More Than Music
1
“I said-a hip, hop, the hippie, the hippie//To the hip hip hop-a you don’t stop the rock,” rapped The Sugarhill Gang in the song “Rapper’s Delight.” Released in 1979, the song catapulted to the top of the charts and introduced a new type of music. However, hip hop was not new to everyone, as it had been around the streets of New York City for many years. Hip hop also was not just rapping. Incorporating music, lyrics, graffiti, and dance, hip hop was a cultural movement of self-expression for inner-city youth. It became their way of life.
2
During the 1970s, the African American and Latino communities in New York City faced rising crime rates, gang violence, and few economic opportunities. Dealing with such hardships, the inner-city youth began creating their own forms of expression using the abandoned buildings and parking lots of their collapsing neighborhoods as a backdrop. With nothing much more than imagination and creativity, hip hop was created.
3
Those forms of expression created the four pillars, or elements, of hip hop. The first of these is deejaying, which is making music using record players to get people on the dance floor. Kool Herc, the first hip hop deejay, started the movement at an August 1973 party in the Bronx, which is considered the birth of hip hop. There, the 18-year-old from Jamaica used two turntables to play the same album, extending the percussion breaks. The second pillar is rapping, a rhythmic vocal rhyming. Herc spoke over the songs he played, drawing on traditions from West Africa and the blues. The third pillar is graffiti, a form of painting also known as “graf” or “writing.” And, the fourth pillar is break dancing, named for the dancing done during a deejay’s percussion breaks. These art forms allowed young people to confront and celebrate their gritty lives.
4
Hip hop went mainstream in the mid-1980s. Popular acts were Run-D.M.C. and LL Cool J. This era saw the introduction of women, including Salt-n-Pepa, along with artists on the West Coast. In 1989, N.W.A.’s Straight Outta Compton was released. The controversial album detailed the harsh reality of the lives of the members of the California group and is considered one of the most influential hip hop albums of all time.
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Hip hop went commercial in the 1990s, selling everything from clothing to electronics. It became the best-selling genre of music in the United States by 2000, and played to audiences worldwide. This cultural movement started as an outlet for African American and Latino youth to vent their frustrations about their adversities. It ultimately tapped into the feelings of youth around the globe, and its influence and beat continue to spread today.
Multiple Choice Question
With which point of view about hip hop would the author MOST LIKELY agree?
A.
Hip hop has a negative influence on the young people who listen to it.
B.
Almost all hip hop songs sound similar to people unfamiliar with the genre.
C.
Only certain hip hop fans can truly identify with the lyrics of the songs.
D.
The growing popularity of hip hop has lowered the quality of the
music being produced.
Correct Answer: D. The growing popularity of hip hop has lowered the quality of the music being produced.