Term Paper on "Hip Hop Music"

Term Paper 4 pages (1152 words) Sources: 3 Style: MLA

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Hip Hop as a Fundamental Cultural Force

Far from being the marginal subculture it started out as, hip hop has since grown to become a fundamental aspect of world music culture. This paper will examine the history and various aspects of hip hop in an effort to show that hip hop is not merely a musical genre of the dis-empowered, but a fundamental aspect of contemporary discourse that plays a vital role in our globalized culture.

History of Hip Hop

The roots of hip hop can be traced back to the 1970s, when a Jamaican-born DJ by the name of Clive Campbell (also known as "Kool Herc") moved to New York. Herc came out of a dancehall tradition, and soon began integrating reggae sounds with the Jamaican tradition of toasting, or improvising poetry and spoken word over funk, reggae, and disco music during parties held in the parks of the Bronx in New York (Kenner 350-357). Herc and other DJs would tap into power lines in the parks in order to activate their equipment and perform. This equipment, according to Kenner, consisted of one or more microphones, turntables, and huge stacks of speakers (350-357). During this period, Herc also developed break-beat deejaying, in which the percussive breaks of funk songs were isolated and repeated on a loop so that people could dance all night.

Grandmaster Flash then entered the scene, further developing the usage of break beats, including cutting and scratching (Davey D.). The style of Herc and DJs such as Grandmaster Flash soon spread from the Bronx and began to be copied all over. By the late 1970s, 12" DJ records were being released for the sole purpose of rapping on top of them. One of the more popular of these was "Rapper's Delight" by the Sugar Hill Gang.

Hip hop continued to evolve throughout the early 1980s. A major step in the development of hip hop was the release of the track "Planet Rock" by Afrika Bambaataa and the Soulsonic Force in the year 1983. This track is known for incorporating synthesizer technology into the language of hip hop, as well as the rapidly evolving drum machine technology of the '80s. The most vital medium for spreading the hip hop message in the 1980s, however, was the birth of the music video (Rose 192). Finally, in the 1980s, hip hop music began to cement its message by adding socially relevant themes to its lyrics (Rose 53-55).

Lyrics & Writing Styles

In the words of Davey D., "Signifying, testifying, Shining of the Titanic, the Dozens, school yard rhymes, prison 'jail house' rhymes and double Dutch jump rope' rhymes are some of the names and ways that various forms of rap have manifested." The lyrical and writing style of hip hop is known as rapping. Historians have traced the origins of rapping back to the ancient tradition of the Griots in Western Africa. Aside from the flow and rhythmic delivery of a rap, one of the chief concerns in writing lyrics is the rhyme.

Technical issues aside, rap is seen as a powerful, affirmative source for the injection of individuals' personalities into the music. As Davey D. goes on to note of hip hop's early days:

If you were laid back, you could rap at a slow pace. If you were hyperactive or a type-a, you could rap at a fast pace. No two people rapped the same, even when reciting the same rhyme. There were… READ MORE

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