Lardlad95
19th October 2002, 04:40
For those kats that don't go into chit chat I had to do an oratory I was gonna do it on Socialism but decided teh history of hip hop would be better
so here it is
(Note: I realize some facts may be messed up, and I realize some things aren'tas good as tehy could be but I put it together in like 1 1/2 hours)
The deeply impoverished youth of the world probably would never think that they would ever effect society as a whole. But the people of the south Bronx in the 1970’s made an impact on the world that has lasted for some thirty years. This impact isn’t in politics, or even in their own economic state, unbelievably it was in art. On street corners, in block parties, and in back alleys the hip-hop culture was born. Some people today obviously don’t see this as anything remotely resembling a culture but when you probe into the history of the hip-hop culture you see it has it’s own art, language, and music, even it’s own style of dance. Each one of these key to any culture, and each one would go on to effect this country in one way or another. The reason that it emerged was because unlike other forms of music and art it didn’t require a lot of money if at all. There were no lessons to learn how to rap or emcee, you needed no instructor to DJ and scratch, and break dancers didn’t need a studio to study in. Skip to 30 years in the future and you can see how hip hop has expanded to envelope the entire world. Whether it’s heads copping commercial rap at a store, people in Philly listening to the organic jazz and hip hop sound of the Roots, or a kid hearing the Marxist Hip-Hop of The Coup. And I believe it’s safe to say that it has had a positive impact on the world. Yet there are those out there who would say that the Hip-Hop culture has lead to violence and the growing vulgarity of the world. But the fore mentioned people don’t want to see the positive sides of both the music and the culture it’s self. Through out it’s history it has offered art to the poor, it has crossed over into the mainstream, and it has in some areas returned to it’s roots and created a strong underground following. Hip-Hop has grown into a beautiful and complex thing and it is sad that people are still oblivious to this.
The transition between the 1960’s and the 70’s carried a heavy burden in black communities, rock and roll was no longer exclusive to the black community, so a new generation had nothing to claim as their own. As the decade continued slowly on black radio stations played more and more rock and roll, like the rolling stones as well as disco. The problem with this is that rock and roll was no longer “our” music and just as many black kid’s hated disco as their white rock counter parts. The savior from this came in the guise of a Jamaican DJ named Kool Herc. He brought to the Bronx the Jamaican style of DJing , which involved improvised rhymes played over Reggae records. As more and more people heard this disco beats and later what would be known as early hip hop beats were used. The rhyming part of this combination was second nature to black communities as school yard rhyming and verbal acrobatics games had been played decades before. These games were either double-dutch rhymes, or more closely linked “the dozens” a game where children would make up rhyming insults about one another. By playing these rhymes over the popular songs of the day Kool Herc appealed to the youth. However these breaks were usually short so Kool Herc used an audio mixer and invented looping to make a beat the length of a song. After hearing this on the radio, kids began to rap on their own. First in just groups with their friends, but soon the talented ones would rap for hours at block parties, recalling previously written rhymes and sometimes improvising. In addition to emceeing other aspects of the hip hop culture began to emerge at this time. Break dancers were creating complex and skilled routines and moves. Groups of break dancers would create crews who would travel to different neighborhoods to do break battles with other crews to see who was more talented. Whats so important about break dancing was that a lot of them were former gang members and break dancing allowed them to do something productive and possibly saved hundreds of lives from dying on the streets. Another aspect of hip-hop culture was tagging or graffiti. While some people view this as vandalism It’s easy to forget that these Bronx kids didn’t have the money to buy paint and an easel. Getting a can of spray paint was much more easy. If you look at some of the artwork done by taggers you will see some of the best of urban artwork. Representing mainly images of inner city life, however this was possibly the least recognized aspect of hip-hop culture. It would fade into obscurity past the 80’s. However there are still taggers in the world. A lot of it has been driven underground though. The last of the four aspects of hip-hop culture was Djing. And while it has evolved from what Kool herc originally did. The act of looping is still used widely among DJ’s. However over the decades it has become more complex and can even stand alone aas it’s own form of music without a rapper going over it. As it progressed Djing began to incorporate scratching. Scratching is the act of pushing drawing back on a record as it plays to produce a scratching sound. DJ’s often buy break and beat records to scratch on as they produce a better sound. Djing was the most expensive art in the hip-hop culture. It cost lots of money to buy specialized turntables and albums, as well as a mixer. However originally DJ’s would use regular turntables and cheap old records to play beats and scratch on. However as hip hop grew each art would produce it’s own specialized equipment, or evolve new styles. Eventually the mainstream would bring hip-hop from the inner city to the rest of America.
