History of Hip-Hop/Rap

Hip-Hop was created by DJ Kool Herc. It is defined by key elements such as rapping, DJing, sampling, scratching and beatboxing. Hip hop began in the South Bronx in the 1970s. Rapping, also called MCing, is a vocal style where the artist speaks lyrically, in rhyme and verse, generally to an instrumental or synthesized beat. Beats, almost always in 4/4 time signature, can be created by looping portions of other songs, usually by a DJ, or sampled from portions of other songs by a producer. Modern beats incorporate synthesizers, drum machines, and live bands. Rappers can write, memorize, or freestyle their lyrics and perform their works with or without a beat.


Clive Campbell, also known as Kool Herc, DJ Kool Herc and Kool DJ Herc, is a Jamaican-born DJ who is credited with originating hip hop music, in the Bronx, New York City. His playing of hard funk records of the sort typified by James Brown was an alternative both to the violent gang culture of the Bronx and to the nascent popularity of disco in the 1970s. In response to the reactions of his dancers, Campbell began to isolate the instrumental portion of the record which emphasized the drum beat—the break—and switch from one break to another to yet another. Using the two turntable set-up of the disco DJs, Campbell's style led to the use of two copies of the same record to elongate the break. This breakbeat DJing, using hard funk, rock, and records with Latin percussion, formed the basis of hip hop music. Campbell's announcements to dancers helped lead to the rhymed spoken accompaniment now known as rapping. He called his dancers "break-boys" and "break-girls", or simply b-boys and b-girls. Campbell's DJ style was quickly taken up by figures such as Afrika Bambaataa and Grandmaster Flash. Unlike them, he never made the move into commercially recorded hip hop in its earliest years.

DJ Kool Herc



Breakdancing

The "b-boys" and "b-girls" were the dancers to Herc's breaks, who were said by him to be "breaking". The obvious connection is to the breakbeat, but Herc has noted that "breaking" was also street slang of the time meaning "getting excited", "acting energetically" or "causing a disturbance". Herc's terms "b-boy", "b-girl" and "breaking" became part of the lexicon of hip hop culture even before that culture itself had a name. B-boying , commonly referred to as breakdancing, is a style of dance that was created, and developed as part of hip-hop culture among African Americans, and later on Latino American youths in New York City. Breaking includes four primary moves: toprock, downrock, power moves and freezes/suicides. It is danced to both hip-hop and other genres of music that are often remixed to prolong the musical breaks. The musical selection for breaking is not restricted to hip-hop music, as long as the tempo and beat pattern conditions are met. One who practices this style of dance is called a b-boy, b-girl, or breaker. These dancers often participate in battles, formal or informal dance competitions between two individuals or two crews. Although "breakdance" is a common term, "b-boying" and "breaking" are preferred by the majority of the art form’s pioneers and most notable practitioners.



Hip-Hop has evolved so much in its short history. There has been sub genres like Gangsta Rap, East Coast Rap, Alternative, and West Coast to name a few. Hip-Hop is growing so much it is universal.