Rap Music: The Problem Child of Hip Hop

See Dec 28th readings: Google Book and Michael Ralph Hip Hop Article

Disagree with Michael Ralph agrument that Hip-Hop generated after rap. I agree with the general timeline of when rap began. Rap music is merely tha problem child of Hip Hop. It started off as a good things, but all good things go astray sometimes.

Crys' Hall of Fame

Dumb it Down

Artist of the Intersession: Talib Kweli

History of Hip Hop

When people think of hip-hop, they tend to think of struggle behind it. But what is the root of this struggle? According to Jeff Chang in his book Can’t Stop, Won’t Stop, the root of the struggle can be traced back all the way to the building of the Cross-Bronx Expressway in 1959. Robert Moses was responsible for disrupting the lives of over 60,000 residents who’s lives dwelled in the pathway of the expressway. The construction of this road is responsible for the exodus of middle class families and businesses leaving behind the poor black and Hispanic families. Because these families were legally discriminated against, they became trapped in the ghetto of south Bronx. These families were left with crime, addiction, unemployment and a voice no one wanted to hear.

Despite the deaf ears, people in South Bronx began to find their voice through music. In 1973 Clive Campbell, DJ Kool Herc deejays the first block party in the Bronx at his sister’s birthday. DJ Kool Herc became the first to experiment with breakbeats and is also credited with being the father of hip hop. Following his lead, others such as Afrika Bambaataa, Grandmaster Flash, and Grandmaster Caz also began DJ’ing at house parties. Not only does this year give rise to breakbeats, but graffiti tagging as well.

In 1974 Afrika Bambaataa creates the Universial Zulu Nation, which consists of DJs, graffiti artists and dancers. It was in this year, the term hip-hop was coined.

In 1975, the art of DJ’ing continued to develop with more experimentation and even mere accidents. Grandmaster Flash established mixing. This was different from what DJ Kool Herc did because instead of extending breakbeats from the same song, Grandmaster Flash connected different songs during breaks. DJ Grand Wizard Theodore accidently invented “scratching”. Scratching consists of nudging a record while it’s playing. He discovered this sound when he held a record while trying to listen to his mom yell at him.

The late 1970s and 1980s proved to be explosive. What began as an underground art form slowly started making its way above ground and started gaining a larger audience. In 1978 hip-hop started breaking into mainstream media when the music industry coined the term “rap music”.  The very next year Sugar Hill Gang releases “Rapper’s Delight”, the first commercial rap recording and Kurtis Blow became the first rapper to be signed to a major record deal and 1980, he became the first rapper to appear on national TV when performed on Soul Train. In 1981, Funky 4 Plus One More becomes the first hip-hop group to perform on national television when they performed “That’s the Joint” on Saturday Night Live. The Beastie Boys was also created in this year.

Today we know that hip-hop doesn’t just have holds in America, but has a firm grip world-wide. This firm world-wide grip can be credited to the first international hip-hop concert in 1982. Artists apart of this tour included Afrika Bambaata, Fab 5 Freddy and the Double Dutch Girls

1984 saw the creation of Dej Jam records, established by Russell Simmons and Rick Rubin. From it’s inception, hip-hop grew out of an outlet of experimentation. As hip-hop matured it became more focused on social issues. This is evident with the creation of the politically charged hip-hop group Public Enemy is created in 1987. In 1988, YO! MTV Raps airs on MTV and N.W.A releases Straight Out of Compton. In 1989 friends promoting afrocentricity formed a Tribe Called Quest. Also in this year, rap music its own Grammy category. The presentations of this award were not aired on television.

The year of 1990 was important because it addressed the free speech of hip-hop. 2 Live Crew was arrested for lewdness at a Miami concert and their album As Nasty as They Wanna Be was banned for sale in Florida. According to members of 2 Live Crew, the album had approximately 270 cuss words. The crew would later be found not guilty.

In 1994 Common releases Resurrection. This album included the controversial song “I Used to Love Her”. This song is controversial because it is credited with the rift that was created between the East coast and the West Coast.

