Music/Society Modern Wrld (W3)
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EarlyHip-Hop.pptFight the Power!: Politics, Injustice and Urban Activism in the Roots of Hip-hop
“Rapper’s Delight”
Sugarhill Gang
“The Message”
Grandmaster Flash
Run DMC
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Post exam
Roots of Hip-hop
- Jamaican roots, DJ-ing started in 1950s
- Early, 1970s - DJ Kool Herc, sampling rhythmic breaks of funk songs; Removed vocals and added echo to create a “dub” version of songs
- MCs (master of ceremonies) were hired to toast and boast over the tracks; verbal battles to outdo one another, grew out of older African and Af-Am folk traditions of “playing the dozens,” and “toasting”; African origins?
- Folklore – stagolee, others; are what archetype?
- Meaning of rap or rapping?
- Rhyme and Reason; What Ever Happened to Hip Hop
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What ever happened – 5:30 for about 3 mins
The (South) Bronx
- Hip-hop starts in the South Bronx in the 1970s, but is rooted in racist urban policies
- NYC Master Plan 1929
- 1949 Housing Act (Truman) – “Eminent Domain” – allows govt. to take property from citizens for public use; policy often used to dispossess Af-Am of property for highway construction and other projects
- “Urban Renewal” – NYC
- Cross-Bronx Expressway – City planner Robert Moses – destroyed neighborhoods, and created segregated Black communities, that became birthplace of hip-hop
- White flight, suburbs, redlining, GI Bill – Structural racism/inequality
- “Tower-in-a-park” – name of public housing projects
- 1970s - de-industrialization - Loss of 600,000 manufacturing jobs; drop in income in Bronx
- Slum Lords hired ‘rent-a-thugs’ to burn buildings for insurance money in S. Bronx
- “Benign neglect” – Robert Moses and Richard Nixon policy to neglect cities and their residence, particularly harmed Black communities
Site of first hip-hop parties, in early 1970s
Cross Bronx expressway (in red)
Early Hip-hop to Breakout of the Bronx
- “ Rappers Delight ” by New Jersey based
- Sugar Hill Gang, 1979, 1st hip-hop hit, reached top 5 on R&B chart
- Grand Master Flash (and the Furious 5) - “ The Message ” (1982) – lyrics describe urban experience
- Film, Breakin ’ (1984), Breakin’ 2: Electric Boogaloo; brings more attention to hip-hop to wider and whiter audience
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Chic “good times” sampled for rapper’s delight
Delight – re: folklore? is it political? Little p politics, personal power, empowerment, like blues ideology;
Afrika Bambaata
- Born, April 1957?
- Member of Black Spades (gang)
- Grew up in Bronx River Projects -> Bronx River Association
- Block Parties
- Killing of his cousin Soulski (1975), inspired him to stand up against gang violence
- Formed Universal Zulu Nation – unity among gangs
- 4 elements of hip-hop – DJ-ing, MC-ing, b-boying, grafitti
- 5th element – knowledge, culture
- Hit song - “ Planet Rock ” (1982)
Black Suburbia
- “The Black Belt” – by early 1970s
- In mid 1980s hip-hop starts to move out to the NYC suburbs (Queens and Brooklyn )
Run DMC
- Hollis, Queens
- Joseph Simmons, Daryl McDaniels, Jason Mizell
- First hip-hop Gold record
- First hip-hop Grammy
- “It’s Like That” 1983
- “Walk this Way” 1986 (re-make of Aerosmith hit), appealed to white audiences
Public Enemy
- Chuck D, Falvor Flav, Professor Griff, DJ Lord
- From Long Island, formed 1985 Adelphi University
- Influenced by Afrocentricism - Karenga, Molefi Kete Asante, Chiekh Anta Diop; and Black Power, Black Panthers
- It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back, 1988, Def Jam
- “Bring the Noise,” “Don’t Believe the Hype,”
“Rebel without a Pause”
- Fear of a Black Planet 1989
- “Fight the Power”, “911 is a Joke”
- Do the Right Thing (Spike Lee film)
Black Panthers
Def Jam Records
- Co-founders – Russell Simmons & Rick Rubin;
- Founded 1984 NYC
- ‘ultimate suburban hip-hop record label’
- African American and Jewish American
- LL Cool J
- Beastie Boys (1986) “You Gotta Fight for your Right to Party”
- Current – Jeezy, Justin Bieber, BTS, Big Sean, Kanye West, Nas
- Hip-hop Evolution, S1 episode 2, 25 mins
South Central (Compton), Los Angeles
-Mid 1980s, hip-hop breaks into and out of L.A.
