Hip Hop Music originated in the African-American communities of New York in the 1970’s. It emerged as an alternative to the disco music that had monopolized the radio waves. It began in the “Block parties” of the African-American Communities of New York where DJs were playing a mix of disco, funk, and soul music. These DJs started to isolate and extend the percussion breaks of songs by using an audio mixer and two records, thus increasing the most danceable parts of these hit songs. This technique known as “dub music” was already common in Jamaica and was introduced to New York by Jamaican immigrants. Later, mixing and scratching techniques were added to the original mixing.
The major distinguishing characteristic of Hip Hop Music is its lyricism and non-tonal features of speech in the vocalizations. The use of abstract rhythms and syncopation and a novel use of technology are other characteristics that set this type of music apart from previous genres. Hip hop became popular in the 1980’s and reached international popularity by the 2000’s. DJ Kool Herc and Grandmaster Flash are among the first players of Hip Hop music.
By the early 1980’s, singers known as MCs started singing in sync with the beats. These singers came to be known as “rappers” and the first group to gain fame was the Herculoids. This group consisted of Herc, Clark Kent, and Coke La Rock. Subsequently, groups of MCs came together in various parts of the country and performed for hours at a time. They gradually introduced brief rhymes into their vocal and rhythmic performances. Some of these rhymes had sexual or violent themes.
Hip Hop Music reached the peak of its popularity in 1986 with the release of Run-D.M.C.’s album, “Raising Hell”. Most major groups of this period were based in New York and were signed to small independent record companies such as Def-Jam Recordings. Some of the biggest rappers of this period of Hip Hop music are Big Daddy Kane and Cool G Rap. Another important figure is Rakim from the duo Eric B & Rakim. In 1984, Ice-T released the album ‘Killers” with political undertones. In 1986, the group Public Enemy released an album with a political theme called: “It Takes A Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back”. Later that year, the album “By All Means Necessary” was released by Boogie Down Productions. These records confirmed a political presence in this genre of music. In that same year, the first Grammy Award in Rap Music was won by the duo DJ Dazzy Jeff and Fresh Prince. The presentation of this award was not televised and resulted in protests by Rap artists against the Grammy Awards.
By the late 1980’s artists like Native Tongues Posse introduced albums based on jazz and incorporating political lyrics on various topics. This led to the release of “Low End Theory” by A Tribe Called Quest in 1991 which is considered to be the best Hip Hop album ever. In fact John Bush of Allmusic calls it: “one of the closest and most brilliant fusions of jazz atmosphere and hip hop attitude ever recorded.”
With the increasing popularity of Hip Hop Music, new styles and sub-genres began to appear. Hip Hop merged with a number of music styles such as reggae, techno, and Rock resulted in styles such as alternative rap and jazz rap. The first influential black female group, Salt-N-Pepa released its hit single, “The Show Stoppa”, in 1985.
The following year, Ice-T released “6n The Mornin” which has come to be considered as the origin of Gagsta Rap. Many other singles released by West Coast recording companies fall under this category. 50 Cent, Snoopy Doggy Dog, and Tupac Shakur are the most popular performers of this style. With the release of “The Chronic” by Dr. Dre, Gangsta Rap gained mainstream popularity. With the deaths of Tupac Shakur and Notorious B.I. G., Hip Hop’s association with violence became more evident and led to efforts to eliminate violence from this popular genre of music.
Today, there is a consensus among critics that the Golden Age of Hip Hop music was in the 1990’s and it has been on a descending path ever since those years. At its peak, Hip Hop was among the most popular types of music, not only in this country, but all over the world. Most recently, it has come under attack because if its misogynistic undertones and the use of self-derogatory racial slurs.
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