Hip-hop is one of the most popular music genres in the entire world. But it is not just a music genre, but a culture that changed the whole United States since the 1980s. This influence has expanded across the States and entered the country’s media culture and even politics. With time, Hip-hop solidified its status, standing as one of the dominant forces on international global youth. Every genre from time to time has taken cultural bits and sounds from Hip-hop. Even popular boy bands like ‘Backstreet Boys’ and ‘NSYNC’ were influenced by Hip-hop sounds and styles.
When we look at the 21st century and the global music industry, we can see that hip-hop is one of the greatest music genres, standing tall in terms of culture and business. However, what was the journey like? Let’s look at the evolution of Hip-hop music.
Hip-hop Music
Although currently ruling all over the world as a music genre, Hip-hop is so much more than just a musical style. It is a cultural movement incorporating different elements of music and art. Four foundational elements characterize Hip-hop culture. These are DJing or turntablism, MCing or rapping, B-boying or breaking, and visual or graffiti art. The intersection of these elements resulted in a cultural revolution that quickly spread all around the world. Hip-hop culture’s global influence has shaped fashion, art, technology, entertainment, dance, education, media, politics, and most importantly, music. This is why, to this day, the global phenomenon that Hip-hop created in the 1980s continues to get bigger and bigger.
Origins of Hip-hop Music
Hip-hop is like a subculture that as an art movement emerged during the early 1970s from the Bronx in New York City. Its development at the time reflected the negative impacts of political discourse, post-industrial decline, and a swiftly changing economy.
If we take a look at New York in this era, we would see an immediate economic collapse. Due to the decline of the manufacturing industry and the construction of the Cross Bronx Expressway, the city’s economy was rapidly falling. Many businesses closed their doors as well. In the meantime, the abandoned buildings and parking lots created the stage for block parties around the city. These block parties were everything that drove the early hip-hop culture. By setting up mobile, DJs and MCs brought the music to these block parties, influenced by the Jamaican culture. The brick walls turned to canvases for graffiti artists and the sheets of cardboard became dance floors for break-dancers, giving birth to the hip-hop culture we know of.
Pioneers of Hip-hop
Several people played major roles in creating and then spreading the Hip-hop culture. However, in the early stages, the most notable people were Kool Herc, AfrikaBambaataa, and Grandmaster Flash. These three creators are known as the “Holy Trinity” of Hip-hop.
- DJ Kool Herc
DJ Kool Herc was a Jamaican immigrant who is known as the founding father of Hip-hop in America. When in 1973, he and his sister hosted the “Back to School Jam” in the Bronx apartment building, he created history. This party is known for launching the Hip-hop movement in the music industry. Herc was also the one who introduced the “breakbeat” DJ technique. This is a mixing practice that Herc adopted from Jamaican dub music. Herc named this breakbeat juggling style of DJing “The Merry-Go-Round” where would play two copies of the same track and then switch between them. He did extend the percussive section, also known as the break. Kool Herc was also the one who helped develop the rhythmic spoken delivery of wordplay and rhymes performed by MCs.
- AfrikaBambaataa
An influential figure who emerged from New York City’s Hip-hop culture was AfrikaBambaataa, also known as “The Godfather.” he was a music producer and a DJ who organized Hip-hop parties in the 1970s New York. Not just Hip-hop, Bambaataa was also a visionary who guided the city’s youth away from gang life, violence, and drugs. He formed a music-oriented organization, Universal Zulu Nation, encouraging unity and peace through the expression of the Hip-hop culture. Bambaataa was also the one who categorized DJing, breakdancing, rapping, and visual art as the “four elements” of Hip-hop. Later in 1982, Soul Sonic Force and Bambaataa released “Planet Rock”, which is considered one of the most influential rap and Hip-hop songs of all time. Bambaataa showed a new, unique style in this track. Instead of rapping all over the funk beats, he sampled Kraftwerk, used the Roland TR-808 drum machine, and created an electronic sound. This song popularized the TR-808, becoming a staple in the Hip-hop industry.
- Grandmaster Flash
Another most noted, and innovative DJ from the Bronx, New York City was Grandmaster Flash. He was the first DJ who manipulated records in a forward, backward, or counterclockwise motion. Several distinct DJing techniques like cutting, scratching, backspin, and punch phrasing, yeah, did invent those too. In 1976, he organized a group called Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five. The group was then acknowledged widely as one of the most influential hip-hop acts of all time. The group has various influential songs such as ‘The Message’ which solidified rap as a genre. The lyrics in the track were a notable shift from the early hip-hop’s traditional rhythmic chants as they detailed the reality of the ghetto. The group also became the first hip-hop act inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2007.
