Since its evolution throughout the South Bronx, hip hop culture has spread to both urban and suburban communities throughout the world.[13] Hip hop music first emerged with Kool Herc and contemporary disc jockeys and imitators creating rhythmic beats by looping breaks (small portions of songs emphasizing a percussive pattern) on two turntables. This was later accompanied by "rap", a rhythmic style of chanting or poetry often presented in 16-bar measures or time frames, and beatboxing, a vocal technique mainly used to provide percussive elements of music and various technical effects of hip hop DJs.[citation needed] An original form of dancing and particular styles of dress arose among fans of this new music. These elements were adapted and developed considerably over the history of the culture.
Hip hop is simultaneously a new and old phenomenon; the importance of sampling to the art form means that much of the culture has revolved around the idea of updating classic recordings, attitudes, and experiences for modern audiences—called "flipping" within the culture. It follows in the footsteps of earlier American musical genres such as blues, salsa, jazz, and rock and roll in having become one of the most practiced genres of music in existence worldwide, and also takes additional inspiration regularly from soul music, funk, and rhythm and blues
Etymology
Keith "Cowboy" Wiggins, a member of Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, has been credited with coining the term[14] in 1978 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. Cowboy later worked the "hip hop" cadence into
his stage performance.[15][16]
The group frequently performed with disco artists who would refer to
this new type of music by calling them "hip hoppers". The name was
originally meant as a sign of disrespect, but soon came to identify this
new music and culture.
History
In the 1970s, an underground urban movement known as "Hip Hop" began to develop in the South Bronx in New York City. It focused on emceeing (or MCing), breakbeats, and house parties. Jamaican-born DJ Clive "Kool Herc" Campbell was highly influential in the pioneering stage of hip hop music. Beginning at Kool Herc's home in a high-rise apartment at 1520 Sedgwick Avenue, the movement later spread across the entire borough.[21] Herc created the blueprint for hip hop music and culture by building upon the Jamaican tradition of impromptu toasting, boastful poetry and speech over music.[22]This became emceeing—the rhythmic spoken delivery of rhymes and wordplay, delivered over a beat or without accompaniment—taking inspiration from the rapping derived from African American-style toasting. The basic elements of hip hop—boasting raps, rival posses, uptown throw-downs, and political commentary—were all present in African American music, moved back and forth between the predominance of boasting and toasting songs packed with 'slackness' and sexual innuendo and a more topical, political, 'conscious' style.
Melle Mel, a rapper-lyricist with The Furious Five, is often credited with being the first rap lyricist to call himself an "MC".
DJs such as Grand Wizard Theodore, Grandmaster Flash, and Jazzy Jay refined and developed the use of breakbeats, including cutting and scratching.[26] The approach used by Herc was soon widely copied, and by the late 1970s, DJs were releasing 12-inch records where they would rap to the beat. Popular tunes included Kurtis Blow's "The Breaks" and The Sugarhill Gang's "Rapper's Delight".[27] Herc and other DJs would connect their equipment to power lines and perform at venues such as public basketball courts and at 1520 Sedgwick Avenue, Bronx, New York, now officially a historic building.[28] The equipment consisted of numerous speakers, turntables, and one or more microphones.[29] By using this technique, DJs could create a variety of music, but according to Rap Attack by David Toop “At its worst the technique could turn the night into one endless and inevitably boring song”.[30] Nevertheless, the popularity of rap steadily increased.
Street gangs were prevalent in the poverty of the South Bronx, and much of the graffiti, rapping, and b-boying at these parties were all artistic variations on the competition and one-upmanship of street gangs. Sensing that gang members' often violent urges could be turned into creative ones, Afrika Bambaataa founded the Zulu Nation, a loose confederation of street-dance crews, graffiti artists, and rap musicians. By the late 1970s, the culture had gained media attention, with Billboard magazine printing an article titled "B Beats Bombarding Bronx", commenting on the local phenomenon and mentioning influential figures such as Kool Herc.[31]
The New York City blackout of 1977 was what allowed hiphop culture to expand. Initially the African-American community could not afford expensive music making equipment, but then came the blackout. The blackout had widespread looting, arson, and other citywide disorders especially in the Bronx where hiphop began.[32] During the blackout, a number of looters stole DJ equipment from electronics stores. As a result, the hip hop genre, barely known outside of the Bronx at the time, grew at an astounding rate from 1977 onward.[33]
In late 1979, Debbie Harry of Blondie took Nile Rodgers of Chic to such an event, as the main backing track used was the break from Chic's "Good Times".[27] The new style influenced Harry, and Blondie's later hit single from 1981 "Rapture" became the first major single containing hip hop elements by a white group or artist to hit number one on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100—the song itself is usually considered new wave and fuses heavy pop music elements, but there is an extended rap by Harry near the end.
