Lecture 4 Notes PDF

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Lecture 4 Notes The Arrival of Hip-Hop, Part 1

Cultural Origins of Hip Hop Cultural precedents for rapping and hip hop can be found in Griots of West Africa (a group of travelling singers and poets) whose vocal style, dating back hundreds of years is similar to that of rappers, and also resembles the Jamaican tradition of “toasting” (boasting, impromptu poetry and sayings over music) . The Griots and the Jamaicans are really the archetypes for rapping. - Like jazz, the roots of hip hop are found within African American music - Hip hop is a cultural movement that developed in New York City in the 1970s primarily among Black and Latino Americans. Cultural and Technical Elements of Hip Hop Technical: - Rapping/MCing - DJing (Including Sampling/Beat Making) - Beat Boxing Cultural: - Graffiti - Breaking (B-boying’/B-girlin’) Rapping / MCing The rhythmic spoken delivery of rhymes and wordplay delivered over a beat or without accompaniment, - Developed during DJ Kool Herc’s street parties in the Bronx during the 1970s - Can be traced back hundreds of years to the Griots (folk poets) of West Africa and later the Jamaican tradition of “toasting”. - Rap developed both inside and outside of hip hop culture MCing is a further refinement of rapping that is more metaphorically and more rhythmically advanced than rap, and is often performed over complex, multi layered beats. The work of MC’s such as Melle Mel, Grandmaster Flash, Rakim, Chuck D & KRS-One did much to help hip hop be taken seriously as a mature art form rather than as a novelty. The term “MC” is derived from “Master of Ceremonies”.

DJing (Sampling/Beat Making) Of equal important to the Rapper or MC in Hip Hop is that of the DJ (Disc Jockey), however in Hip Hop the DJ is responsible for sampling, making beats, and producing, and is essentially the one in control of the music as it’s being made. The DJ employs a variety of techniques throughout a performance such as looping, sampling, and remixing of another artist’s music, sometimes without the original artist’s consent, however this has become a hallmark of the Hip Hop style. More importantly, it can be seen as an evolution of Jamaican Dub music, with a direct connection to Hip Hop being found in the Jamaican born DJ Kool Herc who is credited with originating Hip Hop music. Given the technological nature of being a DJ, it wasn’t long before it grew into a field of its own, with the DJ’s turntable evolving into a new instrument played by “Turntablists.” Ofcourse owing to the high level technical skills developed by these Turntablists, it was only natural that many of them became producers as well. Summary: - Jamaican Dubbers evolved into DJs - DJ’s evolved into turntablists - Turntablists became producers - The Rapper is the MC and the DJ is the Turntablists Essential Turntablist Techniques - Mixing/Cutting - Scratching - Spinning - Sampling - Song Choice/Criteria Beatboxing The Human Imitation of Instruments The term “beatboxing “ refers to the human imitation of instruments and is derived from the mimicry of the first generation of drum machines, then known as beatboxes, as well as the Latin percussion instrument, the Cuica.

Popularized by Doug E. Fresh, beatboxing represents the vocal percussion language of Hip Hop culture, and is primarily concerned with the art of creating beats, rhythms, and melodies using the human mouth. The art form enjoyed a strong presence in the 1980s with artists like Darren “Buffy, the Human Beat Box” Robinson of the Fat Boys and Biz Markie. Beatboxing decline in popularity along with break dancing in the late 1980s, and almost slipped even deeper than the underground. Beatboxing has resurged since the late 90s, marked by the release of “Make the Music 2000” by Rahzel of the Roots (who is known for even singing while beatboxing). - The Fat Boys, “Human Beat Box” 1984 - Biz Markie, “Just A Friend” 1989 Biz Markie and Will Smith beatbox in Men in Black 2, 2002. Graffiti Medical Cures for the Chromatic Commands of the Inner City The Visual Equivalent of Hip Hop Vocabulary: - Bombing: a particular style of Graffiti in which the entire train car is covered with Graffiti - Fade: Graduation/gradation of colours - Families: Rows of graffiti of the same name/crew. - Floaters: Graf done on subway car panels at window level. - Freights: Railroad freight cars - Graf: short for Graffiti One of the most prolific graffiti artists of the era is TAKI 183, whose tag was short for Demetaki, a Greek alternative for his birth-name Demetrius, while the number “183” referred to his address on 183rd Street in Washington Heights. He was employed as a foot messenger in New York City and would “write” his tag around New York. Breaking The Dance equivalent to Rap Breaking, an early form of hip hop dance, is a dynamic style of dance which developed as part of the East Coast hip hop culture. Breaking began to take form in the South Bronx, alongside the other elements of hip hop.