It wasn’t until the Sugar Hill Gang and Fat Back Band's King Tem III' that the mainstream got their first taste of Hip Hop. However the Sugar Hill Gang’s career didn’t last all that long. However it did do a good job of giving America an eleven minute view of what had been brewing in the inner-city for years. However it wasn’t until the mid and late eighties that hip-hop became immensely popular. Groups like Run DMC and the Beastie Boy’s made hip-hop a household name. However many of the so-called new fans had no idea what hip hop was really about. At the time it was just the cool thing to listen to. This is probably why many people today don’t view hip hop as real music. At the time hip hop was becoming less of a culture and more of a style of music. Break dancing and tagging had faded into the background allowing Djing and rapping to take the spotlight. Of course later in mainstream rap rapping would be hip hop’s sole representative. While the other two still existed they became less and less important to commercial rap. However the early nineties did spawn some hip hop legends such as Tribe Called Quest, Arrested Development, Naughty by Nature, Krs One, Snoop Dog, Dr. Dre, Tupac Shakur, and Notorious BIG. During this period some of the greatest people in the field became hip hop’s God’s. However all forms of music progress, or rather evolve. This doesn’t necessarily means it gets better but nothing stays the same. Earlier rap music had been simple rhymes and beats that seemed to be just for fun. However as the early and mid nineties came closer together rap (as it was being called) leaned more towards the more brutal aspects of urban life. Many people refers to this as gangster rap. Simply for the fact that it talks about inner city violence, not necessarily advocating it but all the same it did not hold back raw emotion. At this time rap started to get a bad image, people claimed that it encouraged violence. Eventually this hard-core rap would be replaced but it still does have some place in modern rap. The media of course played this up more than needed, even citing an East Coast vs. West Coast mentality. This may have lead to the death of two of the times best artists. As the mid-nineties came and went rap soon became less about inner city life and unfortunately more about money and wealth. Rappers began to brag about their cars, houses women, and wealth in general. This did not become the majority of rap content until the later nineties. However it gradually took hold of rap and slowly consumed it. While this isn’t all that is part of commercial rap, I mean it is certainly sprinkled with good conscious songs every know and then the content has grown far more trivial. And Even those songs which don’t actually brag about wealth are usually about something trivial or are just made to sell records and or as a party song. However all hope is not lost, currently there is something called underground and conscious hip hop which in my opinion has stayed true to it’s roots.
“Lost generation, fast paced nation World population confront they frustration The principles of true hip-hop have been forsaken It's all contractual and about money makin” Says Tariq Trotter a.k.a. Black Thought of the Roots on the song “What They do” off their 1996 album Illedelph Halflife. In 1987 Tariq Trotter and Ahmir Thompson two high school friends from Philadelphia created “The Roots” (originally the square roots) Trotter and Thompson were both fans of jazz and hip hop which allowed them to create the idea of an organic jazz and hip hop band. Trotter would rap, Thompson (or Questlove as he is better known) plays drums, Leonard Hub plays bass, Kamal plays keys, Malik B. also raps , Scratch beat boxes (a.k.a. vocal percussion), and Ben Kenney plays guitar (however Ben was not in the group until 2000 and will make his first appearance on their up coming album). Lucky for me and other lover’s of hip hop Trotter and Thompson met other wise we would be stuck with nothing more than the hip hop on MTV. The concept of underground hip hop can really be interpreted as any hip hop that the mainstream doesn’t buy. However that wouldn’t include The Roots since their 1999 single “You Got Me” won a Grammy. Instead Underground hip hop can be defined as hip hop that is true to it’s music. It hasn’t conformed or alienated it’s fan base, they have a political message, or in the Root’s Case are in it simply to make music that they can be proud of no matter how little air play they get. Underground artists are usually better than people give them credit for, which is one of the reason’s they are underground in the first place. Because they haven’t conformed to what people want hip hop to be the mainstream hasn’t accepted them. They do what they feel is good music. For instance Mos Def has some of the best lyrical abilities out there and the political messages in his songs are capable of even opening the eyes of a politician who never had a good thing to say about rap. His Album “Black on Both Sides” was sent to Al Gore and when he heard it he finally realized hip hop was more than just rhyming to a monotone beat. Songs like “Mr. Nigga” show how modern racism effects black America. As well as songs like “thieves in the Night” with his partner Talib Kweli talk about the mentality held by society. However more people will know Mos Def for his appearances in the movies “Bamboozled”, “Brown Sugar”, and MTV’s Hip Hopera: Carmen.
