Hip Hop Genres

As hip hop began to gain popularity, it started to include people beyond poor urban neighborhoods. As this occurred, new members of the hip hop generation struggled to define themselves beyond the slums. Although it was the birthplace of hip hop, it was dangerously misleading to allow society to continue to perceive hip hop as the child of neglect, poverty, and suffering. Though by no means an collective response to outsider views, songs attempting to define hip hop began to appear. From “We Rap More Mellow” to “Damn it feels good to be a gangster, 13 years pass (1979-92), but the ideology expressed in the lyrics remains thematically the same, in hoping to redefine hip hop and what it means to be member of

“Hip hop: Beyond Beats and Rhyme” (2006), by Byron Hurt is a documentary which tells the hidden side of a today’s Hip Hop culture. The documentary was made in 2006 in the United States by a lifelong hip hop fun and lover Byron Hurt, who realized that each hip hop video has something nearly identical; therefore he decided to make a documentary based on music, politics of hip hop and its culture.

As detailed in Can’t Stop Won’t Stop, hip-hop was born through the explosion of creativity within America’s forgotten youth. The music spoke to the individuals in these forgotten communities. The music had a purpose and illuminated the political issues of the time. Sadly, over time, the increasing commodification of hip-hop as an art has gradually altered the audience of the music. As the audience has slowly changed, the meaning of some of the music has also changed. Capitalism has had a dual effect on hip hop; it has made hip hop “successful,” in that it spread it throughout the world and made it lots of money. On the other hand, it has distorted the original political nature of hip-hop. With that said, how has this change in hip-hop affected the purpose and audience of the art?

Hip Hop started as early as August 11, 1973 in South Bronx, New York. By it’s founders a sound engineer DJ Kool Herc and a rapper named Coke La Rock. It was actually created on accident, because Dj Kool Herc and Coke La Rock were just messing around. They notice that what they created was very creative and artistic. From that day Hip Hop has evolved and molded into what is now. Moreover, it has become today’s most recent form of music, because of various artist that have each left they unique lyrics to the Hip Hop world.

In the article “Hip-Hop Planet” by James McBride he explains first about the nightmare he has of his daughter coming home with a young reckless rapper guy with tattoos and golden teeth and McBride for a moment is taken back to the past when he was young and it comes to thought that he was in this young wanna be rappers shoes. As he goes on with life he contemplates of how his rap days are over but in time he comes to realize that he himself will still be surrounded with the cool beat sound of one rapper explaining his everyday hard life. James first time hearing hip-hop was at a party, and it escalated when one of James friend slapped a big guy who crashed the party followed by two other friends and what was strange was these guys differed

I have recently read your article “Hip Hop Planet” where you discussed the global impact of hip hop. During your introduction, you expressed your nightmare where it revealed your fears, and values. You evinced that rap, which changed the world, now rules the world which left you feeling behind and uncomfortable; a stranger to it. You experienced a nightmare vision where your daughter fell in love and married a stereotypical thuggish rapper, which caused you to rethink your ideas of hip hop. You experienced hip hop right as it started to originate, and as a result, unknowingly influenced you throughout the rest of your life. After 26 years of fleeing from hip hop, you regretfully realized that you had missed out on the most significant cultural event that took place in your lifetime. Although initially

Clive Campbell, better known as DJ Kool Herc, created hip-hop at a Halloween party in the Bronx of New York City in 1973. After noticing positive reactions from the crowd, DJ Kool Herc used a groundbreaking turntable technique to elongate the drum breaks in songs (Blanchard). The success of extended drum breaks caused many DJ’s around New York to use DJ Kool Herc’s technique. The technique led the birth of hip-hop music. During hip-hop songs, party hosts, better known as MC’s, told personal stories and expressed viewpoints

The birth of hip hop took place in the Bronx, New York , during a time of poverty , Initially when Hip Hop first came about no one would have imagined how vastly and quickly it grew nor would they have predicted the influence on society it has today. This particular enriched and animated, genre of music went from the local backwoods of the projects to a multi millionaire industry. If you ask most people today their definition of Hip Hop , generally they would say a cool rhyming scheme with a hook and a catchy tune, which is not too far off. But it is much deeper than that .Hip hop is a form of expression like a factory , if you may . You take the reality of the world or the “ bad,” you ball it around with the latest slang, trends and

