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HIP HOP URBAN
ThehistoryofHip-Hop/Urban On the other hand, the term urban or urban contemporary was invented by New York DJ Frankie Crocker during the 1970’s and it is heavily associated with African American music. Urban is a radio format which features a playlist of hip-hop/rap, contemporary R&B, pop, electronica and Caribbean music such as reggae. • Hip-hop originated in New York city, specifically The Bronx by African-American communities during the 1970’s. Kevin Donovan, better known as ‘Afrika Bambaataa’ and respectfully known as the “Grandfaher/Godfather” of hip-hop culture is an American DJ who was involved in the early developments of hip-hop throughout the 1980’s. • Bambaataa was inspired by many, including his mother as she owned a collection of electric and extensive records. Inspired by DJ’s such as DJ Kool Herc, he too began hosting hip-hop parties. Bambaataa thought it was a good idea to use hip-hop to draw angry kids out of gangs and therefore formed the ‘Universal Zulu Nation’. • Bambaataa has been praised for giving the name hip hop as it was a common use of phrase by MC’s and he therefore allowed it for use in describing the emerging culture. Hip-hop is broken down into 4 elements, known as the four pillars of hip-hop culture, and they are: • MCing • DJing • Breaking ‘b-boys and b-girls’ • Graffiti
DJing MCing Usually, a DJ will use two turntables which is connected to a DJ mixer, amplifier, speakers and other electronic components. The DJ will then mix two different albums that is rotating on the turntable in result combine two different sounds into one. During the revolution of hip-hop, hip-hop music emerged with ‘disc jockeys’. DJ’s created rhythmic beats by looping genres of music together. This was then later accompanied by ‘rapping’ which can be categorized as a style of poetry. In the early days of hip-hop, DJ’s had the spotlight but that was easily taken by MC’s during the 70’s. many famous DJs include Grandmaster Flash who was one of the pioneers of hip-hop DJing. DJ Kool Herc praised for originating hip-hop music. Afrika Bambaataa and many more. Emceeing, better known as rapping or ‘spitting bars’ is performed in time to the beat of music, known as an instrumental being played by the DJ. Rapping could be memorized or improvise, but whichever way rappers deliver music it’s broken down into different components. Those components are content, flow or ‘rhythm and rhyme’ and delivery.
Graffiti Breaking Breaking, b-boying and breakdancing mean exactly one thing and that is a dynamic style of dance which have been asociated with hip-hop culture. Earl Tuck invented a popular type of dance called ‘Snakehips’ and this involves the dancer moving his hip in a fashion intended to look like the person had no skeleton. Breakdancing is associated with ‘popping’, ‘locking’ and ‘ticking’ but it has its own unique style. During the 1980’s it was common for a group of people to be seen with a radio performing in front of a large crowd. The link between graffiti and hip-hop culture is that it is seen as an art form of hip-hop. Graffiti is recognized as a visual expression of hip-hop music just as breaking is seen as a physical expression. Graffiti hip-hop was first publicized through a book called ‘Subway Art’ New York: Henry Holt & Co, 1984 and through a TV program ‘Style Wars.
Well known Record Labels Owned by Universal Music Group and works with The Island of Def Jam Music Group. It is famously known in the UK as Def Jam UK which works with the Mercury Music Group and in Japan, it is known as Def Jam Japan operating through Universal Sigma Music. It was founded by Rick Rubin in 1984 and it first released it’s single by his punk-rock group, Hose. He was then accompanied by Russell Simmons. They sold many singles and eventually they made a deal with CBS Records through Columbia Records the following year. They’ve signed many artists such as Rihanna, LL Cool J, Rick Ross, N-Dubz and many more. Roc-A-Fella is a record label founded by Shawn “Jay-Z” Carter, Damon Dash and Kareem Burke. It works with Universal Music Group as a subordinate and is spread out by The Island Def Jam Music Group. Starting out with Jay-Z to be the only artist in Roc-A-Fella he was supported by producers that would eventually sign the label. However deals didn’t go as planned and eventually brought tension between artists. Jay-Z’s album in 1998 Vol. 2 Hard Knock Life sold well which eventually reached platinum made producers such as Timberland, Swiss Beatz and many more interested to work with Jay-Z. Roc-A-Fella signed artists such as Kanye West, Jadakiss and many more to there label.
Key Artists ..Then The artists that built the foundations in which the genre has evolved from are under heavy threat from the new artists. Even though they may have been around longer than current artists, they may often find it hard to stay current. With a new generation comes a new style in the genre. Or a perhaps a new face to represent that particular genre. Their style would be distinct and overrun previous styles making the older artists old news. This doesn’t mean that the older artist will be forgotten about. They will still be famous in the public eye, but any new material that they may release will not be as popular compared to any newer artists. But before the new generation took over, people like MC Hammer, run DMC..etc moved to mainstream and made what hip hop is now and many of the artists now look up to artists in the 80’s as inspiration.
..Now These artists are famous because of their music, their style and the way they present themselves. The audience would like to be like them and other unsuccessful artists would love to be them. How ever not every key artist comes to fame in the same way. Some come up the mainstream way. When as soon as their CD drops, it’s a purchasable item. But some come to fame through underground mixtapes. These mixtapes allow the artist to un-officially release new material which is free for the audience to obtain. However, these mixtapes may often lead the artist to a record deal. For example Drake. Before he became regarded as a mainstream artist, he had a number of mixtapes which were listened to by many. This built up his fan base and reputation and by the time his debut album was released, people already knew who he was. But even mainstream artist can still release underground mixtapes perhaps to keep their audience intact with the artist.
Public Perception of Hip Hop Source: BBC News/Music Hip hop assesses its image The term hip hop has been widely associated with violence due to what artists present in the media . Widely known infamous artists such as Tupac and Notorious have been involved with each other due to what each other say about one another in their music. This resulted into them fighting till the death. David May states “We’re looking to raise the public awareness about hip hop and try change the public perception that hip hop is negative and violent.” One of the main reason why Hip hop is seen in a negative light would be due to the way the media interprets the artists and supporters of the genre see’s this as being unfair, it’s simply part of the hip hop culture to capture the style of ‘hip hop’.