Luckily for these people they have a very strong underground following. Unfortunately this following isn’t as large as it could be. Often the people who do recognize these artists are the ones who attempt to justify hip hop to those who don’t appreciate it. By stating that there are good artists out there, such as Dilated Peoples, Jurassic 5, The Roots, Mos Def and Talib Kweli, Last emperor, Common, or Aesop Rock. These people are often viewed by their following as true hip hop. By saying this they put an emphasis on the difference on rap and hip hop. Rap is only one aspect of hip hop, hip hop includes DJ’s and other aspects of the culture. Jurassic Five, and Dilated Peoples both have DJs and The Roots have an actual band. Talib Kweli has a group with DJ Hi Tek called Reflection Eternal, in addition to his group Blackstar with Mos Def. In fact most of the listed artists collaborate together as they are the more well known artists of the underground and conscious hip hop world. However there are other’s in this realm who still need to get their start.
From 1970 block parties, to music videos with expensive cars, to Root’s video’s mocking the videos with expensive cars, hip hop has progressed from urban art into one of the most popular styles of music on earth. Those kid’s in the South Bronx deserve all the credit for this, if not for them an entire generation would have stayed in gangs, and other’s talent would have been wasted. It started a chain reaction in the music world that would effect the entire industry as a whole. Resulting in Rock and Rap hybrids. DJs in rock videos and rock instruments in Rap videos, of course this isn’t just in the mainstream. Mos Def created an all black rock band called Black Jack Johnson. No matter how you feel about it you can’t escape the fact that hip hop has changed our world for ever, and let generations have a way to express themselves creatively. Even the obscure aspects of hip hop culture are still around today, break dancing has begun to gain more popularity, unfortunately tagging is still almost forgotten but as long as hip hop exists no part can be completely gone. Like Black Thought says on “The Love of my Life”, “Sometimes I wouldn'ta made it if it wasn't for you Hip-Hop, you the love of my life and that's true”.
so here it is
(Note: I realize some facts may be messed up, and I realize some things aren'tas good as tehy could be but I put it together in like 1 1/2 hours)
The deeply impoverished youth of the world probably would never think that they would ever effect society as a whole. But the people of the south Bronx in the 1970’s made an impact on the world that has lasted for some thirty years. This impact isn’t in politics, or even in their own economic state, unbelievably it was in art. On street corners, in block parties, and in back alleys the hip-hop culture was born. Some people today obviously don’t see this as anything remotely resembling a culture but when you probe into the history of the hip-hop culture you see it has it’s own art, language, and music, even it’s own style of dance. Each one of these key to any culture, and each one would go on to effect this country in one way or another. The reason that it emerged was because unlike other forms of music and art it didn’t require a lot of money if at all. There were no lessons to learn how to rap or emcee, you needed no instructor to DJ and scratch, and break dancers didn’t need a studio to study in. Skip to 30 years in the future and you can see how hip hop has expanded to envelope the entire world. Whether it’s heads copping commercial rap at a store, people in Philly listening to the organic jazz and hip hop sound of the Roots, or a kid hearing the Marxist Hip-Hop of The Coup. And I believe it’s safe to say that it has had a positive impact on the world. Yet there are those out there who would say that the Hip-Hop culture has lead to violence and the growing vulgarity of the world. But the fore mentioned people don’t want to see the positive sides of both the music and the culture it’s self. Through out it’s history it has offered art to the poor, it has crossed over into the mainstream, and it has in some areas returned to it’s roots and created a strong underground following. Hip-Hop has grown into a beautiful and complex thing and it is sad that people are still oblivious to this.
