History of Rap

Essay by nune22College, Undergraduate July 2014

download word file, 13 pages 0.0

HISTORY OF RAP

Introduction

I have decided to talk about the history of Rap because, not only because I'm extremely interested in it, but also because I'm going to be composing Rap music in component 4.

Rap and Hip Hop, nowadays, are terms used interchangeably when referring to rap music or music made by rappers. However, these are two different things. Rap is a musical component of Hip Hop, whereas Hip Hop is a cultural movement that began in the 70's in the Bronx, New York.

The Early Years (1970's)

Hip Hop is the cultural and social movement that emerged from the newly impoverished and gang related-violence filled Bronx. Due to the new Cross Bronx Expressway, which made people move and lowered house prices, there was a huge influx of immigrants. The Hip Hop movement was one that represented black people's oppression and how their living conditions were, both being a way to talk about it and a way to enjoy music and life to get away from the real world, in a sense.

Hip Hop consists of four elements: DJing, MCing, break-dancing and graffiti art. Break-dancing, the dancers being the B-boys and B-girls, is a typical dance of Hip-hop still today that is skilful and strong and revolves around the breaks (which will be later explained). Graffiti art was the "illegal" art that was the trend at the time, especially on subways and special places. These two are less relevant however, and we're going to be focusing on the other two to explain how they affected the early stages of what we know as Rap today.

Rapping in the beginning actually didn't even have the complexity regarding rhymes and words that it has today. As a matter of fact, in the beginning the emphasis was given to the...