What is hip-hop music and culture? 


The term hip-hop tends to embody a wide range of activities of inner-city culture which although having developed in many ghetto enclaves find at least their spiritual birthplace to be New York City, New York. Specifically, hip-hop often refers to the following:

A. Graffiti, authored by Brett Webb, AKA SCHMOO (bwebb@mizar.usc.edu) 

Hip-hop graffiti began in the late 60's in New York City. Graf grew up with its Hip-Hop counterparts in Rap music and Breakdancing, as a way for the youth to express themselves in a DIY method. A young courrier started the whole movement by simply writing his name wherever he travelled. Although it had simple and humble beginnings, graffiti has become a world-wide movement that unites people of all color, econmic groups and nationalities.

In 1969 a young Greek courrier in New York started writing his nickname and street number, Taki 183 (his tag), everywhere he went. He simply wrote his tag in black ink pen, and since he travelled the subways daily, he got the chance to do it everywhere. Soon he got attention for his efforts, and others started copying his writing. Other early notable writers were Julio 204, Barbara 64 and Eva 64. 

Soon writers evolved from the simple black pen and started using spray paint, colorful Uni markers, and large
homemade markers insuring their name would stand out from all the others that were springing up all over the
subways. As tags became larger the need to develope new ways to make your tag stand out from the others
developed. 

Soon writers were doing simple "throw-ups" and "pieces" on the outsides of the trains. A throw-up is a simple
name that has an outlines and some sort of plain fill in the middle of the outline, also now called a 'fill-in'. A piece is generally anything that required more than a couple seconds of effort, anything from a three color name to the whole car masterpieces that made the New York subways so famous starting in the 1970's. 

Like rapping and DJ'ing, graf barrows and 'samples' many other parts of society and makes them into their art
form. Rapping barrows fromTV, radio and politics to create its own unique form of rythmic poetry, while graffiti barrows from Pop Art, abstract art, fontography, illuminated manuscripts and advertising to create its own form of communication and expressions.

B. B-boying, also known as breakdancing 

- a style of musical dancing that involves more sudden motions based on beats and rhythms than do other more
classical dance forms. There also tends to be no discernable limits to what a breakdancer can do, so long as it's _funky_... that can be anything from "The Transformer" to a headspin.

C. MCing 

-- the term MC originally meant Master of Ceremonies, and often early MC's were just that. They developed a
flair for saying anything while on the microphone that could get a crowd at a dance hyped up... as a result many
early MC's were also DJ's. Gradually this evolved, borrowing precedent from artists who recorded spoen-word poetry to a beat, from the beatniks on up to Umar-Bin Hasaan and the Last Poets. MCing came to mean a person who rhymed or spoke poetry on a microphone, and as this activity became popular crews of MC's formed groups and challenged each other to battle -- who could write the best rhyme, or diss the other guy better.

D. Scratching/DJing 

-- Credit for this element of hip-hop culture is mostly given to DJ Grandmaster Flash. Many MC's rhymed over 'breakbeats', the part of a song where the music was stripped and the beat more emphasized. Flash recognized the need for a system in which a DJ could have one breakbeat ready to go on a turntable as the previous one faded, sometimes the same beat or tempo. As he developed the systems that made this possible he also developed the scratching technique, of moving a record in forward and reverse under the needle in time with the beat. This raw sound so suited hip-hop it was quickly adopted and spread like wildfire... soon MC's were bragging not just about themselves, but who had the better DJ or whose DJ could do better tricks 'on the mix'.

E. Beatboxing 

-- Although it has somewhat fallen out of favor due to the electronics which now make beats possible, historically beatboxing has been a part of hip-hop. It is the art of providing a beat, or any creative sound, for an MC to rap over solely by using your vocal chords and your mouth. Before the '3rd era' of hip-hop, many beatbox artists were an intergral part of any hip-hop crew or function.


For the most part, these forms are still constantly evolving and have changed a great deal in the short history of
hip-hop music, and new elements of hip-hop culture are shaping and taking precedence on a regular basis. These five are without a doubt though the most widely recognized elements considered a part of hip-hop culture, with the latter three compromising most of what is considered hip-hop music, as part of the culture.

Hip-hop history: important records, musical movements

A. Old School, authored by Jamal Kirk, AKA Rave (rave@netcom.com)


The first "rap record" to ever get radio airplay was NOT by a rap group. It was a song called "King Tim III" by a a group called The Fatback Band.It was released right before Sylvia Robinson's label, Sugar Hill (often credited as the first hip-hop label), released Rappers Delight by theSugarhill Gang. Grandmaster flash and several other crews were already established as the KINGS of hip-hop well before and "rap" records were sold.

DJ's pre-date MC's in hip-hop. Early DJ pioneers included Kool Herc, Disco King Mario, and DJ Hollwood; who along with Commander Alexander changed the flavor of hip-hop in Manhattan. The native Bronx style was very different.Today, Kid Capri, Ron G, "Lovebug" Starski and others all replicate the stylecreated by Commander Alexander.

A crew usually consisted of 2 DJ's and 5 MC's. It was the general makeup of all "crews" in the early days. The
Crash Crew, who in facthad 2 DJ's and 5 MC's, were the first group to ever use a pre-recorded songfor the MC's. Their DJ's mixed the song "Freedom - Get Up and Dance" in a loop as the MC's rhymed freestyle. This can be considered the first sampling of a song on a hip-hop record. Prior to that most companies had a band recreate the "beats" that was brought before the producer. Listen to any of the early Flash/Furious Five, Funky 4, etc. songs and you'll see what I mean.

