The roots of hip hop and rap go farther back than one might expect. For centuries, Africans have instilled a keen sense of rhythm and soul into their music no matter what form it took - schoolyard double dutch rhymes, testifying, and beat poetry were all influences on rap. In the 1970’s, the airwaves were overrun with disco. The only escape for people who wanted to dance but not like idiots while doing it was the early funk movement (ex. Ohio Players with their album Honey, and Parliament with their album Gloryhallastoopid). The place: 1520 Sedgwick Avenue in the South Bronx, New York. Who: Clive Campbell aka DJ Kool Herc. Herc noticed that dancers enjoyed the instrumental breaks of soul, funk, and reggae songs the best, so he invented a way
…show more content…
“Yo, this is Kool Herc in the joint-ski, sayin’ my mellow-ski, Marky D is in the house!”). This quickly evolved, and soon Herc brought in the first MC team, The Herculoids, to take on the MC duties. Rap and hip hop culture remained an underground phenomenon for a few years, with no formal releases by any hip hop pioneers (save for mix tapes passed around by early fans) until The Fatback Three who released the first official rap record, “King Tim III”. The floodgates were opened, and releases by early pioneers and innovators like Grand Master Flash flew off the shelves. In 1983, in Hollis, Queens, Run DMC released their single “It’s Like That/ Sucker M.C.’s”. Before that time, rap had been funk and disco …show more content…
DJ Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince) to what was dominating the airwaves at the time (ex. Poison and Guns and Roses). In the meantime, unbeknownst to many, some artists took notes from artists like Ice T, and were depicting the cold, grim reality of the urban decay they experienced on a regular basis. The seed for the coming “gangsta rap” trend had also been planted. N.W.A achieved early street cred by becoming the target of an official FBI investigation over their song “Fuck Tha Police!” The thin line between art and reality in rap’s lyrics was the subject of much debate, and this trend continue well into the 90’s with Live Crew being forced to release two versions of their controversial album “As Nasty As They Wanna Be”. (The original album cover had exposed women’s butt’s; the second version had copy over the women’s rear ends.) Despite these developments, including the continued success of Run DMC, the Beastie Boys,and the eventual recognition of rap by MTV, rap was considered by many to still be “just a fad” until Vanilla Ice and MC Hammer blasted onto the scene. They watered down rap’s urgency and potential for deeper social meaning just enough to release two surprisingly catchy singles - rap had finally arrived. Rap seemed to finally be winning it’s nearly 20-year battle for recognition. Rap was now being taken more seriously as it began to appear in commercials, TV theme songs (ex. The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air), and Weird Al
“Yo, this is Kool Herc in the joint-ski, sayin’ my mellow-ski, Marky D is in the house!”). This quickly evolved, and soon Herc brought in the first MC team, The Herculoids, to take on the MC duties. Rap and hip hop culture remained an underground phenomenon for a few years, with no formal releases by any hip hop pioneers (save for mix tapes passed around by early fans) until The Fatback Three who released the first official rap record, “King Tim III”. The floodgates were opened, and releases by early pioneers and innovators like Grand Master Flash flew off the shelves. In 1983, in Hollis, Queens, Run DMC released their single “It’s Like That/ Sucker M.C.’s”. Before that time, rap had been funk and disco …show more content…
DJ Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince) to what was dominating the airwaves at the time (ex. Poison and Guns and Roses). In the meantime, unbeknownst to many, some artists took notes from artists like Ice T, and were depicting the cold, grim reality of the urban decay they experienced on a regular basis. The seed for the coming “gangsta rap” trend had also been planted. N.W.A achieved early street cred by becoming the target of an official FBI investigation over their song “Fuck Tha Police!” The thin line between art and reality in rap’s lyrics was the subject of much debate, and this trend continue well into the 90’s with Live Crew being forced to release two versions of their controversial album “As Nasty As They Wanna Be”. (The original album cover had exposed women’s butt’s; the second version had copy over the women’s rear ends.) Despite these developments, including the continued success of Run DMC, the Beastie Boys,and the eventual recognition of rap by MTV, rap was considered by many to still be “just a fad” until Vanilla Ice and MC Hammer blasted onto the scene. They watered down rap’s urgency and potential for deeper social meaning just enough to release two surprisingly catchy singles - rap had finally arrived. Rap seemed to finally be winning it’s nearly 20-year battle for recognition. Rap was now being taken more seriously as it began to appear in commercials, TV theme songs (ex. The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air), and Weird Al