From underground hip hop to mainstream – the story of hip hop’s rising

(Author: arrticol_5@yahoo.com | Article Views: 10 | Word Count: 574 | Published: Dec 28th 2007)

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Hip hop is a style of music which has its roots in African-American and West African music. It was born in 1970s in New York, more exactly, in Bronx, when block parties became popular. The performers were DJs or MCs. The hip hob began when DJs started to isolate the percussion beat from funk or disco songs, because they realized that the audience liked to dance to these beats. The MCs was originally a person who introduced the DJ and the music; his role was to entertain the public by speaking, joking and dancing. Today, rapping or emceeing is an important part of the hip hop, in which the MC speaks in rhymes to the rhythm of the beat.

The term “hip-hop” is believed to have been invented by Keith Cowboy, a rapper from Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five. The reasons why hip hop has become so popular during the 1970s are numerous. Firstly, it was the fact that practically anyone who had the desire could rap. Secondly, it was the growing unpopularity of disco and rock that opened the doors widely for something different. Underground hip hop was born in the ghettos, a world of poverty and violence that is described in the lyrics of many rap songs. It was not just a form of entertainment, but a social manifest, a protest from the poor black class who felt deprived of their rights. One of the first underground hip hop songs that carried a social message was called “The Message”(just like that) and was released by Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five in 1982. Other artists, like Public Enemy, followed.

As anyone could imagine, the scene of underground hip hop was dominated at first by young Afro-American male bands. However, it has been proven that whites and females can also sing hip hop. The first successful female rap band was Salt-N-Pepa in 1985. About white artists, suffice it to say that one of the most notorious rappers in the world, Eminem, is white (Beastie Boys and Vanilla Ice are other successful examples). In the 1990s, underground hip hop evolved into mainstream gangsta rap, with one of the most bestselling hip-hopers in the world, Dr. Dre. Hip hop became a very popular genre in the USA as well as the rest of the world.

Together with the success also came the problems. The rivalry between East Coast and West Coast hip-hopers has resulted into the tragic, yet mysterious deaths of Tupac Shakur and Notorious B.I.G. Today, it is clear that hip hop is no longer music for the black and poor only. In fact, many of the successful rappers have earned fortunes from their singing. Some underground hip hop artists accuse gangsta rap of being commercial. The rappers who wear gold or platinum extravagant jewelry and drive expensive cars are often said to have betrayed the true essence of hip hop. The lyrics of their songs don’t talk anymore about social issues, but about women, violence and money.

The good thing is that hip-hop is listened to by a wide range of people, of all ages and social environments. The fact that you like rap music doesn’t mean that you are an uneducated Afro-American male who lives in the ghetto. Hip-hop is more than a genre of music, it has its own culture and most rap fans dress themselves and act differently from other people, to show that they belong to the hip-hop community.

About the Author

At the beginning there was underground hip hop, born in the ghettos of New York in the 1970s, created by the Afro-American population. Today, hip hop is a popular genre which has fans all over the world. Many rappers have gained international fame and appreciation.

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