B. Important old-school records

As was stated by Rave, "King Tim III" was the first 'rap' record, and shortly thereafter Sugarhill Gang dropped
the massive "Rappers Delight", the first breakthrough rap record (it went platinum). New York
punk/industrial/dance music artist Blondie also scored a major hitwith her song "Rapture", which paid homage to Fab 5 Freddy and later became a key record used in recoding Grandmaster Flash's seminal classic "Wheels of Steel". At this period in time a few well known New York artists became dominant in the market for hip-hop, scoring successful 12"s and albums. Kurtis Blow dropped "The Breaks"... The Treacherous Three came with "Feel the Heartbeat", Funky Four + 1 dropped "It's the Joint", and many more party-style artists continued to dominate the scene.

C. Transition


Although many hip-hop music historians have debated when exactly the shift in style did occur, most seem to
concur that Run-D.M.C. in 1983 marked the break between what is now considered to be 'old school' and the 'new school', with a fair amount of overlap in either direction. The change was almost accidental... they recorded a 12 inch of a song (also done by contemporary Kurtis Blow) called 'Hard Times', and as a bonus they were going to include a breakbeat on the b-side. After being convinced by their producer to just 'talk about Larry, Orange Crush (another group he produced), and where you go to school', they recorded a rap over the breakbeat which is now known as 'Sucker MC's', a hip-hop classic. Whereas much of hip-hop previously had incorporated disco music and live bands, this song had a previously unheard rawness. Stripped to just a beat, Run and D.M.C. dropped fierce rhymes... not just the usual party anthems, but an actual call to war... all "Sucker MC's" either step off or get dissed.

D. The new school/the afrocentric movement


The second era, within the 'new school', is also generally conceeded to have occured in 1986. Hip-hop had spread from it's birthplace in New York to other inner-cities elsewhere in the country. Now hip-hop began to develop more topic-specific forms of expression. While Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five had the first succesful political record in "The Message", the form did not explode until after the appearance of Public Enemy and Boogie Down Productions in 1986. Their early success lead to even more afrocentric records, the two seminal recordings being BDP's "By All Means Necessary" in 1987 and PE's "It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back" in 1988. As this spawned a whole movement of political records and higher conciousness, other MC's such as Rakim and Big Daddy Kane mixed elements of political style into their new, more fierce styles of MCing, in which metaphors and similies became precedent and battling was elevated to a high plateau. Their success spawned an era which, in combination with the popularity of afrocentric rhyming, has been hailed as the 'golden age' of hip-hop. At the same time their success reached new highs, some MC's also experimented with what is now known as 'gangsta rap'.
Artists such as Philadelphia's Schoolly D and Houston's Geto Boys lay claim to the first gangsta records, but they preceded the third era.

E. Gangsta rap


The third era of new school gradually came from the west coast, and to a good extent includes the southern united states. This era of hip-hop music is known as "gangsta" or "reality" rap. The first group to break large in this area was N.W.A -- Niggaz Wit Attitude. They acheived notoriety due to a Federal Bureau of Investigations warning that their song "Fuck the Police" would be held accountable for retaliation against civil authorities. This only heightened public awareness and caused more people to buy their "Straight Outta Compton" album. The critics said it was offensive solely for the purpose of being shocking to sell records, when it actuality it breaks down the problem of the inner-city in harsh fashion. Their success caused a transformation throughout hip-hop... groups like the Geto Boys whose sales were once limited suddenly skyrocketed to gold and platinum. These successes spawned imitators, and the whole thing spread like wildfire. The media accusations actually backfired, for instead of causing the condemnation of the music they actually made it more popular. Even those not interested in the message of the music would get down because it had a funky beat, or because it was rebellious and 'cool'. Despite several attempts by highly visible public figures (from George Bush to the Reverend Calvin Butts) to curtail this industry, it still survives and continues to evolve to this day. The accusations of inflamation by the public are even less credible today than they once were, due to the fact that so much of gangsta rap now carries an implicit political message, making it a twin to the more straightforward political rap. Perhaps the greatest gangsta artist, Ice Cube, has also achieved some of the greatest milestones of political hip-hop (the entire "Death Certificate" album, for example).

F. The now school/modern era


The fourth era, which we are currently a part of, involves aspects of the first three. Gangsta continues to sell,
political still carries a large audience, and old school artists are finding newfound popularity as the hip-hop nation struggles to maintain and salute it's history. Aside from these three, a fourth tradition is developing which I have come to call the "freestyle era". Freestyling has long been a part of hip-hop -- what rhymes can you snap off the top of your head, and how good can they be. Certainly in the West, but equally prevalent in the birthplace of the East and elsewhere, is the newfound interest in freestyling. This in turn has given birth to radically different styles of rhyming... the "off and on" of Trendz of Culture, the spastic wordplay of Saafir, the elaborate structure of a Hieroglyphics crew rhyme, the constantly evolving work of KRS-One. This continuing innovativeness and the celebration of all styles of hip-hop regardless of age or popularity is the strength by which hip-hop has succeeded and grown past the limited expectations anybody has had.