Ckaz
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To say music is important is about the biggest understatement one can make. Music in itself is something that can define cultures, unite nations, and most importantly, it can find its way into every human being’s heart. There is a reason why music can be found in so many genres, and even more sub-genres on top of that; it is due to the enormously vast and universal legion of listeners who treat their ears to its musical... musicality. Anyway, one such genre is called Hip Hop, and like most things it has its own complex groundwork that makes it all the more interesting. This particular writer happens to have a passion for said genre of music, and in turn has decided to compose a write up of where this music is at, where it is going, and how far it has come. By doing so, I hope to enlighten the ignorant, shed light on the misconceptions, and quite possibly convert a few readers in the process. All I ask is that you understand that no one person can know all things about… well, anything really and even if someone could, it would be impossible to cram it all into one write-up. So, if I fail to mention your favourite artists time and time again, all I ask is that you please bear with me.
Since the intricate history of Hip-Hop spans over more than a few decades, it seems best to cover its years in a time-line fashion. What better place to start then with the beginning.
Hip Hop has its roots in African American culture, and that’s a very important distinction. The genre itself isn’t African, nor is it American. No, it is a culmination of the two that came as a result of African Americans asserting their place within mainstream American culture. It was at this point (late 1970’s) that the African American culture really needed something to identify themselves with, something that they could call their own; they chose to do so with music.
People often ask where Hip hop draws its influences, but that’s a complicated question. It is important to understand that hip hop basics are comprised of two main elements; samples, and synthesized drums. Artists came under lots of pressure from the media because it was thought that sampling was stealing, and that it lacked creativity and originality therefore excluding itself from music (for those of you who don’t know, sampling is the process of taking a ‘loop’ from an old, typically unknown song, and applying it to a hip hop beat). See, at that time it was hard for people to realize that in sampling music, hip hop artists were not only paying tribute to great musicians of the past, but that they had invented the high-watermark of music ingenuity. With Hip Hop giving people something to cultivate and own exclusively, it acted as a testament to all that they didn’t yet have. That’s where the synthesised drums came in. Some of the greatest DJ’s of all time produced beats in their basements. This wasn’t music made in a studio with a live band; it was a guy with a drum pad and a record scratcher. Problem is, at the time those synthesized drum beats only existed to the general public in a largely basic, unrefined form. It is that roughness, that bluntness, that defines the hip hop sound.
Hip Hop started off as being original in its un-originality. By that I’m referring to the way that by sampling music and using low-fi, 8-bit recording machines, the genre was able to emerge as something entirely its own.
Hip Hop is a genre of music that has evolved, and in some cases managed to do a full revolution with its progression. DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince preached the idea of bringing people together with music, in hopes of creating unity and strength among the African-American people. It was in the mid 80’s that MC’s started focusing on proving their prowess over one another. Though this may have started out as benign, the bragging soon escalated. It didn’t take long for an MC to put aside his microphone and pick up his 9mm in an effort to prove superiority. Around this same time, west coast rap was starting to emerge, pioneered by the group N.W.A. This sparked a feud that was destined to last for decades. Boogie Down Productions, headed by the legendary KRS-One in the late 80’s, was one of the first Hip Hop groups that started what would be a lasting trend of more aggressive MC’ing. Though artists like De La Soul and A Tribe Called Quest are still considered legends, their laid-back, jazz influenced style simply couldn’t maintain hence the niche that they have now become.
Kool G Rap is the originator of what is commonly known as ‘Mafioso Rap’. Mafia rap, in other words, is the romanticizing of the drug and crime underworld. It was inspired by modern American gangsters such as Al Capone and the likes... even the G in Kool G Rap stands for Giancana, a Chicago mobster from the late 50’s and 60’s. It didn’t take long for Jay-Z to follow suit with his first album ‘Reasonable Doubt’ which brought Mafioso rap from the underground more into the Hip Hop mainstream. Iconic alcoholic drinks, such as Crystal, taking up the majority of lyrical content was an indicator to the course that Hip Hop was heading. The Mafioso sub-genre marked the transition with which Hip Hop became Rap. True MC’s started to dwindle as did lyrical content that contained any kind of real meaning.
