History of Hip-hop
DJs and MCs
Hip-hop got its start in block parties in the South Bronx in New York in the 1970s with African American, Latino, and Caribbean youths. The role of the Emcee (Master of Ceremonies) developed in hip-hop culture as the person who spoke to the audience, entertained people, and generally kept the event moving while the DJ played records. Over time the emcee turned into a rapper rapper, who creates and performs vocals for his/her own original material.
Turntabalism
Few kids growing up in the Brooklyn at the time had school band programs, their own instruments, and private lessons. Instead, the instrument at their disposal was their parents' record collections and record players, and with those tools they began a new style of music.
Read the Wikipedia entry for Turntabalism: "Kool DJ Herc, Afrika Bambaataa and Grandmaster Flash are widely credited for having cemented the now established role of DJ as hip hop's foremost instrumentalist. Kool Herc's invention of break-beat DJing is generally regarded as the foundational development in hip hop history, as it gave rise to all other elements of the genre. His influence on the concept of "DJ as turntablist" is equally profound.
To understand the significance of this achievement, it is important to first define the 'break.' Briefly, the "break" of a song is a musical fragment only seconds in length, which typically takes the form of an "interlude" in which all or most of the music stops except for the percussion. Kool Herc introduced the break-beat technique as a way of extending the break indefinitely. This is done by buying two of the same record and switching from one to the other on the DJ mixer: e.g., as record A plays, the DJ quickly backtracks to the same break on record B, which will again take the place of A at a specific moment where the audience will not notice that the DJ has switched records."
Scratching
Break beats
Beat juggling
Berklee School of Music
DJ equipment today
Read the Sweetwater DJ Buying Guide
Turntables
Kids growing up in Brooklyn in the
Mixers
Sampling
Beat Matching
Headphones
Lights
Bibliography
- Joseph G. Schloss. Making Beats: The Art of Sample-Based Hip-Hop
- Kembrew McLeod and Peter DiCola. Creative License: The Law and Culture of Digital Sampling.
- Collins, Steve. “Waveform Pirates: Sampling, Piracy and Musical Creativity.” The Journal on the Art of Record Production. Issue 3, November 2008 < http://arpjournal.com/680/waveform-pirates-sampling-piracy-and-musical-creativity/>.
Discography
Run-D.M.C.: Run-D.M.C. (1984), Raising Hell (1986)
De La Soul: 3 Feet and Rising (1989), De La Soul Is Dead (1991)
A Tribe Called Quest: People’s Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm (1990), The Low End Theory (1991)
Public Enemy: Yo! Bum Rush The Show (1987), It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back (1988), Fear Of A Black Planet (1991)
LL Cool J: Bigger and Deffer (1987), Mama Said Knock You Out (1990)
EPMD: Unfinished Business (1989), Business Never Personal (1992)
Big Daddy Kane: Long Live The Kane (1988), Taste Of Chocolate (1990)
Eric B. & Rakim: Paid In Full (1987), Follow The Leader (1988)
MC Hammer: Let’s Get It Started (1988), Please Hammer, Don’t Hurt ‘Em (1990), Too Legit TO Quit (1991)
N.W.A.:Straight Outta Compton (1988), Boogie Down Productions,Criminal Minded(1987),By All Means Necessary (1988)
Biz Markie: The Biz Never Sleeps (1989)
Beastie Boys: Licensed To Ill (1986), Paul’s Boutique (1989), Ill Communication (1994)
Vanilla Ice: To The Extreme –(1990),The Predator (1992)
Arrested Development: 3 Years, 5 Months & 2 Days in the Life Of… (1992)
Dr. Dre:The Chronic (1992)
The Notorius B.I.G.Ready To Die (1994)
Videography
Doug Pray. Scratch. Palm Pictures, 2001.
Benjamin Franzen. Copyright Criminals. Copyright Criminals, LLC, 2010.
Brett Gaylor. RIP: A Remix Manifesto. EyeSteelFilm, 2009.
Mark McNeil and Bryan Younce. Secondhand Sureshots. Stones Throw Records, 2010.
VH1: And You Don't Stop 30 Years of Hip-Hop, 2004.
Sanchir Enkhbayar. Secondhand Sureshots. Documentary about four DJs making songs using five found records, spending a maximum of $5.
- Thibaut de Longevilleand Lisa Leone. Just For Kicks. Documentary on tennis shoes.
Webography
Databases speculating on which samples have been used on which records:
www.whosampled.com
www.the-breaks.com
http://paulsboutique.info/
[ Week 8 ]