Love MusicLove Hip Hop
Where it all began
Old Skool Hip Hop (1970-1985)
First things first, Hip Hop started in the Bronx, New York by an artist called DJ Kool Herc. If wanna listen to one of his classics, then try 'Let me clear my throat.'
When Hip Hop first started they weren't always singing about how big their fuckin watch is or how many cars they have, infact they didnt even swear. Old Skool hip hop was all about respect and represting where you're from. When Hip Hop came out it was news and everyone wanted to claim they were apart of it. Instead of all this shit beef you hear about nowdays how two rappers got beef. Back in these times, beef was all argued with a mic in their hand. The skills of an artiist were based on their lyrical and flow skills. Now as Hip Hop was created in New York, there was a lot of talk as to what part of New York and then this created what have come to call beef.
One of the most famous artists to come out this old skool hip hop is KRS-One. He began his recording career at BDP alongside DJ Scott LA Rock. The duo would begin to create music after being rejected by radio DJs Mr. Magic and Marley Marl because their style was too different to the current trends, KRS-One would go on to diss the two and those associated with them, sparking what would later be known as The Bridge Wars. Now just quickly, when they got rejected by the biggest names in Hip Hop at the time, they had to save up enough money to afford their own studio time. Once they had enough they went to record their first track. They couldn't afford any editing so they had 1 go and doing the whole track which they called 'The Bridge is over'. This was a diss about MC Shan's song 'The Bridge' In which KRS One took offense to MC Shan's interpretation that Hip Hop stated in Queensbridge. As KRS One was from the Bronx. In the 'Bridge is over' KRS one's lyrics say 'Manhattan keeps on makin it, Brooklyn keeps on takin it, Bronx keeps creating it and Queens keeps on faking it.' This track was argued to this very day as the greatest diss track of all time.
Although not the first song to be made in Hip Hop, the first song to ever be produced was by the Sugar Hill Gang, called 'Rappers Delight'. Even to this say Dj's still remix, flip, cut, sample the fuck out of the classic hip hop tune. When they first released it reached 36 on the US Billboard chart. Now although this sounds shit, it was a massive achievement and remember this was only really heard of New York, people didnt know what Hip Hop was, but with time this has proved to be one of the most recognisble songs from the early days of Hip Hop.
Golden Age
Hip hop's "golden age" is a name given to the time from the late 1980s to early 90s. In this period the likes of Eric.B and Radkim, De La Soul, A Tribe called Quest, Jungle Brothers and Public Enemy, whose 1998 album 'It takes a nation of millions to hold us back' is widely regarded as hip hop's greatest moment. The music had changed slightly, artists were now singing about public topics and things affecting people, including things such as politics and law. Rappers were varying the way they use the lyrics they were using metaphors, similes, storytelling, clever cadences, changes in tempo and word play.
Gangsta Rap and West Coast Rap
Gangsta and west coast rap was coming in round the mid 80's by School yD and Ice T. This style represented the violent lifestyles of the inner cities youth. It was aggresive, it was honest, they just basically said what they fuck they want as they knew they could get away with it. In 1988 the world of hip hop changed! NWA's released 'Straight Outta Compton' still one of the most famous hip hop songs of all time. When it first came out then, it shocked everybody, nobody had heard such aggresive lyrics and so much of swear words in a song. They then released their album, and on there was an extremely contreversiol song called 'Fuck Da Police.' Their idea of the aggresice to society in these songs was to represent the life these rappers have had and with racism still part of the society at the time it affected their outlook on life. As their popularity grew from people relating from their lyrics it meant that Hip Hop was spreading and that although it started in New York (East Side) other States were creating their own style of hip hop.
1990's
Shortly after the NWA split, one of its members, Dre, released his first album. 'The Chronic' it was almost a own genre of its own, which they had described as G-FUNK. Shortly after Snoop Dogg released his first album 'DoggyStyle' which was also G-FUNK, this type of genre then came to dominate West Coast Hip Hop.
While West Coast had been the more commericially viable than East Coast, it was time for the East to hit back, and they hit back hard. With the introduction of Notorious B.I.G. He along with the likes of the Wu-Tang Cland and N.A.S brought the East Coast back into the mainstream at a time when the West Coast mainly dominated rap. This then sparked off the massive East vs West Coast battle.
