| Rap music originated as a cross-cultural | | | | containing dozens of sound bites specifically |
| product. Most of its important early | | | | to facilitate sampling. One effect of |
| practitioners-including Kool Herc, D.J. | | | | sampling was a newfound sense of musical |
| Hollywood, and Afrika Bambaataa-were either | | | | history among black youth. Earlier artists |
| first- or second-generation Americans of | | | | such as Brown and Clinton were celebrated as |
| Caribbean ancestry. Herc and Hollywood are | | | | cultural heroes and their older recordings |
| both credited with introducing the Jamaican | | | | were reissued and repopularized.During the |
| style of cutting and mixing into the musical | | | | mid-1980s, rap moved from the fringes of |
| culture of the South Bronx. By most accounts | | | | hip-hop culture to the mainstream of the |
| Herc was the first DJ to buy two copies of | | | | American music industry as white musicians |
| the same record for just a 15-second break | | | | began to embrace the new style. In 1986 rap |
| (rhythmic instrumental segment) in the | | | | reached the top ten on the Billboard pop |
| middle. By mixing back and forth between the | | | | charts with "(You Gotta) Fight for Your Right |
| two copies he was able to double, triple, or | | | | (To Party!)" by the Beastie Boys and "Walk |
| indefinitely extend the break. In so doing, | | | | This Way" by Run-DMC and Aerosmith. Known for |
| Herc effectively deconstructed and | | | | incorporating rock music into its raps, |
| reconstructed so-called found sound, using | | | | Run-DMC became one of the first rap groups to |
| the turntable as a musical instrument.While | | | | be featured regularly on MTV (Music |
| he was cutting with two turntables, Herc | | | | Television). Also during the mid-1980s, the |
| would also perform with the microphone in | | | | first female rap group of consequence, |
| Jamaican toasting style-joking, boasting, and | | | | Salt-N-Pepa, released the singles "The Show |
| using myriad in-group references. Herc's | | | | Stoppa" (1985) and "Push It" (1987); "Push |
| musical parties eventually gained notoriety | | | | It" reached the top 20 on Billboard's pop |
| and were often documented on cassette tapes | | | | charts. In the late 1980s a large segment of |
| that were recorded with the relatively new | | | | rap became highly politicized, resulting in |
| boombox, or blaster, technology. Taped | | | | the most overt social agenda in popular music |
| duplicates of these parties rapidly made | | | | since the urban folk movement of the 1960s. |
| their way through the Bronx, Brooklyn, and | | | | The groups Public Enemy and Boogie Down |
| uptown Manhattan, spawning a number of | | | | Productions epitomized this political style |
| similar DJ acts. Among the new breed of DJs | | | | of rap. Public Enemy came to prominence with |
| was Afrika Bambaataa, the first important | | | | their second album, It Takes a Nation of |
| Black Muslim in rap. (The Muslim presence | | | | Millions to Hold Us Back (1988), and the |
| would become very influential in the late | | | | theme song "Fight the Power" from the motion |
| 1980s.) Bambaataa often engaged in | | | | picture Do the Right Thing (1989),by American |
| sound-system battles with Herc, similar to | | | | filmmaker Spike Lee. Proclaiming the |
| the so-called cutting contests in jazz a | | | | importance of rap in black American culture, |
| generation earlier. The sound system | | | | Public Enemy's lead singer, Chuck D., |
| competitions were held at city parks, where | | | | referred to it as the African American CNN |
| hot-wired street lamps supplied electricity, | | | | (Cable News Network).Alongside the rise of |
| or at local clubs. Bambaataa sometimes mixed | | | | political rap came the introduction of |
| sounds from rock-music recordings and | | | | gangsta rap, which attempts to depict an |
| television shows into the standard funk and | | | | outlaw lifestyle of sex, drugs, and violence |
| disco fare that Herc and most of his | | | | in inner-city America. In 1988 the first |
| followers relied upon. By using rock records, | | | | major album of gangsta rap was released: |
| Bambaataa extended rap beyond the immediate | | | | Straight Outta Compton by the rap group NWA |
| reference points of contemporary black youth | | | | (Niggaz With Attitude). Songs from the album |
| culture. By the 1990s any sound source was | | | | generated an extraordinary amount of |
| considered fair game and rap artists borrowed | | | | controversy for their violent attitudes and |
| sounds from such disparate sources as Israeli | | | | inspired protests from a number of |
| folk music, bebop jazz records, and | | | | organizations, including the FBI (Federal |
| television news broadcasts.In 1976 | | | | Bureau of Investigation). However, attempts |
| Grandmaster Flash introduced the technique In | | | | to censor gangsta rap only served to |
| 1979 the first two rap records appeared: | | | | publicize the music and make it more |
| "King Tim III (Personality Jock)," recorded | | | | attractive to both black and white youths. |
| by the Fatback Band, and "Rapper's Delight," | | | | NWA became a platform for launching the solo |
