Hip Hop History

The Development of Hip-Hop and Rap throughout the Twentieth Century: The Outline Art. Throughout history, mankind has always expressed his emotions, ideas, and opinions in the form of art. Whether it be a caveman painting on the wall of his cave, or Galileo and his ceiling in the Sistine chapel, art has always existed in some form or another. But history’s greatest art and the geniuses behind it are all found in the past century right here in the U.S. of A. These masterpieces are classified as ‘hip-hop or ‘rap’ music. The internet defines hip-hop as ‘a popular style of music featuring rap with an electronic background’. But I define hip-hop as the perfect and glorious combination of elegant computer-generated rhythm and socially aware crafty
(G) ‘New School Hip Hop’ is the second wave of hip hop music, originating around 1983-1984. Examples of this New School hip hop can be found in records of artist such as Run-D.M.C. and LL Cool J. The Golden age hip hop period was an innovative period between the mid-1980s and the early 1990s. A few examples of artists during this Golden Age were Juice Crew, Public Enemy, Eric B. & Rakim, Boogie Down Productions and KRS-One, EPMD, Slick Rick, Beastie Boys, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane, Ultramagnetic MCs, De La Soul, and A Tribe Called Quest. One subgenre of hip hop, called Gangsta Rap, can be seen in art from musicians such as Schoolly D, N.W.A., Ice Cube, and the Geto Boys. These artists are often credited with founding the subgenre of Gangsta Rap. “These artists were known for mixing the political and social commentary of political rap with the criminal elements and crime stories found in gangsta rap.” (Lamont) Gangsta rap often focuses on the violent lifestyles and impoverished conditions of inner-city youths. Although Gangsta Rap is started back in the mid 1980’s, much of the music from this time is still deeply imbedded in today’s media. For example, N.W.A. is still largely popular among hip-hop/rap fans. There are many well-known and iconic songs by N.W.A., such as ‘**** Tha Police’, ‘Gangsta Gangsta’, ‘100 Miles and Runnin’’, and many more. The original N.W.A. was comprised of artists such as Arabian Prince, Dr.Dre, Eazy-E, and Ice Cube. They were later joined by DJ Yella and MC Ren. Arabian Prince left shortly before the release of their legendary album ‘Straight Outta Compton’ over royalty disputes. Ice Cube left in December of 1989. There is even a reference to this in the song ‘100 Mile and Runnin’, where it says “We started with five, but yo / One [Ice Cube] couldn't take it—So now it's four / Cuz the fifth couldn't