Dont think i had forgotten about him....Tupac Shakur started his rapping career in 1991, and would become one of the biggest-selling rappers of the 90s with more than 75 million albums sold worldwide 50 million albums sold in the USA alone and arguably the greatest rapper of all time.
It was then time for the rest of America to join in, with the likes of Atlanta, St ouis and New Orleans who introduced MidWest Rape, they mainly differ from the other two by their fast vocal styles from artists such as Bone Thugs-n-Harmony and Twista. By the end of the decade, hip hop was now national and a big part of the music world. What this meant was there was now to become different sub genres of Hip Hop.
Nowdays and is hip hop really dead?
If you ask me, then it sure sounds like it if you turn on the radio or watch MTV. What used to be exciting, groundbreaking music seems to have been reduced to a one-note din. The only topics discussed are bling-bling, how many fuckin guns you have, and "ho's."
In my opinon i feel the music has gone so far from its roots that it is almost not related at this moment in time. These dickheads they write the shit is a total over-representation of the criminal aspects of black youths from the videos and the lyrics. Not all black kids out here are sniffin cocaine, crack and heroin, and shooting each other. What about the black kids that go to church on a sunday or work as Doctors and Nurses. Where is their story in any of these records. All I hear is bang, bang, shoot 'em up bollocks.
So what happened i here you ask? Well in my opinon is was down toto the rise of the crack epidemic in urban areas. people were starting to join gangs, carry weapons, and with gangs and money comes violance. This then meant the mentality started reflecting itself in the music in the early '90s with the introduction of the group NWA. Their albums explicitly detailed a hard-core lifestyle of violence, drugs and sex, and when sales exploded - to both black and white teenagers - the themes in rap songs started to turn even darker.
Politically aware groups like Public Enemy and Digable Planets were pushed aside as records labels, just wanted enormous sales of NWA and always eager to exploit the next big thing, basically they fuckin sold out. They looked for groups that replicated the winning formula. After the mega-success of Suge Knight's Death Row Records which released albums by Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg , hip-hop had a new direction.
"In my opinon the first album ('Straight Outta Compton') was brilliant. However their seconds album 'Niggaz4Life,' they just created an album for shock value and they didn't care. Which meant Albums like "Niggaz4Life" and Dr. Dre's "The Chronic," have been the reason for the music is like it has been for the last 10 years. However, you may consider these negatives, it certainly boosted the awareness of Hip Hop until it eventually became mainstream rather than an underground style.
Even though the record labels were pushing this type of music and only wanting groups which had a rebelious style to them. the problem also lies also with the artists who must share the blame for not daring to be different. Puff Daddy, for example, who while making ground-breaking records with Ma$e and B.I.G., more recently topped the charts with songs that didn't so much use samples but borrowed entire fuckin records. If you have a million-dollar budget, you're not trying to lose that and go back to the 'hood because you're trying to create something. You're trying to keep it going and ride with it. Artists want to get paid so badly that they are reluctant to push the bar a little bit. Hip-hop has always been a music that took chances; that's what made it different than all other music. Therefore i feel the music is suffering because artists aren't taking chances anymore.
Another final reason for the shift in hip-hop is you and me. Orginally black sales were a large portion of rap sales, because the big groups at the time were Run-DMC, Slick Rick for example. It wasn't the stuff that we hear now. The rap records that are sold now are sold in fucking Tesco's, highsreets shops, online, fuckin everywhere. They're sold to white kids who are looking for something different rather than having to continualy listen to shit like Boyzone and Westlife or everysong being a love song.
My definition of Hip Hop, is creating something different, using the equipment as the mancufacteur didnt intend it to be used. Its all about being different. Is this the case now, no! artists, well i call them artist but i dont know how much about them is actually artistic are more concerned about making £££$$$ than affecting people. Whic would suggest hip Hop is dead.
Despite these problems with the music, there are some rappers who are bucking the trend and are being courageous enough to talk about more diverse themes, So make sure you check em out, heres a few: Common, The Roots, Talib Kweli, Mos Def and Dead Prez.