| by Sugarhill Gang. A series of verses recited | | | | careers of some of the most influential |
| by the three members of Sugarhill Gang, | | | | rappers and rap producers in the gangsta |
| "Rapper's Delight" became a national hit, | | | | style, including Dr. Dre, Ice Cube, and |
| reaching number 36 on the Billboard magazine | | | | Eazy-E.In the 1990s rap became increasingly |
| popular music charts. The spoken content, | | | | eclectic, demonstrating a seemingly limitless |
| mostly braggadocio spiced with fantasy, was | | | | capacity to draw samples from any and all |
| derived largely from a pool of material used | | | | musical forms. A number of rap artists have |
| by most of the earlier rappers. The backing | | | | borrowed from jazz, using samples as well as |
| track for "Rapper's Delight" was supplied by | | | | live music. Some of the most influential |
| hired studio musicians, who replicated the | | | | jazz-rap recordings include Jazzamatazz CD |
| basic groove of the hit song "Good Times" | | | | (1993), an album by Boston rapper Guru, and |
| (1979) by the American disco group Chic. | | | | "Cantaloop (Flip Fantasia)" (1993), a single |
| Perceived as novel by many white Americans, | | | | by the British group US3. In the United |
| "Rapper's Delight" quickly inspired "Rapture" | | | | Kingdom, jazz-rap evolved into a genre known |
| (1980) by the new-wave band Blondie, as well | | | | as trip-hop, the most prominent artists and |
| as a number of other popular records. In 1982 | | | | groups being Tricky and Massive Attack. As |
| Afrika Bambaataa's "Planet Rock" became the | | | | rap became increasingly part of the American |
| first rap record to use synthesizers and an | | | | mainstream in the 1990s, political rap became |
| electronic drum machine. With this recording, | | | | less prominent while gangsta rap, as |
| rap artists began to create their own backing | | | | epitomized by the Geto Boys, Snoop Doggy |
| tracks rather than simply offering the work | | | | Dogg, and Tupac Shakur, grew in |
| of others in a new context. A year later | | | | popularity.Since the mid-1980s rap music has |
| Bambaataa introduced the sampling | | | | greatly influenced both black and white |
| capabilities of synthesizers on "Looking for | | | | culture in North America. Much of the slang |
| the Perfect Beat" (1983).of quick mixing, in | | | | of hip-hop culture, including such terms as |
| which sound bites as short as one or two | | | | dis, fly, def, chill, and wack, have become |
| seconds are combined for a collage effect. | | | | standard parts of the vocabulary of a |
| Quick mixing paralleled the rapid-editing | | | | significant number of young people of various |
| style of television advertising used at the | | | | ethnic origins. Many rap enthusiasts assert |
| time. Shortly after Flash introduced quick | | | | that rap functions as a voice for a community |
| mixing, his partner Grandmaster Melle Mel | | | | without access to the mainstream media. |
| composed the first extended stories in rhymed | | | | According to advocates, rap serves to |
| rap. Up to this point, most of the words | | | | engender self-pride, self-help, and |
| heard over the work of disc jockeys such as | | | | self-improvement, communicating a positive |
| Herc, Bambaataa, and Flash had been | | | | and fulfilling sense of black history that is |
| improvised phrases and expressions. In 1978 | | | | largely absent from other American |
| DJ Grand Wizard Theodore introduced the | | | | institutions. Political rap artists have |
| technique of scratching to produce rhythmic | | | | spurred interest in the Black Muslim movement |
| patterns.Sampling brought into question the | | | | as articulated by minister Louis Farrakhan, |
| ownership of sound. Some artists claimed that | | | | generating much criticism from those who view |
| by sampling recordings of a prominent black | | | | Farrakhan as a racist. Gangsta rap has also |
| artist, such as funk musician James Brown, | | | | been severely criticised for lyrics that many |
| they were challenging white corporate America | | | | people interpret as glorifying the most |
| and the recording industry's right to own | | | | violent and misogynistic (woman-hating) |
| black cultural expression. More problematic | | | | imagery in the history of popular music. The |
| was the fact that rap artists were also | | | | style's popularity with middle-class whites |
| challenging Brown's and other musicians' | | | | has been attacked as vicarious thrill-seeking |
| right to own, control, and be compensated for | | | | of the most insidious sort. Defenders of |
| the use of their intellectual creations. By | | | | gangsta rap argue that no matter who is |
| the early 1990s a system had come about | | | | listening to the music, the raps are |
| whereby most artists requested permission and | | | | justified because they accurately portray |
| negotiated some form of compensation for the | | | | life in inner-city is the #1 Hip Hop Jewelry |
| use of samples. Some commonly sampled | | | | retailer on the net. We have all the Bling |
| performers, such as funk musician George | | | | Bling that you are looking for. |
| Clinton, released compact discs (CDs) | | | | |