Hip Hop Music
“The thing about hip-hop today is it's smart, it's insightful. The way they can communicate a complex message in a very short space is remarkable.” (Barack Obama) Hip hop is a music genre consisting of fast rhyming words, in chanting form. It was developed as a part of the hip hop culture, subculture made up of four main elements which are: MC’ing/rapping , DJ’ing, break dancing, and graffiti writing. There are other important elements including sampling and beat-boxing. Hip hop is meant to be a culture and a way of life. It is a way to express your-self such as; breaking dancing, graffiti art, rapping and DJ’ing. Clive Campbell also known as “Kool Herc” is the man credited for originating Hip hop music, in the early nineteen-seventies. This type of music genre has given many artists the ability to be great influences, and reach out to our new generations.
In the early nineteen- seventies DJ Kool Herc came to the United States from Kingston, Jamaica and settled in the South Bronx of New York. Kool Herc was a DJ that wanted to incorporate his Jamaican style of DJ’ing, which meant putting rhymes over reggae records. During that time New York didn’t seem interested in reggae, which forced him to find a different appealing sound so he could please his listeners. He came across a new style, which consisted of him rhyming words over an instrumental of popular song. He learned that if you use two of the same records using an audio mixer it would make the song longer. DJ Kool Herc opened the door for many artist such as Grandmaster Flash and the legendry group Run Dmc. By the early eighties, the Hip Hop movement was unstoppable. MTV (Music Television) brought rap music to almost every home around the United States. Something so small that had started in the Bronx as a party starter had spread as far as Los Angeles, California. Then radio stations such as KDAY, started playing Hip hop music. KDAY became the first rap-only radio...