hip hop music

In hip hop music, people individually and separately vocalize over beats, instrumental tracks, usually consisting of repeated phrases. Hip hop is considered an important development in the history of music because, for the first time, non-tonal aspects of speech, its emphasis and lyricism, are the most identifiable aspects of vocalizations. Also, syncopation and abstract rhythms are being used in ways never before. In addition, technological manipulation of sound is being used as never before. Hip hop began as an idea during the 1970s, became a mainstream genre during the 1980s, and an internationally popular genre during the 1990s and 2000s. It is usually divided into three periods: Roots, Old School, and Golden Age. Most agree that the "golden age" ended during the 1990s. The current period is not yet named, though it is commonly referred to as New school hip hop, or sometimes even the "Hip hop is dead" era. The following is an objective look at how hip hop has developed.

Old school hip hop (1979-1985)

Main article: Old school hip hop
As hip hop's popularity grew, performers began speaking "rapping" in sync with the beats, and became known as MCs or emcees. The Herculoids, made up of DJ Kool Herc, Coke La Rock, and Clark Kent, were the earliest to gain major fame, but teams of emcees sprang up throughout the country.[citation needed] Frequently, these were collaborations between former gang members, such as Afrika Bambaataa's Universal Zulu Nation (now a large, international organization). The Herculoids and other early performers focused on introducing themselves and others in the audience (the origin of the still common practice of "shouting out" on hip hop records). These early emcee teams often emceed for hours at a time, with some improvisation and a simple four-count beat, along with a basic chorus to allow the performer to gather his thoughts (such as "one, two, three, y'all, to the beat, y'all"). Later, the MCs grew more varied in their vocal and rhythmic approach, incorporating brief rhymes, often with a sexual or scatological theme, in an effort at differentiating themselves and entertaining the audience. These early raps incorporated similar rhyming lyrics from African American culture (see roots of hip hop music), such as the the dozens. During the early 1970s, b-boying more popularly known as breaking arose during block parties, as b-boys and b-girls got in front of the audience to dance in a distinctive, frenetic style. The style was documented for release to a worldwide audience for the first time in Beat Street but it could be argued that Flashdance offered the very first glimpse.[citation needed] It was also prominently featured a year earlier in both Style Wars and Wild Style, but whether these would be considered worldwide releases could be argued.

Next generation (1986-1997)
The new age of hip hop began with the popularity of Run-D.M.C.'s album Raising Hell in 1986.[1] It was based in New York City and featured rappers and groups who advanced the wordplay, delivery, and subject matter of rap. Most of these artists were signed (at least initially) to smaller, independent East Coast labels, such as Def Jam Recordings, which became the first independent hip hop record label in 1984[citation needed]. Some of most commonly lauded rappers of the golden age of hip hop are Big Daddy Kane and Kool G Rap from Cold Chillin' Records, and Rakim of the influential duo Eric B & Rakim, whose album Paid in Full (1987, 4th & Broadway) is considered an important album of the hip hop repertory.
Ice-T had been a sporadically political rapper ever since his 1984 single "Killers". In 1988, Public Enemy released It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back, which focused on politics from start to finish. The same year, Boogie Down Productions released By All Means Necessary, which consolidated the political presence in the genre. Both records pioneered a wave of hard-edged politicized performers. Meanwhile, Public Enemy's Bomb Squad production team, and those of other artists, pioneered new techniques in sampling that resulted in denser, multi-layered sonic collages on albums such as It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back and Fear of a Black Planet. That year, duo DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince (Will Smith) also won rap's first Grammy Award. However the duo was not present to collect their award as it was announced that the presentation of the award would not be televised resulting in a wide scale protest of the Grammy Awards by rap artists.
In 1988 and 1989, artists from the Native Tongues Posse released the first conscious hip hop albums, with jazz-based samples and diverse, quirky and often political lyrics covering a diverse range of topics (see jazz rap) and strongly influenced by the Afrocentric messages of Bambaataa's Zulu Nation. This would pioneer the way for A Tribe Called Quest's 1991 release, The Low End Theory, which has been acclaimed by critics and fans as one of the greatest jazz-rap albums ever, if not one of the best hip hop albums. Allmusic's John Bush described it as "one of the closest and most brilliant fusions of jazz atmosphere and hip hop attitude ever recorded."
This musical genre became further popularized when in the early 1990s, hip hop was finally able to break the language barrier, as Spanish language and Latin musical style developed as integral features of the rap jargon. Artists such as Kid Frost, Mellow Man Ace, Gerardo, and El General all became well known internationally, as they brought to hip hop music and to hip hop listeners the addition of Spanish inflections and merengue rhythms. [Flores, Juan. “Puerto Rocks: Rap, Roots, and Amnesia,” In That’s the Joint! The Hip-Hop Studies Reader, ed. Murray Forman and Mark Anthony Neal, 69-72. Taylor & Francis Books, Inc. 2004.] Although Puerto Rican youth from El Barrio and the South Bronx had been involved in hip hop culture since its beginnings in the 1970's, it was not until these first Latin rap superstars came onto the scene in the early 1990's that hip hop transformed as a cultural space in which alternative perspectives and divergent cultures could come together to form bilingual and bicultural musical forms of expression.