In 1974 Afrika Bambaata defines the elements of hip-hop as DJing, breakdancing, graffiti art and MCing. These four elements still exist and are still the voice of the artists for the same reason they were during hip-hops birth: outlet of expression.

It’s important to understand the timeline to understand the history of hip-hop. To fully appreciate and critique the present form of hip-hop, one must understand the history.

President of Hip Hop

Yesterday in class, we were asked to give our opinion on the outlook of hip-hop. I said that I felt that hip-hop was in a dire state and need some fixing. A student then turned to me and asked, how would I like to see the culture of hip-hop ran. Last night, I went to bed just a plain student in Professor Flippin-Wynn’s Evolution of Hip-Hop Medium class and woke up the president of Hip-Hop.

President- Crys Giles (Me)

Vice President- Erykah Badu

Speaker of the House- Lauyn Hill

Secretary of State- Lupe Fiasco

Secretary of the Treasury- Wu Tang Clan “C.R.E.A.M”

Secretary of Defense- T.I. (he obviously has the weapons to fulfill the job)

Attorney General- Jay Z

Secretary of Rhymes- Lil Wayne

Secretary of Graffiti- Have yet to be appointed

Secretary of Break Dancing- Have yet to be appointed

In my world of hip-hop things would be a little different than what you see today. In my world of hip-hop you would see the conscious rappers being considered mainstream, and the mainstream rappers would be considered underground rappers.

Conscious rappers are lyrical rappers whose rhymes are concerned with the political, economical, and social uplift of the people. Mainstream refers to the commodity of the airplay of rappers and their songs. Mainstream rappers refer to rappers who receive a lot of popularity, but their songs are lyrically empty. Rappers who insist that they rap about sexist, misogynistic, and violent topics would receive limited airplay. I would encourage rappers to rap about other things, but I would never tell rappers that they couldn’t rap about certain topics. This is because in my world of hip-hop, freedom of speech would be highly valued.

Also in my world of hip-hop, there would be HIP-HOP World Art Institutes. These institutes would give guidance to young people and artists and serve as think tanks to further develop the art of hip-hop. Just like you see skate boarding parks, there would be parks devoted to break-dancing, graffit, spoken word, battles, etc.

Most importantly in my world of hip-hop, there would be more female emcees, and they would be RESPECTED!

Hip Hop...What's That?

The main problem with understanding hip-hop is that people tend to misunderstand it. Most people use the term hip-hop and rap music interchangeably. This common mistake limits people from experiencing the beautiful culture of what hip-hop actually is.

From the undergrounds of the south, the ghettos of the Bronx, the white suburbs, to way across the globe to the different dialectic communities of Asia, hip-hop is a culture that embodies everything from music, dance, fashion, word choice, etc. What began as an idea for a way to have a good time erupted into a movement that took the world by storm.

In Common’s song “I Used to Love Her”, he metaphorically compares the world of hip-hop to a woman. This woman used to have “so much soul” but now she “on some dumb shit”. This is because she had been led astray by entertainers looking to make a quick buck by flashy gimmicks. This analysis of hip-hop is slightly sad for two reasons. The first reason is hip-hop emerged on the scene in the early 80s. Although the song appears to be describing a prolonged degradation that has only recently reached its breaking point, this song was released in August 1994. This analysis is sad because it depicts such a rapid degradation of what African Americans did to their own community regardless if it was the blame of the West coast or the East coast. The second reason why Common’s analysis is sad is because it depicts the lives of so many black women. Furthermore, hip-hop showcases this degradation on their stage of rap videos. These videos objectify women and broadcast the message that it’s okay because there is money to be made.

So if that was the state of hip-hop then, the only logical explanation 16 years later is for hip-hop to be dead lying in a gutter somewhere right? No. Hip-hop, while not as soulful as it once was, has transgressed races, cultures, gender, etc. It will continue to live as a reflection of the people it represents. However, I truly believe that hip-hop is only as strong as its mother, the black community, which needs serious nursing back to health.