Hip Hop is a culture that connects the audience to the performer, or rapper, by moving the crowd through the tradition of the music, art such as graffiti, and dances such as break dancing and pop-locking. The early days of Hip Hop began in the late 1970s with artists such as Kurtis Blow and Afrika Bambaataa. Hip Hop originated in the Bronx and has spread throughout New York City before it roam across the United States. Since then, additional Hip Hop pioneers such as Run-D.M.C. emerged and stretched Hip Hop globally; however, there has been several instances and disputes of the origin of Hip Hop. Some may say it originated in Brooklyn, queens, or even outside of New York. Jamaica, for example, was believed to be the

The first ‘commercially successful rap song’ (Genius) was Rapper’s Delight by the Sugarhill Gang in 1979. Although Afrika Bambataa and other rappers featured rap in their songs first, Sugarhill Gang was known for composing a song which popularized rap. In 2011, their song was preserved into the National Recording Registry for being ‘culturally, historically, [and] aesthetically significant’. (The National Recording Preservation Board). The song features a simple bassline and hi-hats resulting in a funky beat combined with simple and straightforward lyrics with no vulgarity or derogatory terms. It is important to note this as language used in rap gradually changed to become more explicit from classic to today’s rap.

The term Hip Hop is used as a subcultural movement. Scholars such as Carl and Virgil Taylor emphasize “Hip-Hop is not only a genre of music, but also a complex system of ideas, values and concepts that reflect newly emerging and ever-changing creative correlative expressive mechanisms including but not limited to song, poetry, film and fashion.” Hip hop includes, rapping, graffiti, breakdancing, and DJing. It grew in popularity after a lot of house parties and basement parties. DJ Hollywood and DJ Afrika Bambaataa are known for coming up with the term "hip-hop". What Hip hop containes, is considered “artistic variations” of street gang competition and one’s ability to be better.

From the underground streets of New York to the global stage, Hip Hop can be seen as one of the most influential genres of its time. As a style of music that ultimately originated from black street culture, much of its context can be pinpointed to the issues of political and social equality that are often kept in the dark. When Hip Hop emerged throughout the late 70s, new artists were experimenting with an advancement in technology and used various devices including turntables to create certain beats. As time went on, Hip Hop turned the page to more of a lyrical genre where artists ultimately began using words in their lyrics to convey a certain theme or message to the public eye. (Wahl, 1999)

¨If Hip Hop has the ability to corrupt minds, it also has the ability to uplift them.¨ Hip hop music, also called rap music, is a music genre developed in the United States by African Americans consisting of a stylized rhythmic music that commonly accompanies rapping, a rhythmic and rhyming speech that is chanted. Mainstream hip hop culture is also filled with misogyny and negative images of women. These artists are unaware that sexism has been forced onto them through the brainwashing from the media, which is controlled by a patriarchal society. Conversely, feminism is the belief that both genders should have equal power. Mainstream hip hop culture contradicts feminism because it degrades women, promotes male dominance and hypermasculinity. On the other hand, feminism focuses on equity for both genders.

Hip-hop music was initially developed in the late 1970s, only few people knew about its existence as it was created in the most unprivileged districts of New York City in America by African-American citizens. Hip-hop is not a bunch of entertaining words but a poetic language about issues around us, and movement within a culture interrelating ethnicities. The messages of rap music/hip hop tells stories of how life is in the streets dealing with drugs, crime, and violence. Most messages are a reflection of how the youth feels about the system, the police. Hip-hop constitutes of clothing, language (poetic) graffiti art, break dancing, Mcing/ rhyming and beatboxing.

This movie was a broad discussion about hip-hop music (or more specifically gangster rap) and what kind of social issues the music not only showcases but seems to promote. The producer of this film, Byron Hunt, interviewed people involved in all aspects of the hip-hop industry, including famous rappers, to try to get to the bottom of this.