MUS103: Survey of Music History II

Dr. Kathleen Bondurant, Ph.D.

Hip Hop and Rap

The USAhttp://www.mapsofworld.com/usa-map.jpg

Archived Sounds of North America (and the World)

• In 1998, folk singer Pete Seeger led a concert at New York’s Carnegie Hall to celebrate the fiftieth birthday of Folkways, now known as Smithsonian Folkways.

• In 1948, Moses Asch founded Folkways records to create a public archive of all the sounds in the world.

• He documented not only music, but the raw sounds of the struggles for liberation and justice in Africa, Ireland, Poland, and the United States.

• Hundreds of recordings and samples of indigenous music can be found at http://www.folkways.si.edu/index.html

Archived Sounds of North America

• Pete Seeger, one of the greatest American singer/songwriters of the last century, was the architect of the folk revival, writing some of its best known songs, including "Where Have All the Flowers Gone," "Turn, Turn, Turn" and "If I Had a Hammer." Largely misunderstood by his critics, including the U.S. government, for his views on peace, unionism, civil rights and ecology, Seeger was targeted by the communist witch hunt of the 1950s and, in spite of his enormous popularity, banned from American television for more than 17 years.

http://chawedrosin.files.wordpress.com/2007/09/broadside-pete-seeger.jpg

The Roots of Hip Hop

• The roots of Hip hop are found in African American and West African music. A group of traveling singers and poets from West Africa called griots, contributed to this musical style.

• Within New York City, griot-like performances of poetry and music by artists such as The Last Poets and Jalal Mansure Nuriddin had a great impact on the post-civil rights era culture of the 1960s and 1970s.

The Roots of Hip Hop• Hip hop arose during the 1970s when block

parties became common in New York City, especially in the Bronx. Block parties were usually accompanied by funk and soul music.

• The “hip hop” technique was popularized by early DJs at block parties who began isolating the percussion and rhythm breaks to hit songs, realizing that these were the most dance-able and entertaining parts. The style spread via the substantial Jamaican immigrant community in New York City though the music of the "godfather" of hip hop, DJ Kool Herc.

The Roots of Hip Hop

http://graffmuseum.com/wp-content/uploads/2006/03/KoolHercFlyer2006.jpg

Hip Hop (continued)• The "hip hop" term "dub" started in Jamaica

due to the influence of American sailors and radio stations playing Rhythm and Blues. Large sound systems were set up to accommodate poor Jamaicans, who couldn't afford to buy records, and dub developed at the sound systems (refers to both the system and the parties that evolved around them). Later, DJ Kool Herc switched from using reggae records to funk, rock and disco, since the New York audience did not particularly like reggae. Because the percussive breaks were generally short, Herc and other DJs began extending them such looping, sampling and remixing of another's music, usually without the original artist's knowledge or consent, can be seen as an evolution of Jamaican dub, and would become a hallmark of the “hip hop” style.

Rap

• Rapping, also referred to as emceeing, is a vocal style in which the performer speaks rhythmically and in rhyme, generally to a beat. Rappers may perform poetry which they have written ahead of time, or improvise rhymes on the spot. Though rap is usually an integral component of hip hop music, DJs sometimes perform and record alone, and many instrumental acts are also defined as hip hop.

• Snoop Dogg, The Roots, 50 Cent, and Outkast are among the top hip hop/rap artists today.

Rap

Rapper Snoop Dogg

http://misssskind.no.sapo.pt/dbimg/SnoopDoggTheBestofSnoop29298_f.jpg

The Music of North America:The USA

Text Sources:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hip_hop_musichttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_rockBroughton, Simon and Mark Ellingham, ed., “USA”, World Music, The Rough Guide. Vol. 2. Penguin Group. London, England. 2000. P. 531- 621