Hip Hop History

Hip hop music also referred to as rap music or hip hop. This is one of the well know and widely spread genres of music. It is a well know culture in the United States and other regions in the world. The art of hip hop appeared in the 1970s from the poor districts of the country. It was well known to African Americans and the Latino community. Hip hop was seen to go hand in hand with graffiti art and break dancing. However, the Hip hop culture can be traced back to about the 1th and 16th centuries in Britain.

This type of music is thought to have originated from certain forms of storytelling in the African community where the story teller would narrate a whole narrative as music from handmade instruments was played. This form of storytelling was called griot. This is still a major mode of communication is some African communities to date.

Rap is the type of music that is made up of rhythmically chanted words and raps. Currently most of the hip hop musicians and also referred to as rappers. The reception of this type of music was somewhat cold unlike what was expected. The first ever rap music to be recorded and released was King Tim III by the Fatback Band. The producers were however skeptical too and put the track in the side B of the cassette. However, following the acceptance of the music by clubs around it was pushed to side A. After this more similar music was recorded and played all over the country and ultimately the world.

As this form of artistic music progressed it paved way to more advancements such as DJ entering the music community. This happened in 1980. They became crucial where there was need for a support system to help make the base heard for people to dance to. This system consisted of DJs, roadies, engineers and bouncers. DJs became the major players. In this period, several of them had already started appearing. DJs started their work by just toasting. This is just the addition of few slogans over the song aimed at encouraging the dancers. These were such as ‘move it’, ‘work it’ etc. and just the music itself, the art of being a DJ evolved over time to what is currently seen as a fun addition to music.

With the evolution in music came the evolution in the dancing styles. This came from the electric boogie to free styling. This has kept on for long but there have been more dancing styles come up over the years. This are such as the Dub, break dancing among others. Currently people are just swept by the grove and take whichever style they want to have a good time with.

The hip hop culture has also take its toll on the dress code of the current youth. Most of the people in this culture tend to be in lose clothes and in sneakers. This is because of the dancing styles in the music

Previously thought of only to belong to the African American and Latino Immigrants and only to be understood by them, the art of hip hop music has grown even to the white community. It is currently of the well-known genres of music all over the world especially the United States of America. Many artists are now pursuing this as a career. The 21st century has seen the advancement and acceptance of this art more and more each day.