Hip-hop music

Hip hop is a genre of music featuring stylized rhythmic music that accompanies rapping. Many music historians believe that 1520 Sedgwick Avenue in the Bronx, New York, is the birthplace of hip hop. At that location on August 11, 1973, Jamaican-born Clive Campbell, better known as DJ Kool Herc, and his sister threw a back-to-school party. DJ Kool Herc provided entertainment for the party. He had extensive DJ equipment, including two turntables and a mixer to switch between records. Having moved to New York from Jamaica in 1967, he also brought Jamaican culture to the party.

While DJing at the party, DJ Kool Herc did something unusual with his turntables; he extended the instrumental beats (called breaking) to allow partygoers to dance for a longer period of time. This new kind of dancing became known as break dancing. DJ Kool Herc also rapped, or MCed, over the records while people were break dancing. On that summer night in the Bronx, hip hop was born.

DJ Kool Herc went on to DJ at parties and clubs throughout the Bronx. Along with his crew, the Herculoids, he was the area’s biggest music draw for the next several years. However, by 1977 other area DJs, most notably Grandmaster Flash and Afrika Bambaataa, overshadowed him. Even so, DJ Kool Herc is considered a pioneer of hip hop.

Overview

The development of hip hop in the 1970s led to a cultural movement. The new music genre ushered in a culture of DJing, rapping, break dancing, and graffiti writing, particularly among blacks. Hip hop also had social and political influences. In the late 1960s, the FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation) cracked down on radical black groups and gang wars. A new generation of blacks responded by expressing themselves through the burgeoning hip-hop culture.

As hip hop developed, several artists came to the forefront of the new genre. The Sugarhill Gang was the first group to have a hip-hop single on Top 40 radio. Peaking at number 36 on the pop (popular) charts, 1979’s “Rapper’s Delight” helped put hip hop on the map and influenced countless other hip-hop artists, including Grandmaster Flash. In 1982, Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five released their own hit hip-hop single, “The Message.” With lyrics about drugs, prostitution, prison, and dying young, the song was the first hip-hop song to convey the truth about modern inner-city life in America. Like “Rapper’s Delight,” the song had a major influence on the hip-hop world. The group eventually became the first rap group to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The same year “The Message” hit the airwaves, Afrika Bambaataa & the Soul Sonic Force released the single “Planet Rock.” The hip-hop song featured interpolated parts of other songs and robotic rapping. Its influence on hip hop is still felt today. “Rapper’s Delight,” “The Message,” and “Planet Rock” are widely regarded as some of the greatest hip-hop songs of all time.

As the 1980s’ music scene progressed, so did hip hop. Run-D.M.C. was the quintessential hip-hop group of the decade. Perhaps the best hip-hop act that ever lived, the group influenced the entire genre. They brought a tougher, more threatening sound and style to hip hop, often fusing rock and rap. Their biggest single was a cover of Aerosmith’s “Walk This Way” in 1986, and their seminal album was Raising Hell, released the same year. The album was the first rap album to top the R&B charts, to reach the top ten on the pop charts, and to go platinum (or sell one million copies). Run-D.M.C. set the stage for other hip-hop artists, including Public Enemy and N.W.A., both of whom were influential in the 1980s and 1990s. Public Enemy helped transform hip-hop, particularly with the albums It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back (1988) and Fear of a Black Planet (1990). Featuring influential members Dr. Dre and Ice Cube, N.W.A. did its part defining the genre with the album Straight Outta Compton (1988).

In the 1990s and 2000s, many hip-hop artists emerged and found mainstream success. Among these was 2Pac (also known as Tupac Shakur), who released the album Me against the World (1995) and the double-album All Eyez on Me (1996). Jay-Z was another hugely popular hip-hop figure during this time, debuting with the album Reasonable Doubt in 1996. He managed to sustain his popularity throughout the 2000s and 2010s, releasing hit albums such as The Blueprint (2001), The Black Album (2003), and Magna Carta Holy Grail (2013). Like Jay-Z, Eminem hit the hip-hop scene in 1996, releasing Infinite. He then sat atop the hip-hop world for many years thereafter with the help of the albums The Slim Shady LP (1999), The Marshall Mathers LP (2000), and Relapse (2009). Eminem became the best-selling white rapper of all time. In the 2000s, Kanye West emerged as one of the biggest stars in hip-hop. He released his debut album The College Dropout in 2004. West followed this up with several wildly successful albums, including Late Registration (2005), Graduation (2007), and My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy (2010). New artists and innovative artists continue to emerge and help the genre evolve. In the first half of the 2010s, artists such as Kendrick Lamar, Nicki Minaj, Macklemore and Ryan Lewis, and Earl Sweatshirt have joined the ranks of rappers beloved by hip hop fans. From its humble beginnings in the 1970s to its prevalence in the 2010s, hip-hop has proven to be a significant part of the music world.

Bibliography

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