Stylization
A number of new hip hop styles and subgenres began appearing as the music gained popularity. Hip hop was combined with rock music, reggae, techno and other musical styles during this period. Also, the mid-1980s saw the rise of the first major black female group, Salt-N-Pepa, who hit the charts with singles like "The Show Stoppa" in 1985.
Alternative rap and jazz rap, as well as a new (if short-lived)[citation needed] era of positivity in hip hop, and would set the standard for all alternative rap albums to come.
While Run-D.M.C. laid the groundwork for East Coast rap, Afrika Bambaataa's "Planet Rock" was one of the first electro tracks. Based on a sample from German electronic group Kraftwerk (Trans-Europe Express), "Planet Rock" inspired countless groups, based in New Jersey, New York City and Detroit, among other places, to make electronic dance music (called electro) that strongly influenced techno and house music, and especially the burgeoning electro music scene in northern England, the Midlands and London.
"Planet Rock" influenced hip hop outside of New York as well, such as Latin hip hop (also Latin freestyle or freestyle), Expose and The Cover Girls, as well as Los Angeles-based electro hop performers like the World Class Wreckin' Cru and Egyptian Lover.
Another important Hip Hop variant is Miami Bass, popularized by artists such as 2 Live Crew, J.J. Fad, DJ Magic Mike, and DJ Laz. The music is characterized by bass-heavy rhythms and overt sexual references in its lyrics. The genre is experiencing a renaissance, as its elements are being reused in Brazilian ghetto funk as well as Baltimore Club Music.

"Gangsta" mentality
Ice T's seminal "6n' Da Mornin'" (1986) was one of the first nationally successful West Coast hip hop singles, and is often said to be the beginning of gangsta rap. In 1988, rap group N.W.A. released Straight Outta Compton. This album helped to popularize the style of "gangsta rap", which would become massively popular from the '90s to the present. It also influenced countless rappers of the genre, including The Notorious B.I.G., Puff Daddy, Eazy E, Dr. Dre, Bone Thugs N Harmony, Snoop Doggy Dogg, and Tupac Shakur.In the 1990s, gangsta rap became mainstream, beginning in 1992, with the release of Dr. Dre's The Chronic. This album established a style called G-funk, which relied heavily on samples from '70s funk songs and slow-paced, lazy drawl-laden rhymes. G-funk soon came to dominate West Coast hip hop. Though G-Funk was the most popular variety of hip hop in the early 1990s, New York's hip hop scene did not disappear and remained an integral part of the industry.
The West Coast hip hop scene during the early to mid '90s also saw hip hop legend Tupac Shakur rise to fame who, as an actor and most notably spending his time in prison, became the West Coast's biggest figure. His widely acclaimed Me Against the World and greatly influential All Eyez on Me still had a profound impact on hip hop throughout the 1990s. His death, along with that of Notorious B.I.G., saw a halt in the rap game and a push to eliminate violent themes from hip hop music.

The end of an era

While many argue that we are still in the golden age of hip hop music, most would say that overall quality of popular rap music has gone down since some point in the 1990s. There are many points in time which are referred to as benchmarks ending the era. Some believe it was the day when Tupac Shakur was shot and later died in 1996, others say it was the day The Notorious B.I.G. was shot and killed in 1997, and some say it was these and other events (such as the mainstream success and behavior of The Notorious B.I.G.'s hype man Puff Daddy which led to its demise some time later. Others point out the state of hip hop luminaries Public Enemy as proof that hip hop had fallen off. Others say the record industry's unfair treatment of musicians is proof that hip hop is an ailing movement. Others point out the fact that A Tribe Called Quest's last album was released in 1998. The phrase "Hip Hop Is Dead" has been thrown around by many artists much before Nas's album Hip Hop Is Dead.

New school (1998-Present)
Internationalization
By the mid to late 1990s, hip hop music was the among the most popular genres in not only the United States, but the whole of the world. Some argue the extreme popularity of hip hop around the world has strengthened it as a movement, while others see as the end of hip hop as an American entity. Its extreme popularity also sparked extreme egotism in the rapper's character during this period, referred to as "Jiggy/bling" rap music, sometimes consider pop rap ('Jiggy' refers to the Will Smith song Gettin' Jiggy With It, bling refers to jewelry).

Success and assimilation
In the latter half of the 1990s, the South would grow more popular among hip hop fans for wildly popular acts such as OutKast, No Limit and Cash Money Records.[citation needed] In the 1990s and into the following decade, elements of hip hop continued to be assimilated into other genres of popular music; neo soul, for example, combined hip hop and soul music and produced some major stars in the middle of the decade.

The future of hip hop
The style of hip hop vocalizations is changing, as it has before. It seems that more hip hop artists are using live bands and self-produced samples. The recent displeasure with hip hop has led to organizations such as the one at Spelman College as well as hip hop historians like Nathan Davis to speak out against the imagery that is being promoted, pointing to the continuous use of the "n" word, and the derogatory way in which women have been portrayed.


References:
^ All Music Guide Golden Age Genre reports these events as the bookends of a genre, while MSNBC calls the whole decade of the 1980s the "Golden Age" on the basis of its "spirit", the fact that it wasn't video driven and commercial control was less of an influence on the art.