Fast forward to the early 90’s. Tupac and The Notorious B.I.G. are soon to be dead and Wu Tang Clan has recently released their acclaimed 36 Chambers album. It is important that everyone understands the significance of this time period. Just about every famous line that was to be rhymed in the years to come would be influenced by a record that came out of this late 80’s to mid 90’s era. Consider this; the word ‘sick’ used as a positive adjective, or the phrase ‘9mm’ in reference to a gun. Those two phrases were just some of the prolific utterances that were to be conceived by KRS-One. The influence of Biggie Smalls need not even be mentioned. Suffice it to say he is one of the few rappers that could ever be considered a G.O.A.T. (Greatest Of All Time). Many African American people were still living in a state of unemployment and near poverty. There was a huge community of people that didn’t watch the news and that didn’t read the paper. They derived their world views and political opinions from what was being blasted from their boom boxes. Now consider the implications of ‘screw the Police’ becoming a number one hit record. If Mos Def was rapping about water shortages at this time, maybe things would have turned out differently.
Fast forward again to the 21st century. This is the era of big money, big cars, and big jewellery. Even in recent years where most people view Hip Hop as having fallen off, its influence is undeniable. From the clothes we wear, to the man running the United States of America, Rap culture has made its mark.
I personally have a burning hate for what Rap has done to itself, and more importantly, what the listeners have done to Rap. It was in the early 2000’s that being different became the cool thing to do. Massive amounts of youth found Rap music to be an outlet in which they could be different from society, but still fit in at the same time. Record labels along with the media found a goldmine in this. Rappers became utter pawns, giving up complete control to whatever happened to be the big trend at the time. Now, I’m in support of the pursuit of money, I think it’s great; but modern rappers managed to let it engulf them to the point that music was no longer an element in the tracks they were producing.
Fast forward one last time to around 2008. Here we see the genre of Hip Hop making its final steps to completing its revolution. It’s had its ups and it’s had its downs, but like all things it seems it must return to what it was in its early stages. Hip Hop has seen a modern re-birth, mostly credited to the era of the indie sub-culture that we youth live in today. Listening to the radio is the least cool thing one can do, and in this we have veered from the rap mainstream. Nowadays, it’s all about the blogs. At first, these blogs featured new music content from rappers people hadn’t heard of, and it gave them a sense of being in the know.
And here we arrive in the present day. Artists like Drake and Wiz Khalifa are considered ‘real rap’ because they can relate to the youth, and Eminem is considered a God because he raps about ‘real things’. It is still too early for the imprint left by mainstream rap to have come close to disappearing. Every African American in his late teens still thinks he has an inherent ‘rap’ gene making him destined to spit fire the moment he is conceived in the womb, and as a result we managed to come dangerously close to the point where there were more rappers than there were listeners.
As for where rap is headed, that’s not something that anyone can be sure of. However in my humble opinion, I see rap traveling in the direction of more and more sub-genres. Female vocals will move from soulful choruses to melodic ad-lib accompaniments. Live instruments (actual people playing actual music) will become the standard. It won’t take long for Hip Hop to become the equivalent of clothes, everyone will have their own preference that has its own distinct style, though no matter how numerous these sub-genres become they will still be a product of past influence.
Anyway, one quick glance at my current word count tells me it’s time to wrap it up (pun intended). We’ve gone through Hip Hop’s roots, its golden age and its darkest moments and in the end we wound up where we started off. Hip Hop is still the music with which youth want to identify themselves with. The game may have changed, what with kids like Blair Mattis as our self-proclaimed rap gurus, but it’s important to remember how this culture was started and why it has become more than just a fad. Once we come to understand that, we can hope to move forward with new genres while still honouring the past.