South Central LA, Watts & Compton
- Like in NYC, L.A. hip-hop of the 1980s, grew from a long history of racist urban policies
- 1920s - KKK, burning crosses at 109th and Central Ave
- Housing covenants, Block restriction; forbid selling homes to Black buyers
- Housing projects – Hickerson Gardens, Jordan Downs, etc.
- Compton “promised land” for some African Americans, more space
- Police Chief William Parker, “John Wayne type”; heavy handed
- 1943 Zoot Suit Riots
- 1965 Watts Riots
- 1978, Prop 13, capped property tax, K-12 ed harmed, etc.
- Early 1980s recession, unemployment as high as 30% in some areas
- Late 1980s, War on Gangs, Operation HAMMER (1987), heavy-handed policy that targeted Black communities (see doc film 13th)
N.W.A.
- Formed 1986, Compton LA
- Dr. Dre, Eazy E, Ice Cube, Arabian Prince
- “Straight Outta Compton” (1988)
- Doc, Compton
- “Fuck tha Police” (1988)
- Detroit show, cops rush stage
Ice-T & Others Rap about Police Brutality
- Cop Killer (1992)
- Released just before riots/verdict
- 1992 riots, Rodney King
- Cyprus Hill - “Pigs”,
- The Geto Boys, “City Under Siege” (1991)
- Hip-hop Evolution, S1, episode 3 (25 mins)
(East Coast) Message Rap
- Queen Latifah - 1989 debut, “ Ladies First ” , female empowerment in a male dominated genre; first female of rap, inspired others such as: Sister Souljah, Missy Eliot, Lauren Hill, MC Lyte, Da Brat
- LL Cool J - debut 1985; “Mama Said Knock You Out” (1990)
- KRS-One - led Stop the Violence campaign; “Self-Destruction” donated $500,000 to Nat. Urban League; education rap
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Yo! MTV Raps premieres in August 1988
Yo! MTV Raps premieres in August 1988, broadening audience, esp. White teens;
Rap Goes Pop
- Dj Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince
- “Parents Just Don’t Understand”
- MC Hammer
- “U Can’t Touch This”
- Vanilla Ice (white artist)
- “Ice Ice Baby” (1990)
Artists above excused of being safe sellouts, not authentic, watered down “cleaned up” in order to appeal to middle class white audiences/tastes
- Current similar controversy? Who?
- Iggy Azalia (Australian, white) “Fancy”
- Cultural appropriation?
Political? Issues here? Authenticity and change; commercialism; race, uncle tom; sell-out, poser
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East v. West Coast
- Why? Issues? Who?
- West Coast rap developed late 1980s, NWA, Ice-T, Dr. Dre (The Chronic 1992 solo debut, founder Death Row Records; LA riots) Snoop Dogg 1993 debut Doggystyle, “Gin and Juice”, “Who am I (What’s My Name)”; slick studio production, slower tempos, smoother sound
- Rivalry began in early 90s, East accused West of abandoning roots; East reportedly jealous of success of West coast artists
- Tupac Shakur - “West coast” popular artist mid 1990s; accused “East coast” artists Notorious B.I.G. (aka Biggie Smalls) and Sean “Puffy” Combs of arranging attempted murder in 1996
- 2pac died September 1996, Biggie Died March 1997
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The Chronic, released just after LA Riots, rodney king…
Later Gangsta Rap
- Increasingly violent and sexual themes, drugs, misogynistic, hedonist, glorified gang lifestyle
- Eminem - The Slim Shady (1999)
- 50 Cent - Get Rich or Die Tryin’ (2003)
- Jay-Z - “Big Pimpin’” (2000)
- Painted a minstrel-like character of Black culture, unfairly reinforced racial stereotypes, comparable to blaxploitation films of 1970s - Shaft, Superfly
- [see film Bamboozled by Spike Lee]
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Recent
Hip-hop Stars
- Mos Def & Talib Kweli – group Black Star in 1998, reference to Marcus Garvey and Kwame Nkrumah, Black Power/Nationalism; often political and socially conscious messages; “Respiration” ft. Common, 1999
- Kanye West - clean-cut image, political and social themes of lyrics, openly religious
- debut 2004 The College Dropout, “Jesus Walks”
- Late Registration (2005), “ Diamonds from Sierra Leone ” , blood/conflict diamonds, used to fund civil wars in West Africa; “ Roses ” critical of US healthcare system
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Kimberly process, blood diamond (movie)
Hand back papers
Further Study
Style Wars
Race, Rap, and Equality
Hip-hop Evolution (Netflix)
Recommended Books:
Can’t Stop, Won’t Stop, by Jeff Chang
Black Noise, by Tricia Rose
