50 Years of Hip Hop

[DJChameleon]

In Aug. 11, 1973, a young woman from the Bronx threw a back-to-school party at her apartment complex's recreation center. To keep costs manageable, she had her 18-year-old brother, known for his serious sound system, be the DJ.

That woman was Cindy Campbell, and her brother was Clive — better known to hip-hop aficionados as DJ Kool Herc.

Black American music — jazz, blues, rock n' roll, rhythm & blues, funk — long preceded what would come to be known as hip-hop. Artists such as Kid Capri and Kurtis Blow list influences ranging from the Jubalaires, a gospel group first active in the 1930s, to comedian Pigmeat Markham to soul musician Jimmy Castor. Buckshot, from the group Black Moon, echoes the many who consider James Brown and George Clinton's Parliament Funkadelic the foundation.

Yet it's what Kool Herc did at that 1973 party that historians consider the invention of hip-hop. He played the break beats — the funkiest snippets of songs — in a continuous loop on two turntables, so the music, and therefore the dancing, never stopped.

From that point, the DJs became the stars of a party culture held mostly in New York City parks and nightclubs. It wasn't until the early 1980s when the MCs on the microphone began to command most of the spotlight and the culture spread beyond New York. By the time Sugarhill Gang's "Rapper's Delight" hit the radio airwaves, hip-hop was on its way. (Scroll down for links to more hip-hop history.)

Before 2023, hip-hop often would only come together en masse when a revered artist, such as DMX or De La Soul's Trugoy the Dove, died. This year has allowed a culture once described by Public Enemy (sampling Malcolm X) as "too Black, too strong" is able to celebrate what it has become.

"Hip-hop is a mosaic," said Dante Ross, a longtime A&R executive who influenced careers ranging from the Beastie Boys to Brand Nubian to MF Doom. "It's made up of many pieces, colors, sizes, shapes. ... it's one of the greatest art forms ever."

"It's become the epicenter of pop culture, Ross said. "Whether it's streetwear or sneaker culture or street art or any of the tangents that revolve around it, they all trace back to hip-hop."

Those who live and breathe the art form feel especially gratified by this moment because of how hip-hop was originally perceived. As former "Yo! MTV Raps" host Ed Lover recalled, hip-hop had been excluded from the Grammy Awards for years and was disregarded by so-called serious musicians as a novelty.

"I remember back in the '80s when everybody thought that hip-hop was a fad and they thought it was going to die out," Detroit producer Apollo Brown says. "It was like, 'Oh, let our kids just have their fun for a little bit and then it will be all over with.' Like, no. Hip-hop rules the world. Hip-hop is in every commercial you see. It's in every movie ... it's on every billboard."

He added, "It's obviously not a fad anymore."

For many people throughout the past 50 years, hip-hop has been the soundtrack to the highs and lows of life. The Post asked fans at the Rock The Bells Festival in Queens on Aug. 5 to articulate what it means to see a culture they love reach this milestone.

"To be out here for 50, it means taking a trip down memory lane," said Ebony Green, whose late father, a DJ in Brooklyn's Coney Island neighborhood, introduced her to hip-hop in 1986. "I'm thinking about being a little girl ... just seeing all this stuff, thinking about the records I used to wipe down for him. ... This is like a homecoming."

Terrence John, whose father was also a DJ, was at the festival with Jennifer Morales, eager to see Ludacris, Run-DMC and others perform. At 22, John is younger than many of the artists they were there to see.

"I think a lot of the music I actually found on my own, and when I looked it up on the internet or there'd be one song I'd like and I'd have to hear more," said John, who recalls always having headphones on as he was growing up. "And then maybe it would feature different artists, and now I'm going to [seek out] a different artist. And it just goes on from there."

Makeda Armorer and Francoise Neptune are Alpha Kappa Alpha sorors who attended the festival to see Queen Latifah, Monie Love, MC Lyte, Salt-N-Pepa and others. Armorer recalled her formative years falling in love with hip-hop and her own desire to perform — under the name Divine Pee-Wee Tee.

Then, she said, hip-hop "was about what was going on in the street. And then it came out with the positive messages being in the community together ... gangster rap, that's not what it was all about. It's uncommon today, but I think it was regular for a while. That's what it was. It was consciousness. It was community. It was the village."

Green, who was attending with a sister who'd surprised her with tickets that morning, and a cousin, has a family tied together through hip-hop. Her 18-year-old son, Ebon, is a fan, just as her DJ father was.

"I can't think about hip-hop without thinking about my father," she said. "Every lyric, every rhyme back and forth, singing with him, dancing with him, every time I went roller-skating with him."

Hip-hop began as primarily an inner-city culture but grew to include everyone. As an art form, it's dense and malleable enough to be whatever any creator wants it to be. It can be political, angry, fun-loving or poetic. Or, it can remind one of family.

"You get everything in 50 years of hip-hop," Neptune said. "I mean, from the trap house to the White House, you will get everything. That's why I love it."

