I decided to look into the history of hip hop for this scavenger hunt Professor O’Malley has sent us on. The first thing I did was start with the Ngram viewer on Google to see when the term first popped up in history. I should say shot up, to better describe it, because from the 1980 mark it absolutely fleeeeww up the chart. Another thing I did was simply Google the word hip hop, which I got a pretty interesting definition. It is defined as “a style of popular music of US black and Hispanic origin, featuring rap with an electronic backing,” which surprises me, but at the same time doesn’t. Not surprisingly is the influence of black Americans, but I am taken a back a little about the Hispanic origins.
One of the first articles I read, dated back to 1988, gave almost a glossary of terms used in hip-hop to better help people understand the lingo. It made me laugh because almost all of them are still relevant today. The article was from the LA Times and states that hip-hop origins from West Africa and the terminology has come from the Caribbean. It also states that DJ Kool Herc and Grandmaster Flash, also native to the Caribbean, are credited with bringing the style of music to New York. Lastly, it states hip-hop as an umbrella term. As a subculture, it stands for rapping, deejaying, scratching, breakdancing, and graffiti art. Another article I found, written in the Providence Journal, discusses the “Latino” hip hop as using brassy horns, Latin piano, and aggressive drum beats. I read through this little snippet solely because I wanted to see if it would help piece together the Latin aspect of the definition it gave me, but it seems to just discuss Latin hiphop as a branch of “regular” hip hop I guess? An interesting quote in the Journal, though, was that “hip hop artist say their music doesn’t try to be Latin, but what’s in their blood comes out in their music,” which I found really playful and nice to read.
I was searching more in ProQuest and unfortunately couldn’t find find the full article, but the beginning itself was so interesting to read. I attached a picture underneath and it looks really blurry so I hope it doesn’t post like that, but it describes the whole “hip hop” look. I’m not sure if any other music styles really had a look back then, but I think it’s intersting if this was the first instance of it. I feel like hip hop music introduced so much more to the world than just music itself, but an actual to-live-by culture that people took really seriously.
Another popular name that keeps coming up is Afrika Bambaataa, who was one of the breakthrough artists for hip hop music in general. I can recall some music mentioning his name now that I’ve read more about him. He also originated the Zulu Nation, which were politically aware rappers who were immersed in this, again, hip hop culture. I think its really cool how many things branched out of hip hop music alone. A newspaper article I found in the Seattle times dated back to 1985 states Bambaataa as the king of hip hop, and describes him as a lover, not a fighter. He was someone with an open mind who was able to masterfully mix all different kinds of music, including rock and funk fans. This newspaper article also states some of the origins of hip hop, with it again being started in New York, but also how it got its name. “Hip hop, dont stop, keep on to the body rock,” chanted by a famous rapper Love Bug.
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PATRICK MACDONALD, TIMES,STAFF CRITIC. “AFRIKA BAMBAATAA, THE HIP-HOP HERO, WILL PERFORM AT GORILLA GARDENS.” Seattle Times, Seattle, Wash., 1985.http://search.proquest.com.mutex.gmu.edu/docview/385157071?accountid=14541.
RODRIGUEZ, CINDY E. “Latin Hip Hop is there for the Dancin’.” Providence Journal, Providence, R.I., 1989.http://search.proquest.com.mutex.gmu.edu/docview/396884446?accountid=14541.