The birth of Hip Hop - Historical move


  Hip hop music is an American musical genre that developed as part of hip hop culture, which is defined by four key stylistic elements: MCing/rapping, DJing/scratching, breaking/dancing and graffiti writing.Other elements include sampling (or synthesis), and beatboxing. The term rap music is often used synonymously with the term hip hop music, but rap vocals are not required for music to be considered "hip hop."


  The Bronx in this deteriorating condition fell prey to the third major event which led to the direct development of the graffiti aspect of the hip hop culture. This event occurred in 1968 and coincided with Robert Moses' second major project in the Bronx, the Co-Op City. It should be noted that these last two events were not related. This third event involved a group of seven teenager boys who began terrorizing the vicinity around the Bronxdale Project on Bruckner Boulevard in the southeast Bronx. This may not seem important but this group of teenagers laid the groundwork for a surge of street gang activity that would overwhelm the Bronx for the next six years. This group at first called itself the Savage Seven, but as more members joined, the group changed its name to the Black Spades. Overnight street gangs appeared on every corner of the Bronx. It should be noted that Afrika Bambaataa was a member and leader of the Black Spades at one time.

  Afrika Bambaataa and the hip hop movement in the South Bronx created a cultural alternative to gangs, The Universal Zulu Movement, or the Zulu Nation. While in Chicago and Los Angeles, gangs would be institutionalizating in the ghettoes and barrios, in New York, gangs would come and go but hip hop lives on.
While hip hop often gets confused with street culture, it is a powerful alternative to the nihilism of the streets.


  Hip Hop Elements

                                                                                 1. DJing

2. MCing

3. Graffiti 

4. Breaking or BBoying

5. Beatbox

Urban music culture - The History

Rap Music

 
  Rap music worked its way to mainstream music around the late 70s to the early 80s. Those who study history would trace rap musics roots way back in American history when Griots or West African folk poets used to deliver their stories in a rhythmic tone accompanied by drums and other sparse instrumentation. Today, the art of rapping has evolved into something that spans cultural and lifestyle dimensions.

  This early way of rapping was soon enhanced to include manual manipulation of the sound system to heighten the dance experience. It has been said that people dance because of the beat and not of the lyrics. And so, DJs soon incorporated other techniques like dubbing and scratching to the rap music appeal. Dubbing enhanced Jamaican toasting by cutting back and forth between vocal and instrumental tracks and isolating the beat for danceability. Scratching, on the other hand, is done by moving the record in the turntable from one direction to another and back again while the needle is still in the groove.

  The early nineties saw the entry of white American rappers like Ice Cube to the African-American-dominated world of rap music. Even women rappers surfaced in the mainstream rap music scene. Women rappers like Salt N Pepper, Monie Love, and Queen Latifah rapped over R&B melodies and expressed lyrics that touched on women-related issues.The look of rap From its origins in the gang dominion of Bronx and the dancehalls of downtown ghettos, rap music soon found its way into the mainstream music scene. Soon, not only African-Americans were dancing to rap music. Rap music evolved into lyrical reflection of urban life. Rastafari-clad youth wore oversized shirts and jackets paired with low-riding oversized jeans that exposed their underwear. Heavy chain accessories also became part of the rapper look.Rap music, while considered by some to be a fad that would eventually lose its appeal, is really a form of musical art that has become a way of expression. Modern mouth percussion, vocal improvisation and stripped down melody, these elements of rap music make it a unique musical experience