Technology in early Hip-hop
Then came the 1980s which turned out to be a vital turning point for Hip-hop. Various musical instruments like samplers, drum machines, and Synthesizers became cheaper and, hence more accessible. The weapon of choice was Roland’s iconic TR-808 drum machine. Instead of getting help from DJs and music producers, artists could now create original drum patterns. During the 1980s, the sampling technology was also introduced to the Hip-hop industry. DJs started experimenting with samplers and piecing together breaks in songs. They also allowed producers to perform, rearrange sections, sequence arrangements, edit, and mix music in new and different ways. These were the production methods that set the stage for remixing.
Hip-hop: The Golden Age
Hip-hop spread all over the country in full force during the mid-1980s and the early 1990s. This brought an era that significantly transformed hip-hop culture, and this new era became known as “the golden age of hip-hop.” we could see a literal explosion of influence, innovation, diversity, and most, importantly, mainstream success. Record labels soon recognized Hip-hop as an emerging trend and started investing quite a lot of money into this cultural movement. Independent record labels like Prism Records, Def Jam, and Tommy Boy became widely successful. New styles also emerged within the Hip-hop community and started to take over the industry, making the genre as a whole more popular.
One of the most significant characteristics of hip hop’s golden age was definitely the heavy use of sampled music. At that time, there were copyright laws that protected earlier music from being sampled. So, artists could sample from different music styles and sources without any legal troubles. Artists would sample from a wide range of different music styles and genres, from rock music to jazz. Moreover, this sampling was not limited to music, R.Z.A. of the Wu-Tang Clan used samples of sound clips from his collection of 1970s Kung Fu films.
Soon the development was seen in the lyrical content as well. The rhythmic chants progressed into metaphorical lyrics that explored a wide array of subjects. Hip-hop artists such as Melle Mel, KRS-One, Rakim, Chuck D, and Warp 9 were great contributors who advanced lyrics and rapping. Soon a wave of new school rappers entered the scene and made Hip-hop mainstream. RUN DMC, a hip-hop trio that combined hard rock and rap was at the forefront. Some other innovative artists of the golden age of Hip-hop were A Tribe Called Quest, L.L. Cool J, the Beastie Boys, and many more.
Hip-hop Culture: Sampling and Copyright Laws
As mentioned before, rap music used sampling heavily in the 1990s. The original copyright owners of the music which were sampled later heard the songs everywhere, they did not like other artists using their work for money. So, they wanted compensation for their work. The government passed several copyright enforcement laws after many legal actions. This required artists to clear all samples in advance to avoid any further lawsuits. However, this process of clearing samples was expensive and record labels could not do it with all the samples. This forced music producers to find another way and they created original sound. Producers started to reply to original beats rather than relying on the sampled works from earlier days. As a result, we got original music from Hip-hop artists but lost the influence of rock and jazz music.
Hip-hop: the 21st Century and The Online Culture
In the early 2000s, the creative center of Hip-hop moved to South America. We saw several New Orleans-based artists and their success that influenced this decision. There were also two new record companies such as Cash Money and No Limit Records. At this time, we saw Dr. Dre emerging as one of the most influential figures of modern Hip-hop. His protégé Eminem soon became one of the most world-famous rappers with the success of 8 Mile (2002). With Eminem, Dr. Dre supported 50 Cent. Even though in the later years, Dr. Dre focused on founding an electronics company, Eminem featured Kendrick Lamar, another emerging talent in his third album, proving Dre’s status as hip-hop’s kingmaker.
Dr. Dre’s legacy continued and made Hip-hop a producer’s medium in the 21st century. This era saw some of the biggest innovations as the work with Timbaland, Swizz Beatz, and the Neptunes. Then, in the first decade of the 21st century, we saw the emergence of several new talents including Ludacris, Common, 50 Cent, and Wu-Tang Clan member RZA. Many of the genre’s early icons like LL Cool J, Ice Cube, Queen Latifah, and Ice-T also established themselves in the industry as well as in television and mainstream media. However, in recent times, none represents Hip-hop’s cultural triumph better than JAY-Z. His career growth saw the artist go from performing artist to label president, head of a clothing line, club owner, and even a market consultant. As one of Jay-Z’s producers, Chicago-born Kanye West emerged to be one of the greatest rappers of recent times.
In the 2010s, the creative center was no longer a physical space, but the internet. Media streaming services like SoundCloud allow artists to post records online, making them accessible to all users. SoundCloud rap became the hip-hop of Generation Z, where mumble rap and gangsta rap emerged as new styles.
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