Vocal Bop Desk
Who is not fond of Hip-hop music? Yes, this reminds us of the cultural movement happened in 1980 and 1990. Hip hop gained widespread popularity back then. From Eric B & Rakim to Kayne West, hip hop has never let us down.
However, fewer people know the details about the hip hop song. And today, we will take a tour to the best definition, origin, history and other details of Hip Hop Song.
Definition of Hip Hop Songs
Hip hop is basically a genre of music that is influenced by funk and rap. Hip Hop includes deejaying, melody, rhythm, rap, funk, etc. A genre of music that holds intensely rhythmic lyrical form where the profusion use of techniques like alliteration, rhyme, and assonance is added is called Hip Hop song.
It was born in the Bronx, New York City. However, now, this is widely popular throughout the world. From discos to party songs on television, we see hip hop everywhere now!
Origins of Hip Hop
When it comes to hip-hop music, people often consider it as rap music. However, these two are not completely identical.
There are differences in hip-hop and Rap songs. When the discussion is on Hip-hop, you have to understand that it is basically made of four different elements.
The four elements of hip hop music are DEEJAYING or TURNTABLING, B-BOYING, MCing or RHYMING, and WRITING or GRAF. Yes, this sounds very complex.
History of Hip Hop Songs
Hip Hop music was developed first in 1970 but this was not as popular as it is now. This was not music that was developed by the rich. Basically, hip hop music got popular between the poor districts of NYC. And do you know who brought this? It was first developed by Latino and African American teenagers. At that this, this was a part of a hip hop scene. This used to contain graffiti art along with break dancing.
As we said, this was the music of the poor African American and Latino teenagers, they were basically unemployed. Some of these people got a chance in several discos and started working as DJs. Here, they got to know about deejaying and the proper techniques of deejaying. They got to know the proper method of using a DJ Mixer. They also learned using two different turntables. They started playing records nonstop on DJ Mixers.
To earn more they used to join the block parties in their neighborhoods. In some cases, they sued to visit neighborhoods and work without any payment. They used to play funk and their entire disco tracks continuously. And to gain attention and to make the party more interesting, they used to call people or their friends to act as MC.
The work of MC included introducing the DJ. He also used to make people enthusiastic about dancing and having fun! Not only introducing but there were also other MCs that were more informal for making the party better. These MCs used to talk to the members of the parties. They used to entertain the members of the party and make them feel good.
They also used to go for rhymes in the middle of the beats of the music. The used to make it sound good and so, they made the rhymes sound perfect keeping in pace with the music. And in this way, RAPPING was invented. Yes, Rapping is invented from rhyming throughout the Deejaying!
Old School Hip Hop Music
In such ways, rapping got popular. People were fond of rapping. And for the sake of the audience and to make the parties more appealing, the DJs and the MCs started pairing up. They used to form duos and used to join the discos to entertain people and make people dance.
As DJs and MCs started to work together, a competition between both of them started forming. Also, the number of DJs and MCs started increasing. DJ and MC as professions got popular. This profession helped them getting a moderate amount of money. And so, the unemployed people formed duos to make things work. They started pairing up and make duos for the discos. They got a chance in different discos and parties to show off their talents.
And so, there begins another competition between the groups of duos. Every DJ and MC combo wanted to be the best. And as a result, the DJs ad MCs tried hard to make their position in this sector. They started to work hard and improve their performance. They started practicing more and more.
As a result, the DJs started using several techniques for developing their beats. They began to sampling short drum brakes and along with this; they started scratching it to make it sound better.
Conversely, the MCs were never lagged behind. They started developing their positions too. They started to develop their raps. They used complex rhymes to seek the attention of the disco’s members. Their flow was developed and the natural flow in their rap got better than before.
Though Hip Hop music got very famous in those days, people were not coming up with live music at all. And when it came out in 1979, it changed the game for all the music genres! This was basically a hip hop single. It was done by the Sugarhill gang and the name of the single was Rapper’s Delight. And it became a top 10 hit at that time!
After this release, The Breaks and Planet Rock came out to join the game. The hip hop songs of that age were fun and entertaining. However, there came a change in 1982 when a hip hop song named The Message came out. This was done by Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five. The Message has a slow funk. This was basically a form of SOCIALLY-CONSCIOUS hip hop song. It covered the social issues of that like including crime, stress, and poverty. Along with this, there were melodic synthesizer riffs.
Golden Age of Hip Hop Songs
In 1980, a drastic change in hip hop music came. There were melody hooks that were very catchy. Rappers like LL Cool J and DMC cam in the game. In 1986, an album named Raising Hell came out and got very famous. Along with the rappers, the Beastie Boys, that was basically a punk rock band, started to add raps to their music. Their album Licensed To III got out and gained love from the audience.
Artists of Hip Hop Music
Eric B & Rakim, De La Soul, Jazz Rap, Mos Def & Talib, Ice-T, Dr-Dre, Lil’ Kim, Goodie Mob, Kendrick Lamar are the most popular artists of hip hop songs. They afforded amazing songs.
Along with this, the other popular artists are Public Enemy, Fugees, Gang Starr, Common, Nas, Snoop Dog, Rapsody, Young Thug, Kayne West. The list is long and you must try them all!
Wrap Up
Hip hop music was a genre of music that was popular back in ’80s. This was just an effort of the people that were not employed and wanted to entertain people in the discos. The combination of MCs and DJs created an amazing form of music.
And today, there are a few people that don’t know about music. This is how music comes in and changes its form to create a new genre!