The “B” in B-boy stands for break, as in break boy (or girl). The term “B-boy” originated from the dancers at DJ Kool Herc’s parties, who saved their best dance moves for the break section of the song. B-boying is one of the major elements of hip hop culture. Early hip hop dance styles on the West Coast were known as “Poppin” and “Lockin”. Break dancers don’t like to be called “breakers” or “break-dancers,” and prefer the term “B-boy” and B-girl” Key Breaking Crews: - Rock Steady Crew - New York City Breakers One of the responsibilities for the DJ essentially from the very beginning of Hip Hop was creation of “breaks,” in other words, the isolation of one particular section of a musical composition, which served as a vamp for an MC, or for B-boys/B-girls to dance to. Because the percussive breaks on the source records were generally short, DJ Kool Herc and other DJs began extending them using an audio mixer and two copies of a record; using this setup, the DJ would play the break on one record, while simultaneously searching for and cueing the same break on the other record, using the mixer to alternate between the two records at the right time, allowing the DJ to play a break for as long as is needed. As such, mixers, amplifiers, speakers and various other pieces of electronic music equipment for an essential part of a DJs arsenal. The breakdown is one of the core elements of Hip Hop and is what gave rise to art of Break Dancing and the B-Boy/Bf-Girl culture. Other Cultural Foundations: - Rhyming - Storytelling - Poetry - Comedy Comedy Important Comedians: - Redd Foxx - Richard Pryor - Eddie Murphy - Dave Chappelle - Chris Rock

- Pig Meat Markham One of the most essential elements of Hip Hop is comedy and you cannot be a Hip Hop artist without being a comedian, and Rap and Hip Hop cannot exist without comedy. While some might assume that comedians are not particularly intelligent, the fact of the matter is that being a comedian requires someone to be the highest level of intellect, who can understand society at all levels. One particular comedian who influenced the development of Hip Hop and Rap was a slapstick comedian from the 1950s named “Pigmeat” Markham. In 1968 Markham recorded a single on Chess Records called “Here Comes the Judge” that is a prototype for what would evolve into rapping. - Pigmeat Markham “Here Comes the Judge” 1968 - DJ Hollywood and Starski, “Live at the Armory”, 1979 Early DJs and Crews Dj Kool Herc: - Born: Clive Campbell, April 16, 1955 - Origin: The Bronx, New York City - Born in Jamaica - “Father of Hip Hop” - Credited with originating “Hip Hop” - Never recorded any albums Kurtis Blow: - Born: Kurtis Walker, August 9, 1959 - Origin: Harlem, NYC - First commercially successful Hip Hop artist - First to sign with a major record label - Hit Single “The Breaks” was the first rap song to be certified Gold - Was picked up by a major label as a result of DJ Hollywood who proved that Rap/Hip Hop was a viable industry - Kurtis Blow, “The Breaks”, 1980 Sugarhill Gang:

- “Rapper’s Delight” is considered the first song to popularize Hip Hop in the United States and the world - Rap is the revolt of disco, yet “Rapper’s Delight” uses a disco sample - The Sugarhill Gang, “Rapper’s Delight”, 1979 - “Sample” comes from the disco hit “Good Times” by Chic - Sample is played by the live band Positive Force - Sampling equipment was not readily available at that time, hence live musicians - Sampling equipment did mature shortly thereafter and live musicians were quickly made obsolete Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five: - Born: Joseph Sadler, January 1, 1958 - Origin: South Bronx, New York City - Pioneered mixing techniques such as cutting and mixing - Was one of the first DJs to rap about life in the hood - “The Message” marked the birth of “serious” Hip Hop - Helped Hip Hop grow out of being just a novelty - First rap group inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2007 - The Furious Five: - Melle Mel - Kid Creole - Cowboy - Scorpio - Rahiem - Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, “The Message”, “It’s Nasty”, 1982 Run-D.M.C. - Members: Joseph “Run” Simmons, Darryl “D.M.C.” McDaniels, Jason “Jam-Master Jay” Mizell - Origin: Hollis, Queens, NYC - Simmons is the brother of Hip Hop mogul Russell Simmons and was Kurtis Blow’s DJ

- First single, “Sucker M.C.’s (Krush-Groove 1)” released in 1983 - Self-titled debut album released in 1984 - Third album featured “Walk This Way”, the first Rock and Hip Hop crossover, with Rock band Aerosmith - In 2007 named Greatest Hip Hop Group of All Time by MTV.coM - Named Greatest Hip Hop Artist of All Time by VH1 - Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2009 - Run-DMC “Sucker’s M.C.’s (Krush Groove 1), 1984 - Run-DMC “Walk this way”, 1986...