The transition between the 1960’s and the 70’s carried a heavy burden in black communities, rock and roll was no longer exclusive to the black community, so a new generation had nothing to claim as their own. As the decade continued slowly on black radio stations played more and more rock and roll, like the rolling stones as well as disco. The problem with this is that rock and roll was no longer “our” music and just as many black kid’s hated disco as their white rock counter parts. The savior from this came in the guise of a Jamaican DJ named Kool Herc. He brought to the Bronx the Jamaican style of DJing , which involved improvised rhymes played over Reggae records. As more and more people heard this disco beats and later what would be known as early hip hop beats were used. The rhyming part of this combination was second nature to black communities as school yard rhyming and verbal acrobatics games had been played decades before. These games were either double-dutch rhymes, or more closely linked “the dozens” a game where children would make up rhyming insults about one another. By playing these rhymes over the popular songs of the day Kool Herc appealed to the youth. However these breaks were usually short so Kool Herc used an audio mixer and invented looping to make a beat the length of a song. After hearing this on the radio, kids began to rap on their own. First in just groups with their friends, but soon the talented ones would rap for hours at block parties, recalling previously written rhymes and sometimes improvising. In addition to emceeing other aspects of the hip hop culture began to emerge at this time. Break dancers were creating complex and skilled routines and moves. Groups of break dancers would create crews who would travel to different neighborhoods to do break battles with other crews to see who was more talented. Whats so important about break dancing was that a lot of them were former gang members and break dancing allowed them to do something productive and possibly saved hundreds of lives from dying on the streets. Another aspect of hip-hop culture was tagging or graffiti. While some people view this as vandalism It’s easy to forget that these Bronx kids didn’t have the money to buy paint and an easel. Getting a can of spray paint was much more easy. If you look at some of the artwork done by taggers you will see some of the best of urban artwork. Representing mainly images of inner city life, however this was possibly the least recognized aspect of hip-hop culture. It would fade into obscurity past the 80’s. However there are still taggers in the world. A lot of it has been driven underground though. The last of the four aspects of hip-hop culture was Djing. And while it has evolved from what Kool herc originally did. The act of looping is still used widely among DJ’s. However over the decades it has become more complex and can even stand alone aas it’s own form of music without a rapper going over it. As it progressed Djing began to incorporate scratching. Scratching is the act of pushing drawing back on a record as it plays to produce a scratching sound. DJ’s often buy break and beat records to scratch on as they produce a better sound. Djing was the most expensive art in the hip-hop culture. It cost lots of money to buy specialized turntables and albums, as well as a mixer. However originally DJ’s would use regular turntables and cheap old records to play beats and scratch on. However as hip hop grew each art would produce it’s own specialized equipment, or evolve new styles. Eventually the mainstream would bring hip-hop from the inner city to the rest of America.
It wasn’t until the Sugar Hill Gang and Fat Back Band's King Tem III' that the mainstream got their first taste of Hip Hop. However the Sugar Hill Gang’s career didn’t last all that long. However it did do a good job of giving America an eleven minute view of what had been brewing in the inner-city for years. However it wasn’t until the mid and late eighties that hip-hop became immensely popular. Groups like Run DMC and the Beastie Boy’s made hip-hop a household name. However many of the so-called new fans had no idea what hip hop was really about. At the time it was just the cool thing to listen to. This is probably why many people today don’t view hip hop as real music. At the time hip hop was becoming less of a culture and more of a style of music. Break dancing and tagging had faded into the background allowing Djing and rapping to take the spotlight. Of course later in mainstream rap rapping would be hip hop’s sole representative. While the other two still existed they became less and less important to commercial rap. However the early nineties did spawn some hip hop legends such as Tribe Called Quest, Arrested Development, Naughty by Nature, Krs One, Snoop Dog, Dr. Dre, Tupac Shakur, and Notorious BIG. During this period some of the greatest people in the field became hip hop’s God’s. However all forms of music progress, or rather evolve. This doesn’t necessarily means it gets better but nothing stays the same. Earlier rap music had been simple rhymes and beats that seemed to be just for fun. However as the early and mid nineties came closer together rap (as it was being called) leaned more towards the more brutal aspects of urban life. Many people refers to this as gangster rap. Simply for the fact that it talks about inner city violence, not necessarily advocating it but all the same it did not hold back raw emotion. At this time rap started to get a bad image, people claimed that it encouraged violence. Eventually this hard-core rap would be replaced but it still does have some place in modern rap. The media of course played this up more than needed, even citing an East Coast vs. West Coast mentality. This may have lead to the death of two of the times best artists. As the mid-nineties came and went rap soon became less about inner city life and unfortunately more about money and wealth. Rappers began to brag about their cars, houses women, and wealth in general. This did not become the majority of rap content until the later nineties. However it gradually took hold of rap and slowly consumed it. While this isn’t all that is part of commercial rap, I mean it is certainly sprinkled with good conscious songs every know and then the content has grown far more trivial. And Even those songs which don’t actually brag about wealth are usually about something trivial or are just made to sell records and or as a party song. However all hope is not lost, currently there is something called underground and conscious hip hop which in my opinion has stayed true to it’s roots.