First things first, Hip Hop started in the Bronx, New York by an artist called DJ Kool Herc. If wanna listen to one of his classics, then try 'Let me clear my throat.'
When Hip Hop first started they weren't always singing about how big their fuckin watch is or how many cars they have, infact they didnt even swear. Old Skool hip hop was all about respect and represting where you're from. When Hip Hop came out it was news and everyone wanted to claim they were apart of it. Instead of all this shit beef you hear about nowdays how two rappers got beef. Back in these times, beef was all argued with a mic in their hand. The skills of an artiist were based on their lyrical and flow skills. Now as Hip Hop was created in New York, there was a lot of talk as to what part of New York and then this created what have come to call beef.
One of the most famous artists to come out this old skool hip hop is KRS-One. He began his recording career at BDP alongside DJ Scott LA Rock. The duo would begin to create music after being rejected by radio DJs Mr. Magic and Marley Marl because their style was too different to the current trends, KRS-One would go on to diss the two and those associated with them, sparking what would later be known as The Bridge Wars. Now just quickly, when they got rejected by the biggest names in Hip Hop at the time, they had to save up enough money to afford their own studio time. Once they had enough they went to record their first track. They couldn't afford any editing so they had 1 go and doing the whole track which they called 'The Bridge is over'. This was a diss about MC Shan's song 'The Bridge' In which KRS One took offense to MC Shan's interpretation that Hip Hop stated in Queensbridge. As KRS One was from the Bronx. In the 'Bridge is over' KRS one's lyrics say 'Manhattan keeps on makin it, Brooklyn keeps on takin it, Bronx keeps creating it and Queens keeps on faking it.' This track was argued to this very day as the greatest diss track of all time.
Although not the first song to be made in Hip Hop, the first song to ever be produced was by the Sugar Hill Gang, called 'Rappers Delight'. Even to this say Dj's still remix, flip, cut, sample the fuck out of the classic hip hop tune. When they first released it reached 36 on the US Billboard chart. Now although this sounds shit, it was a massive achievement and remember this was only really heard of New York, people didnt know what Hip Hop was, but with time this has proved to be one of the most recognisble songs from the early days of Hip Hop.
Golden Age
Hip hop's "golden age" is a name given to the time from the late 1980s to early 90s. In this period the likes of Eric.B and Radkim, De La Soul, A Tribe called Quest, Jungle Brothers and Public Enemy, whose 1998 album 'It takes a nation of millions to hold us back' is widely regarded as hip hop's greatest moment. The music had changed slightly, artists were now singing about public topics and things affecting people, including things such as politics and law. Rappers were varying the way they use the lyrics they were using metaphors, similes, storytelling, clever cadences, changes in tempo and word play.
Gangsta Rap and West Coast Rap
Gangsta and west coast rap was coming in round the mid 80's by School yD and Ice T. This style represented the violent lifestyles of the inner cities youth. It was aggresive, it was honest, they just basically said what they fuck they want as they knew they could get away with it. In 1988 the world of hip hop changed! NWA's released 'Straight Outta Compton' still one of the most famous hip hop songs of all time. When it first came out then, it shocked everybody, nobody had heard such aggresive lyrics and so much of swear words in a song. They then released their album, and on there was an extremely contreversiol song called 'Fuck Da Police.' Their idea of the aggresice to society in these songs was to represent the life these rappers have had and with racism still part of the society at the time it affected their outlook on life. As their popularity grew from people relating from their lyrics it meant that Hip Hop was spreading and that although it started in New York (East Side) other States were creating their own style of hip hop.
1990's
Shortly after the NWA split, one of its members, Dre, released his first album. 'The Chronic' it was almost a own genre of its own, which they had described as G-FUNK. Shortly after Snoop Dogg released his first album 'DoggyStyle' which was also G-FUNK, this type of genre then came to dominate West Coast Hip Hop.
While West Coast had been the more commericially viable than East Coast, it was time for the East to hit back, and they hit back hard. With the introduction of Notorious B.I.G. He along with the likes of the Wu-Tang Cland and N.A.S brought the East Coast back into the mainstream at a time when the West Coast mainly dominated rap. This then sparked off the massive East vs West Coast battle.
