Med332 the origins of hip hop
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Transcript of Med332 the origins of hip hop
Block parDes ~1972
GraffiD ~1975
Breakbeats and B-‐Boys ~1973/4
Live MCs ~1975
Early recordings ~1979
Sampling ~1981
Yo MTV Video Raps (1983)
Pop/rap crossovers ~1990
‘channel the anger of young people away from gang fighDng and into music, dance, and graffiD’ -‐ Lipsitz, 1994: 26
The DJ is close to what Lévi-‐Strauss (1976) called a ‘bricoleur’ or crafsperson who
makes use – in this case – of musical fragments in order to create new music. Here a beat or a passage is idenDfied by
the DJ and, using two copies of the record, it is intermixed, enabling the seamless repeDDon of a percussive
secDon of a parDcular record -‐ Back, 1996: 192
the absence of a need for musical skill, in the more convenDonal sense of being able to play a musical instrument -‐ Benneg, 2001: 89
Bambaataa and his Zulu naDon used their knowledge as consumers of music to
become skilled producers of it … Hemmed in by urban renewal, crime and police
surveillance, and silenced by neglect from the culture industry, the school system, and the city government, they found a
way to declare themselves through music. Lipsitz, 1994a: 26
‘[Rapping] can be traced from African bardic tradiDons to rural southern-‐based expressions of African Americans – toasts, tales, sermons, blues, game songs, and allied forms – all of which are recited in a chanted rhyme or poeDc fashion’ -‐ Keyes, 1991: 40
I was approached in '77. A gentleman walked up to me and said, 'We can put what you're doing on record.' I would have to admit that I was blind. I didn't think that somebody else would want to hear a record re-‐recorded onto another record with talking on it. I didn't think it would reach the masses like that. I didn't see it. I knew of all the crews that had any sort of juice and power, or that was drawing crowds. So here it is two years later, and I hear 'To the hip-‐hop, to the bang to the boogie', and it's not Bam, Here, Breakout, AJ. Who is this? -‐ Grandmaster Flash quoted in George 1993, p. 49
‘Rapper's Delight’ clearly ruptured the art form's sense of conDnuity as a live pracDce known to all its 'in group' members. This rupture was a defining one for hip hop as it marked the art's entrance into the public sphere of worldwide cultural discourse, where it has remained ever since. The decentralised face-‐to-‐face social dynamic which marked early hip hop has thus given way to a different dynamic, one mediated by way of commodity forms such as vinyl, video and CD. -‐ Dimitriadis, 1996: 179
When ‘Rapper’s Delight’ first came out, every […] tradiDonal rapper was fucking morDfied. They was like, what the fuck are they doing […] with our […] art form? […] It’s like they axe-‐murdered the shit. So, we didn’t think that that was creditable [sic]. -‐ Melle Mel interview, The Hip Hop Years, 1999
Public Enemy – ‘Black Steel in the Hour of Chaos’ It Takes a Na3on of Millions To Hold Us Back (1987)
So many emcees focusin' on black people exterminaDon We keep it balanced with that knowledge of self, determinaDon It's hot, we be blowin' the spots, with conversaDons C'mon let's smooth it out like Soul SensaDon We in the house like Japanese in Japan, or Koreans in Korea Head to Philly and free Mumia with the Kujichagulia TRUE Singin' is swingin' and wriDn' is fighDn', but what They wriDn' got us clashin' like Dtans it's not exciDn' No quesDon, bein' a black man is demandin' The fire's in my eyes and the flames need fannin' (x3) With that what? (Knowledge Of Self) DeterminaDon (x4) […]
Inner-‐city concentraDon camps where no one pays agenDon or menDons the ascension of death, 'Dl nothing's lef The young, gifed and Black are sprung addicted to crack All my people where y'all at cause, y'all ain't here And your hero's using your mind as a canvas to paint fear With, broad brush strokes and tales of incarceraDon You get out of jail with that Knowledge of Self determinaDon
Mos Def and Talib Kweli -‐ ‘K.O.S. (DeterminaDon)’
(2002)
Outkast ‘LiberaDon’ (1998) Aquemini
I must admit, they planted a lot of things in the brains and the veins of my strain Makes it hard to refrain, from the host of cocaine From them whores, from the flame From a post in the game Makes it hard to maintain focus They're from the glock rounds, and lockdowns, and berries The seeds that sow, get devoured by the same locusts […]
Now have a choice to be who you wants to be It's lef uppa to me, and my momma n'em told me (yes she did) I said I have a choice to be who you wants to be It's lef uppa to me, and my momma n'em told me
Summary
Early hip-‐hop culture was marked by mulDple forms of expression that were highly visible and hard to ignore. Rap spoke of collecDve experience, communality, the urban poor PoliDcal consciousness
Images Ventura Mendoza (2007) Public Enemy @ CasDllo Negro -‐ Tenerife -‐ Islas Canarias -‐ 20/04/2007 Mag Green (2012) Portal of the day PTGreg (2007) Disco Tony Cairns (2014 )Zulu NaDon et al in Newtown Street Art NEAR! (2013) AFRIKA BAMBAATAA (by NEAR!) Mikey Wally (2011) Baseck's Hands Zach Jackson (2004) Turntable wayne marshal (2013) rockers sound staDon system Phillip Capper (2008) South Bronx, New York, 17 Nov. 2008 Stuart Crawford (2009) gmf3 06 Steve (2009) Love The Mixtape