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

1981- new wave white band, Blondie- made “Rapture”

1982- Afrika Bambaataa- released “Planet Rock”

1982- Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five- “The Message”

Conscious rap- mature art form

1983-1984 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

1986- “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 6th 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