Though many people know hip-hop from songs where a rapper rhymes to the beat, purists consider hip-hop to be made up of four elements. They are:

Emceeing, or the art of rapping — talking, singing or delivering poetry over a beat. There are various acceptable styles and formats, and raps don't necessarily have to rhyme, though they usually do. In more complicated forms, rappers might rhyme several times within the same couplet or musical bar.

Deejaying, or turntablism, is the art of manipulating the music by controlling two turntables or a DJ-friendly sound program to keep the music going or to create new sounds. (Learn more about turntablism at Brolic Army or Skratch Bastid.) Similarly, hip-hop producers are responsible for laying the backdrop for many of its songs. Sampling is the art of taking recorded sounds and rearranging or manipulating them to create new soundscapes.

B-boying, or break dancing, is the art of expressing yourself through physical movement or dance. Here's Red Bull's All You Need to Know about break dancing, and a Post feature about its debut as an Olympic sport.

Graffiti, or graf, is an artistic expression through spraypainting, writing or other means. Britannica defines it as a form of urban communication. Masterworks cites its early history on New York subway trains. That allowed graf writers' "tags" or "pieces" to move throughout the city and gain them recognition within the subculture.

Source https://www.washingtonpost.com/arts-entertainment/2023/08/10/hip-hop-50th-anniversary-rap-culture/

[DJChameleon]

So I had this idea for this thread a couple of months back but I just never got around to posting it. What I would like to happen in this thread is that we start off by posting a favorite song of ours from each decade going up chronologically. To keep the thread alive if it's been more than 24 hours since the last person posted then you can double post and do the next decade as well. Gonna start with 70s, 80s, 90s, etc.

This thread will be dedicated to the love of hip hop so along with posting the decade songs, you can post about anything you want related to hip hop. Like breaking down things related to the four elements of hip hop or hip hop's general influence over culture.

[DJChameleon]

So we have to kick this off with the OG song.

The Sugarhill Gang - Rapper's Delight.

[Lexi Darling]

Great thread idea!

I'll get things rolling into the 80s with this gold-school classic. It's so crazy that Ice T has been a part of hip hop history for 40 years. I think he went on to bigger and better things after this, but I also really love that early-mid 80s breakdancing style hip hop and this song still bangs.

[DJChameleon]

1992

For some reason I only associate Ice T with what he did in the 90s. Had no idea he made songs before then.

[Lexi Darling]

For some reason I only associate Ice T with what he did in the 90s. Had no idea he made songs before then.

His 80s stuff is super pioneering; he was pretty early to the gangsta themes, and a lot of his songs from that era still bang even though some of them are definitely a bit dated. Some of his most well known ones from that era are "6 in the Morning", "I'm Your Pusher", "Colors", "Lethal Weapon" and my personal favorite, "Squeeze the Trigger".

Okay, the 2000s. A pretty nostalgic era for me personally as I had a couple friends I hung out with in my first two years of high school who were really into crunk and southern rap, and I started getting more into hip hop beyond the radio hits.

My pick is gonna have to go to this classic from 2000. Loved it since it came out, and one I still sometimes sing to myself randomly to this day.

Would it be a good idea, once we're done with the 2020s, to loop back around to the 70s? I'd like that, just to give others a chance to contribute.

[Lucem Ferre]

50 years of the greatest genre of all time.

[SGR]

From the 2010s (2015):

[DJChameleon]

Would it be a good idea, once we're done with the 2020s, to loop back around to the 70s? I'd like that, just to give others a chance to contribute.

I think 2010s needs it's time to shine as well. Also we might as well do '20s but since we are so early in the 20s I don't know about that one. Lemme know what you think about 20s but 2010s definitely need to be showcased before going to 70s.


2020s(2020)

I'm a huge Freddie Gibbs fan. I definitely only got into him over the pandemic but I like his last few albums and any feature I've heard him on.

[DJChameleon]

1970s

[Saulaac]

1996 - Stakes Is High. Was it recently re-released? There are a lot of new postings on social media.

2020 - Slum Village x Mega Ran x Abstract Orchestra. I'm trying to get into some more Hip Hop, and this sort of thing is good.

[DJChameleon]

1996 - Stakes Is High. Was it recently re-released? There are a lot of new postings on social media.

Yeah they only now just re released their whole collection for streaming. It was taken away for awhile and I was supposed to see them tonight. Sadge.

Usually you were supposed to post a song from the 1980s but I'll do it since you skipped over and did 90s and 10s.

Eric B and Rakim - Microphone fiend(80s)

[Meatwad]

Warren G - Regulate (1994)

[DJChameleon]

T.I. - What You Know(2000s)

[Saulaac]

Yeah they only now just re released their whole collection for streaming. It was taken away for awhile and I was supposed to see them tonight. Sadge.

Usually you were supposed to post a song from the 1980s but I'll do it since you skipped over and did 90s and 10s.

Eric B and Rakim - Microphone fiend(80s)

Oops, I've got it now.
And pity that you didn't get to see De La Soul tonight.