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Old School Hip Hop; First part
Hip Hop culture emerged in the 1970’s in Bronx
Hip Hop offered an alternative identity, a new community for people who had become strangers and refugees in their own city (because of a new cityplan)
A manifestation of the new hip hop culture was the neighborhood parties where a DJ brought a sound system and played music
DJ Kool Herc was pioneer in his field (one of the founding fathers of hip hop)
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Old School Hip Hop; Second Part
Kool Herc made instrumental breaks, roused the crowd with little raps while dancers, known as b-boys would perform complicated dances. The Sugerhill Gang released “Rapper’s Delight” in 1979 (this is considered as the first rap record) -
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Old School Hip Hop; A popular song from that period
“Rapper’s Delight” - The Sugarhill Gang 1979
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rKTUAESacQM -
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The Golden Age of Hip Hop; First Part
This time is characterized by an increased visibility and success in sales, as well as a change in style at the artistic quality. Women stepped into the hip hop-industry and the form of rapping called storytelling got popular. However, social criticism was still very much present.Violent conflicts between black gangs was an issue in the ghettos, which resulted in a new genre called Gangsta Rap uprising. Some of the most well-known rappers of this time were Big Daddy Kane, Nas, Salt-N-Pepa, N.W.A -
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The Golden Age of Hip Hop; A popular song from that period
“I need a Beat” - rapper LL Cool J 1984
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BVkaN--0ld0 -
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Mainstream Hip Hop; First part
The stories from the streets told by rap groups such as N.W.A. emphasize that rappers come from a particular neighborhood.
The rapper shows who he is through the depiction of his environment and language that is spoken in this particular environment. The grammar mistakes often found in rap point towards rap as an oral genre that reflects how language is spoken and not how it is taught in school. By using dialect, slang and geographical references the rapper highlights where he comes from -
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Mainstream Hip Hop; Second part
Locality helps to create an identity and it is connected to originality and authenticity. A rapper cannot rap about the ghetto if he/she does not come from the ghetto. But locality can also provoke conflicts where rappers from different neighborhoods fight each other. These conflicts can also spread out geographically and the mainstream period spawned one of the most famous territorial conflicts in rap country between 2Pac and The Notorious B.I.G -
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The Mainstreamm Hip Hop; Third part
In 1996 2Pac was shot in Las Vegas and only a year after, The Notorious B.I.G was killed in a drive-by shooting. They were both considered as gangsters and thugs, but their songs were very different in style and subject. The song “Brenda’s got a baby” by 2Pac is a social criticism focusing on problems of poverty, child pregnancy, and incest, while The Notorious Big in his song “Ten Crack Commandments” is advising upcoming drug dealers. -
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Mainstream Hip Hop; A popular song from that period
"California Love" by 2Pac feat Dr. Dre from 1996 from the album "All Eyez on Me"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5wBTdfAkqGU -
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New Millennium Rap; First part
The movie 8 mile from 2002 tells the story of the white rapper Jimmi “B-Rabbit” Smith who tries to make it in an environment dominated by Afro-Americans.
The role as Smith is played by the rapper Eminem and he basically tells his own story in the movie.
The movie does also includes his rap song “Lose Yourself”, which won an Oscar in the Best Song category - something that hasn’t happened for a hip hop artist before him. -
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New Millennium Rap; Second part
Eminem was not the first white solo artist to achieve mainstream success in the genre. The rapper Vanilla Ice sold millions of records in the 1990s, but he was not as respected in the hip hop community as Eminem was. Characteristic for Eminem’s music is the fact the he takes on a persona, but he plays with several personas where the narrator shifts between Marshall Mathers (his birth name), Eminem and Slim Shady. -
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New Millennium Rap; Third part
Another successful rap artist is Kanye West. His album Yeezus (2013) was critically acclaimed, but also controversial.West’s texts are including themes as racism and the fact that having a black identity is both inventive and disturbing. He does also have religious references. West has not been afraid to associate himself with God or Jesus in his lyrics. -
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New Millennium Rap; Fourth part
The female perspective on rap is being interpreted by rappers like Eve and Nicki Minaj, who use different strategies of feminism.
Eve continues the tradition of storytelling on “Love is Blind” where she tells a story about a domestic violence Minaj is more anarchistic and uses a strategy of role reversal on “Looking Ass Nigga”. The “niggas” she refers to are self-absorbed wannabe gangsters and drug dealers. -
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New Millennium Rap; A popular song from that period
"Lose Yourself" by Eminem 2005 from the album "Curtain Call (Deluxe)"
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Conclusion
Hip-hop is no longer a local phenomenon, but a global genre that has spread around the world and it continues to refine itself through the many rap artists who find new ways of expressing themselves.
Even though it is a young genre, rap music has gone through several stages and by now it has become history, but a history that is still in the making.