Rap and Hip Hop
“I’m fascinated by rap and by hip- hop. I think there’s a lot of poetry in it. There’s a lot of anger, a lot of social energy in it. And I think you’d better listen to it pretty carefully, ‘cause it’s important.” – John F. Kerry
Hip Hop: cultural movement which is focused mainly on the rap style of music Style includes DJ’ing, break dancing, graffiti art, and rapping
What are the elements of hip hop? Deejaying Emceeing Break dancing Graffiti Beat boxing
Hip hop music was influenced by disco, and was also a fight against disco Early hip hop wanted to show a separation between the two styles
The first big rap single was “Rapper’s Delight” by Sugarhill Gang in 1979 Great commercial success Technically a hip hop song
new wave white band, Blondie- made “Rapture” Afrika Bambaataa- released “Planet Rock”
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five- “The Message” Conscious rap- mature art form
early records of Run- DMC and LL Cool J New school of hip hop Drum machine-led minimalism Influences from rock music Socio-political commentary
Delivered in an aggressive, self- assertive style Made shorter songs than old school hip hop/rap By 1986 they were a part of the mainstream
“Fight For Your Right” by Beastie Boys Licensed to Ill, huge commercial success First rap album to hit #1 on Billboard charts
“Walk This Way” by Run-DMC Run-DMC soon became the first rap band to be featured regularly on MTV
Salt-n-Pepa: first female rap group to hit it big “The Show Stoppa”
"In my death, people will understand what I was talking about." – Tupac Shakur
Tupac Shakur- rap and philosophy were inspired from the social atrocities faced by blacks. Rapped about police brutality, poverty, racism, and social abuse
“I’m 23 years old. I might just be my mother’s child, but in all reality, I’m everybody’s child. Nobody raised me; I was raised in this society.” Tupac Shakur
Rolling Stone Magazine has declared Tupac as the 6 th immortal artist of all time- amongst a list of 100 other artists including Elvis Presley and John Lennon
“Gangsta Rap” emerged in the late 1980’s, going into the 1990’s Ice-T, N.W.A. were well known names under this type Gangsta Rap was criticized for references to vandalism, drug use, social vices
Poetry in the rap songs during this time started to fade- starting instead to be more influenced by materialism and commercialism
Reflects violent lifestyles of inner- city American black youths “6 in the Mornin’” is often considered to be the first gangsta rap song in 1986
NWA is frequently associated with gangsta rap Lyrics were violent, openly confrontational, shocking, featured profanity Lyrics were placed over rock guitar driven beats Hard edged feel
Depicted an outlaw lifestyle of sex, drugs, and violence in inner city America N.W.A. “Straight Outta Compton” 1988 caused controversy- violent attitudes and inspired protests (even from the F.B.I.!)
Attempts to censor it just made it more attractive to both black and white youth Dr. Dre, Ice Cube, Eazy-E started off in NWA
Since the 1980’s rap music has influenced both the black and white culture Slang of hip hop- dis, fly, def, chill, wack all became standard parts of vocabulary Rap functioned as a voice for a community without access to mainstream media