musi
Maria Castro 
hiphop.pptxAmerican Music
1
Objectives
List the four components of hip-hop.
Define scratching, DJ-ing, MC-ing, break dancing, and graffiti.
Identify the following types of rap: old school, gangsta, hardcore, and west coast.
The Four Elements of Hip-Hop
DJing
MCing or Rapping
Break Dancing
Graffiti
3
Bronx, NYC (Mid-1970s)
Lifestyle, fashions, and cultural expressions
Like blues, grew out of deprivation and poverty
True, grass-roots street culture
America’s largest-selling music (by 2000)
DJing
Scratching
Use of record turntables as musical instruments
2 turntables and mixer
DJ = performer who scratches
Disco Mix Club (DMC) DJ Championships 2017
5
DJ Kool Herc (Jamaican, b. 1955)
“Father of Hip-Hop” = Clive Campbell
Deejays block parties in the Bronx
Couldn’t afford high-priced discos
1520 Sedgwick Avenue = birthplace of hip hop
Played short sections of percussion (‘breaks”) from funk records by James Brown
6
MCing or Rapping
Master of Ceremonies
Spoken rhyme over a rhythmic background
Manipulation of pre-existing recordings
Ancestral echo of West African tradition (griot)
Roots in Jamaican art form = toasting (U-Roy)
7
Break Dancing
Competitive acrobatic style of dance
Largely popularized by young Latinos
Headspins
Backspins
Gymnastic style flairs
Pop-locking (West Coast)
Strutting
Moon-walking
Waving
8
Graffiti
Unauthorized writing/drawing on public surface
1st forms were quick signatures of one’s gang
Evolved into large elaborate calligraphy
Now recognized as contemporary visual art
9
To 1983
Militant African-American Poetry
East Coast
The Last Poets
Came out of poverty-stricken ghetto of Harlem
Formed on 19 May 1969 (Malcolm X’s birthday)
Named from a poem by South African poet
West coast
Watts Prophets
Named from the 1965 Watts Uprising riots (Los Angeles)
Performed at youth clubs and prisons (subject of emancipation and equality)
Gil Scott-Heron (b. 1961-2011)
Poet and musician
Plight of African-Americans
Inadequacies and inequalities of life in early 1970s
Radical, passionate argument with soulful jazz
The Revolution Will Not Be Televised
Afrika Bambaataa (b. 1960)
Added eclecticism and technical innovation
Launched the trend of electro
Leader of the Black Spades (gang)
Became Universal Zulu Nation
Decreased youth and gang violence in NY (1980s)
Planet Rock = drum machine & synthesizer
1st Known Rap Hit (Billboard #36)
Rapper’s Delight by Sugar Hill Gang (1979)
“A hip-hop, the hi-be, To the hi-be,
The hip-hip-hop, You don’t stop rockin’”
Rhythm track from Chic’s “Good Times”
Grandmaster Flash (b. 1957)
Grew up in Bronx listening to dad’s jazz records
The Message (1982)
Indictment of inner city life
Set a new agenda for rap
From light hearted to realistic
The Message
List the social issues brought up in this song.
What is the overall statement the song is trying to make?
What other music, TV programs, and/or films contain similar social commentary?
What is the importance and relevance of hip-hop in our society?
1984-1989
MTV
1983-1985
Walk This Way (1986)
Run DMC and Aerosmith
New Wave of Rap Artists
Harder, minimalistic sound
Rhymes characterized by wars of words
LL Cool J vs. Kool Moe Dee (answer-record)
Territorial battles between NY boroughs
Rap was changing from party music to a serious vehicle of expression for young blacks
Public Enemy (New York)
Intense assault upon institutionalized racism
Flavor Flav
Chuck D
Fight the Power (1989)
Spike Lee film Do the Right Thing
NWA (Los Angeles)
Inflammatory chronicles of gang life
Word of mouth reputation rather than by radio play and TV exposure, but rap becomes multi-million dollar industry anyway!
Straight Outta Compton (1988)
1990-1999
East coast
Bad Boy Entertainment
Notorious BIG (1972-1997)
Died in LA
Shot multiple times in front passenger seat of vehicle
Rushed to hospital by own entourage
Dead on arrival
Witnesses refused to come forward and help police
West coast
Death Row Records
2Pac (1971-1996)
Died in Las Vegas
Shot multiple times in front passenger seat of vehicle
Rushed to hospital by own entourage
Lived 6 days; surgeries
Witnesses refused to come forward and help police
Eminem (b. 1973)
Marshall Mathers = M & M = Eminem
1st high-profile solo white rapper
Harsh criticism about his music’s violent imagery
Further bolstered his popularity and sales
Objectives
List the four components of hip-hop.
Define scratching, DJ-ing, MC-ing, break dancing, and graffiti.
Identify the following types of rap: old school, gangsta, hardcore, and west coast