Hip hop as a culture was further defined in 1982, when Afrika Bambaataa and the Soulsonic Force released the electro-funk track "Planet Rock". Instead of simply rapping over disco beats, Bambaataa with producer Arthur Baker created an electronic sound, taking advantage of the rapidly improving drum machine Roland TR-808 synthesizer technology, as well as sampling from Kraftwerk.[34] Planet Rock is widely regarded as a turning point; fusing electro with hip hop, was "like a light being switched on," resulting in a new genre. [35] Other groundbreaking records released in 1982 were The Message by Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, Nunk by Warp 9, Man Parrish's "Hip Hop, Be Bop (Don't Stop)]," Whodini's "Magic Wand," and Malcom McClaren's "Buffalo Gals." In 1983, Hashim created the influential electro funk tune "Al-Naafiysh (The Soul)," while Warp 9's "Light Years Away"(1983), "a cornerstone of early 80s beat box afrofuturism," produced by Lotti Golden and Richard Scher, introduced socially conscious themes from a Sci-Fi perspective, paying homage to music pioneer Sun Ra. [36]
Encompassing graffiti art, MCing/rapping, DJing and b-boying, hip hop became the dominant cultural movement of the minority-populated urban communities in the 1980s.[37] The 1980s also saw many artists make social statements through hip hop. In 1982, Melle Mel and Duke Bootee recorded "The Message" (officially credited to Grandmaster Flash and The Furious Five),[38] a song that foreshadowed the socially conscious statements of Run-DMC's "It's like That" and Public Enemy's "Black Steel in the Hour of Chaos".[39] During the 1980s, hip hop also embraced the creation of rhythm by using the human body, via the vocal percussion technique of beatboxing. Pioneers such as Doug E. Fresh,[40] Biz Markie and Buffy from the Fat Boys made beats, rhythm, and musical sounds using their mouth, lips, tongue, voice, and other body parts. "Human Beatbox" artists would also sing or imitate turntablism scratching or other instrument sounds.
The appearance of music videos changed entertainment: they often glorified urban neighborhoods.[41] The music video for "Planet Rock" showcased the subculture of hip hop musicians, graffiti artists, and b-boys/b-girls. Many hip hop-related films were released between 1982 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 1984, youth worldwide were embracing the hip hop culture. The hip hop artwork and "slang" of US urban communities quickly found its way to Europe, as the culture's global appeal took root.[citation needed] The four traditional dances of hip-hop are rocking, b-boying/b-girling, locking and popping, all of which trace their origins to the late 1960s or early 1970s.[42] Women artists have also been at the forefront of the hip hop movement since its inception in the Bronx. Negation of female voice and perspective is a theme that defines mainstream hip-hop; the recording industry is less willing to back female artists than their male counterparts, and when it does back them, it often emphasizes their sexuality over their musical substance.[43] Since the turn of the century, female hip hop artists have struggled to get mainstream attention. Several produced platinum albums in the decade to 2003, when Lil' Kim achieved the feat. Since then the only one to achieve platinum has been rapper Nicki Minaj.
Breaking
Breaking, an early form of hip hop dance, often involves battles, showing off technical skills as well as displaying tongue-in-cheek bravado.
According to the 2002 documentary film The Freshest Kids: A History of the B-Boy, DJ Kool Herc describes the "B" in B-boy as short for breaking, which at the time was slang for "going off", also one of the original names for the dance. However, early on the dance was known as the "boing" (the sound a spring makes). Dancers at DJ Kool Herc's parties, who saved their best dance moves for the break section of the song, getting in front of the audience to dance in a distinctive, frenetic style. The "B" in B-boy also stands simply for break, as in break-boy (or girl). Breaking was documented in Style Wars, and was later given more focus in fictional films such as Wild Style and Beat Street. Early acts include the Rock Steady Crew and New York City Breakers
Effects
A b-boy performing in San Francisco