Dont think i had forgotten about him....Tupac Shakur started his rapping career in 1991, and would become one of the biggest-selling rappers of the 90s with more than 75 million albums sold worldwide 50 million albums sold in the USA alone and arguably the greatest rapper of all time.
It was then time for the rest of America to join in, with the likes of Atlanta, St ouis and New Orleans who introduced MidWest Rape, they mainly differ from the other two by their fast vocal styles from artists such as Bone Thugs-n-Harmony and Twista. By the end of the decade, hip hop was now national and a big part of the music world. What this meant was there was now to become different sub genres of Hip Hop.
Nowdays and is hip hop really dead?
If you ask me, then it sure sounds like it if you turn on the radio or watch MTV. What used to be exciting, groundbreaking music seems to have been reduced to a one-note din. The only topics discussed are bling-bling, how many fuckin guns you have, and "ho's."
In my opinon i feel the music has gone so far from its roots that it is almost not related at this moment in time. These dickheads they write the shit is a total over-representation of the criminal aspects of black youths from the videos and the lyrics. Not all black kids out here are sniffin cocaine, crack and heroin, and shooting each other. What about the black kids that go to church on a sunday or work as Doctors and Nurses. Where is their story in any of these records. All I hear is bang, bang, shoot 'em up bollocks.
So what happened i here you ask? Well in my opinon is was down toto the rise of the crack epidemic in urban areas. people were starting to join gangs, carry weapons, and with gangs and money comes violance. This then meant the mentality started reflecting itself in the music in the early '90s with the introduction of the group NWA. Their albums explicitly detailed a hard-core lifestyle of violence, drugs and sex, and when sales exploded - to both black and white teenagers - the themes in rap songs started to turn even darker.
Politically aware groups like Public Enemy and Digable Planets were pushed aside as records labels, just wanted enormous sales of NWA and always eager to exploit the next big thing, basically they fuckin sold out. They looked for groups that replicated the winning formula. After the mega-success of Suge Knight's Death Row Records which released albums by Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg , hip-hop had a new direction.
"In my opinon the first album ('Straight Outta Compton') was brilliant. However their seconds album 'Niggaz4Life,' they just created an album for shock value and they didn't care. Which meant Albums like "Niggaz4Life" and Dr. Dre's "The Chronic," have been the reason for the music is like it has been for the last 10 years. However, you may consider these negatives, it certainly boosted the awareness of Hip Hop until it eventually became mainstream rather than an underground style.
Even though the record labels were pushing this type of music and only wanting groups which had a rebelious style to them. the problem also lies also with the artists who must share the blame for not daring to be different. Puff Daddy, for example, who while making ground-breaking records with Ma$e and B.I.G., more recently topped the charts with songs that didn't so much use samples but borrowed entire fuckin records. If you have a million-dollar budget, you're not trying to lose that and go back to the 'hood because you're trying to create something. You're trying to keep it going and ride with it. Artists want to get paid so badly that they are reluctant to push the bar a little bit. Hip-hop has always been a music that took chances; that's what made it different than all other music. Therefore i feel the music is suffering because artists aren't taking chances anymore.
Another final reason for the shift in hip-hop is you and me. Orginally black sales were a large portion of rap sales, because the big groups at the time were Run-DMC, Slick Rick for example. It wasn't the stuff that we hear now. The rap records that are sold now are sold in fucking Tesco's, highsreets shops, online, fuckin everywhere. They're sold to white kids who are looking for something different rather than having to continualy listen to shit like Boyzone and Westlife or everysong being a love song.
My definition of Hip Hop, is creating something different, using the equipment as the mancufacteur didnt intend it to be used. Its all about being different. Is this the case now, no! artists, well i call them artist but i dont know how much about them is actually artistic are more concerned about making £££$$$ than affecting people. Whic would suggest hip Hop is dead.
Despite these problems with the music, there are some rappers who are bucking the trend and are being courageous enough to talk about more diverse themes, So make sure you check em out, heres a few: Common, The Roots, Talib Kweli, Mos Def and Dead Prez.
