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Revision as of 23:25, 14 November 2007

For other uses, see Hip hop (culture) (disambiguation).

Hip hop (also spelled hip-hop or hiphop) is both a cultural movement and a music genre developed in New York City starting in the 1970s, predominantly by African Americans and Latinos.[1] Since first emerging in the Bronx, the lifestyle of hip hop culture which has today spread around the world . Hip hop music, a form of popular music which grew out of the culture, is also today performed and heard by audiences worldwide. Hip hop as a cultural movement encompasses a wide array of human activities, referred to as elements, including but not limited to DJing, emceeing, breakdance, and graffiti.

Elements

Hip hop culture is usually considered to center on the following four activities, widely referred to amongst the hip hop community as "the four elements of hip hop":

Although graffiti is considered one of the main elements of hip hop, many of the graffiti pioneers had little interest in either rap or break dancing, according to pioneering graffiti artist Seen. [2]

History of hip hop

Main article: History of hip hop music

Hip hop music and DJ'ing

In the early 1970s, Clive Campbell, a Jamaican born DJ who went by the name "Kool Herc," arrived in New York City. Herc introduced the Jamaican tradition of toasting, or boasting impromptu poetry and sayings over Reggae, Disco and Funk records, during parties and parks in the Bronx, New York. Herc and other DJs would cut into the power lines at basketball courts to plug up their equipment and play outside for the people. Herc also was the originator of break-beat deejaying, where the breaks of funk songs—being the most danceable part, often featuring percussion—were isolated and repeated for the purpose of all-night dance parties. Later Djs such as Grandmaster Flash refined and developed the use of breakbeats, including cutting.[3]

Herc's idea was soon widely copied, and by the late 70s a myriad of DJs were releasing 12" records where they would rap to the beat. Popular tunes included Kurtis Blow's "The Breaks", and The Sugar Hill Gang's "Rapper's Delight."

Evolution of the MC

Rapping then developed, as MCs would talk over the music to promote their Dj, promote other dance parties, or take light-hearted jabs at other lyricists. This soon developed into the rapping that appears on earlier basic hip-hop singles, with MCs talking about problems in their areas and issues facing the community as a whole. Melle Mel, a rapper/lyricist with The Furious Five is often credited with being the first rap lyricist to call himself an "MC."[4]

By the late 1970s myriad Djs were releasing 12" cuts where MCs would rap to crowd-moving beats. Popular tunes included Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five's "Supperrappin'," Kurtis Blow's "The Breaks," and The Sugar Hill Gang's "Rapper's Delight". In 1982, Melle Mel and Duke Bootee recorded "The Message" (officially credited to Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five), a song that foreshadowed socially conscious hip hop.[5]

Terminology

Coining the term hip hop is often credited to Keith Cowboy, a rapper with Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five. Though Lovebug Starski, Keith Cowboy, and DJ Hollywood used the term when the music was known as disco rap, it is believed that Cowboy created the term while teasing a friend who had just joined the US Army, by scat singing the words "hip/hop/hip/hop" in a way that mimicked the rhythmic cadence of marching soldiers.[6] Cowboy later worked the "hip hop" cadence into a part of his stage performance, which was quickly copied by other artists; for example the opening of the song "Rapper's Delight" by The Sugarhill Gang.[6] Former Black Spades gang member Afrika Bambaataa is credited with first using the term to describe the subculture that hip hop music belongs to, although it is also suggested that the term was originally derisively used against the new type of music. [7]

Hip hop embraces technology

Hip hop as a culture was further defined in 1983, when Afrika Bambaataa and the Soulsonic Force released a track called "Planet Rock." Instead of simply rapping over disco beats, Bambaataa created an innovative electronic sound, taking advantage of the rapidly improving drum machine and synthesizer technology. The accompanying music video for Planet Rock showcased a unique subculture of musicians, graffiti artists and breakdancers, at times performing seemingly impossible feats. [citation needed]

The appearance of music videos changed entertainment: they often glorified urban neighborhoods, commonly calleds ghettos.[8]. Many hip hop related films were released between 1983 and 1985, among them Wild Style, Beat Street, Krush Groove, Breakin, and the documentary Style Wars. These films expanded the appeal of hip hop beyond the boundaries of New York.

By 1985, youth worldwide were laying down scrap linoleum or cardboard, setting down portable stereos and spinning on their backs in tracksuits and sneakers to music by Run DMC, LL Cool J, the Fat Boys, Herbie Hancock, EMPD, Soulsonic Force, Jazzy Jay, Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde, and Stetsasonic, just to name a few. The hip hop artwork and "slang" of US urban communities quickly found its way to Europe and Asia, as the culture's global appeal took root

Legacy

Breakdance, an early form of hip hop dance, often involve battles, showing off skills without any physical contact with the adversaries.

Early hip hop has often been credited with helping to reduce inner-city gang violence by replacing physical violence with hip hop battles of dance and artwork. However, with the emergence of commercial and crime-related rap during the early 1990s, an emphasis on violence was incorporated, with many rappers boasting about drugs, weapons, misogyny, and violence. While hip hop music now appeals to a broader demographic, media critics argue that socially and politically conscious hip hop has long been disregarded by mainstream America in favor of gangsta rap.[9]

Though created in the United States by African Americans and Latinos, the reach of hip hop is global. Youth culture and opinion is meted out in both Israeli hip hop and Palestinian hip hop, while France, Germany, the U.K., Africa, and the Caribbean have long-established hip hop followings. According to the U.S. Department of State, hip hop is "now the center of a mega music and fashion industry around the world," that crosses social barriers and cuts across racial lines.[10] National Geographic recognizes hip hop as "the world's favorite youth culture" in which "just about every country on the planet seems to have developed its own local rap scene." [11]

See also

Template:Hip hop portal

References

  1. ^ http://www.thenext.org.nz/the_resource/history_of_hiphop.php
  2. ^ Inner City magazine, issue #13 Website of InnerCity magazine
  3. ^ History of Hip Hop - Written by Davey D
  4. ^ article about Melle Mel (Melle Mel) at AllHipHop.com
  5. ^ Rose, Tricia. "Black Noise: Rap Music and Black Culture in Contemporary America", pages 53-55. Wesleyan Press, 1994.
  6. ^ a b http://web.archive.org/web/20060317071002/http://www.furious5.net/cowboy.htm
  7. ^ http://www.zulunation.com/hip_hop_history2.htm (cached)
  8. ^ Rose, Tricia."Black Noise: Rap Music and Black Culture in Contemporary America" page 192. Wesleyan Press, 1994
  9. ^ http://www.cas.muohio.edu/eng421/cases/butler1.html
  10. ^ http://usinfo.state.gov/scv/Archive/2006/May/12-522164.html
  11. ^ http://worldmusic.nationalgeographic.com/worldmusic/view/page.basic/genre/content.genre/hip_hop_730
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