.W.A. and former members Ice Cube, Eazy E, and Dr. Dre led the way as West Coast rap grew in prominence in the early 1990s.
“Hip-hop is a cultural movement that attained widespread popularity in the 1980s and 90s; also, the backing music for rap, the musical style incorporating rhythmic and/or rhyming speech that became the movements most lasting and influential art form” (Light & Tate, n.d, para. 1). Hip-hop consist of deejaying, rapping, graffiti, and b-boying or break dancing. It originated in the South Bronx in the late 1970s. The four elements that made hip-hop were a collection of diverse ethnicity in the Bronx credited to Dj Kool Herc, Grand Wizard, Grandmaster Flash, and many more (Light & Tate, n.d, para.
In the 1970’s, he introduced the type of music into a style we know now as rap. He used turn tables and used other records to make longer segments. Soon deejays started to work with other rappers and talk in rhythmic sayings, this became to be known as hip hop. For years popular styles of club deejays like Herc, and Afrika Bambaataa, rapped originally in African American neighborhoods in New York. Rap hit the air on the mainstream for the first time in 1980, with well-known performers L.L Cool J, Run- D.M.C., Hammer, and Will Smith.
Will Thurman 5/5/14 English Hip Hop Through The Ages Hip Hop has now locked in its place in music culture, but compared to many other genres of music, hip hop is still just a child, a genre that is still trying to find its true identity. Hip hop began in the South Bronx in the early 1970s. The creation of the term hip hop came from Keith Cowboy, who was a rapper with the Furious Five and others. The roots of hip hop came from mainly African music, which has been noticed to sound very similar to the vocal style of many rappers today. From then on, it came back to life and had significant impact on the post civil rights era during the 1960s and 70s.
(Crauwels, 2016) mentions that since hip hop initially tried to end ghetto poverty, bigotry and racism, artists tried to shift their focus to white audiences, connecting remote subcultures. Hip hop music was still very music connected with the black community, however, since it was a lifestyle that brought many people with the same experiences together. What was then recognized as MCing, hip hop had been around a few years before gaining any commercial attention. In those early days, it was essentially a live performance art form that complemented hip hop’s main attraction, the DJ. Ironically, some DJs began to rhyme or add MCs as a way to keep rivals from stealing their two most prized possessions: their records and their technique.
They've just evolved onto new levels. Hip hop was first used by Africa Bambatta (Godfather of Hip-Hop culture, Father of the Electric Funk sound, founder of the Universal Zulu Nation, visionary, historian, and the Master of Records) back in the early 80’s to describe the culture which incorporates: Break dancing, Dj'ing (cutting' and scratching) , Emceeing (rapping). Before that the word hip hop referred to a phrase that MC’s said on the mic. There were different types of rap. Gangsta rap and west coast , This rap reflected on violent lifestyles and backgrounds of inner-city American black youth.
Herc's initial style incorporated a lot of Jamaican style, but New Yorkers were not into reggae yet. He then adapted his style by chanting over the instrumental portion of the songs. Herc was then credited for developing a style of spinning that emphasized rhythmic passages. After Hip-hop became "Americanized," the other forms of the culture became prevalent. For example, art has been drawn on walls since the beginning of time, but a new type of graffiti wall art came of the hip hop culture in the late 1960's and early 1970's (when hip-hop was thought to have begun).
Influences on rap music started as early as the 1940’s when Rhythm & Blues and Jazz included many of the elements that make up rap music. Rap music became its own genre of music in the 1970’s when DJ’s from New York, such as DJ Lovebug, DJ Cool Herc and DJ Hollywood, began manipulating, and scratching, records to make rhythms, beats, and other sounds. As this took place the rapper would speak over the music using rhymes. The rapper would use emphasis and accents with their lyrics. In 1979 the Sugar Hill Gang marketed the first rap single with their hit “Rapper’s Delight”.
Jamaican musicians began to experiment with drum and bass patterns, inspired by the rhythm-and-blues music being broadcast by radio stations in the United States. By the 1960s mento had evolved into an upbeat style of dance music known as ska. Ska is one of the most the most underrated forms of historical music to date. Many people have not even heard of the word before and if so don’t know anything to a large extent. Ska is an upbeat style of Jamaican pop music.