“Lost generation, fast paced nation World population confront they frustration The principles of true hip-hop have been forsaken It's all contractual and about money makin” Says Tariq Trotter a.k.a. Black Thought of the Roots on the song “What They do” off their 1996 album Illedelph Halflife. In 1987 Tariq Trotter and Ahmir Thompson two high school friends from Philadelphia created “The Roots” (originally the square roots) Trotter and Thompson were both fans of jazz and hip hop which allowed them to create the idea of an organic jazz and hip hop band. Trotter would rap, Thompson (or Questlove as he is better known) plays drums, Leonard Hub plays bass, Kamal plays keys, Malik B. also raps , Scratch beat boxes (a.k.a. vocal percussion), and Ben Kenney plays guitar (however Ben was not in the group until 2000 and will make his first appearance on their up coming album). Lucky for me and other lover’s of hip hop Trotter and Thompson met other wise we would be stuck with nothing more than the hip hop on MTV. The concept of underground hip hop can really be interpreted as any hip hop that the mainstream doesn’t buy. However that wouldn’t include The Roots since their 1999 single “You Got Me” won a Grammy. Instead Underground hip hop can be defined as hip hop that is true to it’s music. It hasn’t conformed or alienated it’s fan base, they have a political message, or in the Root’s Case are in it simply to make music that they can be proud of no matter how little air play they get. Underground artists are usually better than people give them credit for, which is one of the reason’s they are underground in the first place. Because they haven’t conformed to what people want hip hop to be the mainstream hasn’t accepted them. They do what they feel is good music. For instance Mos Def has some of the best lyrical abilities out there and the political messages in his songs are capable of even opening the eyes of a politician who never had a good thing to say about rap. His Album “Black on Both Sides” was sent to Al Gore and when he heard it he finally realized hip hop was more than just rhyming to a monotone beat. Songs like “Mr. Nigga” show how modern racism effects black America. As well as songs like “thieves in the Night” with his partner Talib Kweli talk about the mentality held by society. However more people will know Mos Def for his appearances in the movies “Bamboozled”, “Brown Sugar”, and MTV’s Hip Hopera: Carmen.
Luckily for these people they have a very strong underground following. Unfortunately this following isn’t as large as it could be. Often the people who do recognize these artists are the ones who attempt to justify hip hop to those who don’t appreciate it. By stating that there are good artists out there, such as Dilated Peoples, Jurassic 5, The Roots, Mos Def and Talib Kweli, Last emperor, Common, or Aesop Rock. These people are often viewed by their following as true hip hop. By saying this they put an emphasis on the difference on rap and hip hop. Rap is only one aspect of hip hop, hip hop includes DJ’s and other aspects of the culture. Jurassic Five, and Dilated Peoples both have DJs and The Roots have an actual band. Talib Kweli has a group with DJ Hi Tek called Reflection Eternal, in addition to his group Blackstar with Mos Def. In fact most of the listed artists collaborate together as they are the more well known artists of the underground and conscious hip hop world. However there are other’s in this realm who still need to get their start.
From 1970 block parties, to music videos with expensive cars, to Root’s video’s mocking the videos with expensive cars, hip hop has progressed from urban art into one of the most popular styles of music on earth. Those kid’s in the South Bronx deserve all the credit for this, if not for them an entire generation would have stayed in gangs, and other’s talent would have been wasted. It started a chain reaction in the music world that would effect the entire industry as a whole. Resulting in Rock and Rap hybrids. DJs in rock videos and rock instruments in Rap videos, of course this isn’t just in the mainstream. Mos Def created an all black rock band called Black Jack Johnson. No matter how you feel about it you can’t escape the fact that hip hop has changed our world for ever, and let generations have a way to express themselves creatively. Even the obscure aspects of hip hop culture are still around today, break dancing has begun to gain more popularity, unfortunately tagging is still almost forgotten but as long as hip hop exists no part can be completely gone. Like Black Thought says on “The Love of my Life”, “Sometimes I wouldn'ta made it if it wasn't for you Hip-Hop, you the love of my life and that's true”.