FEATURE of their smash hit ' Rappers Delight ', which became the first rap single to become a Top 40 hit on the Billboard Hot 100. The famous track starts with the lyrics ' I said a hip hop the hippie the hippie to the hip hip hop and you don ' t stop '. From these early days the term hip hop began to be recognised internationally.
In 1982 Afrika Bambaataa and the Soulsonic Force released the electro-funk track ' Planet Rock '. Bambaataa, with producer Arthur Baker, created an electronic sound, taking advantage of the rapidly improving drum machine Roland TR-808 synthesizer technology. By fusing the two sounds they created a new branch of the hip hop tree. Many ground breaking tracks followed including: ' The Message ' by Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, Man Parrish ' s
' Hip Hop, Be Bop( Don ' t Stop)' and Warp 9 ' s ' Light Years Away ' to name just a few! As the 1980 ' s progressed hip hop became more mainstream and tracks like Run-DMC ' s ' It ' s like That ' and Public Enemy ' s ' Black Steel in the Hour of Chaos ' climbed the charts. The global urban community embraced hip hop and the creative freedom it promoted. In this time of growth, the creation of rhythm using the human body was discovered and the vocal percussion technique of beatboxing was born. This paved the way for MC ' s to take centre stage, with free-styling and lyrical poetry taking over; and Doug E Fresh, Big L and Rakim leading the way.
The music video also played a big part in hip hop ' s growing popularity. This new visual representation, matching the reality reflecting lyrics, changed the game by upping
the entertainment factor. This saw a number of hip hop related movies released like ' Wild Style ' and ' Breakin '. These factors all contributed to hip hop ' s global reach and cemented the art form ' s place, not only in the music industry, but in urban culture internationally.
The hip hop scene was dominated by male voices as labels where reluctant to back female artists. If a female artist did get through, the recording industry would push their sexuality over their musical substance, but of course not all female rappers conformed. Pioneers of the female voice in hip hop include: Lil Kim, Queen Latifah, Salt ' N ' Pepper, MC Lyte, Foxy Brown, Missy Elliott and Lauryn Hill.
In 1988 N. W. A ' s album ' Straight Outta Compton ' was selling at such high numbers it became very clear to the industry that black teens were no longer hip hop ' s sole buying audience. However, Mainstream America was not so thrilled at the rise in the outspoken, raw lyrics many hip hop labels and artists were producing. It was said that these songs and performers were glorifying the thug lifestyle and misleading
the youth to a life a crime by glamorising drugs, sex and the gang lifestyle. Many artists would protest this in interviews, expressing their right to speak freely on political and social matters through their music and often condemning those naive to the reality of the times.
The late 1980 ' s saw the rise of gangsta rap and the lyrical content of hip hop ' s tracks shifted to drugs, violence and misogyny. Ice-T recorded what some consider to be the first gangster rap record, ' 6 N ' the Mornin ' and N. W. A ' s ' Niggaz4Life ' became the first gangsta rap album to enter the charts at number one.
By the 1990 ' s hip hop had grown into a worldwide culture of music, fashion and art. Unfortunately, as the spotlight grew, the darker side of hip hop came out of the shadows. Gang rivalries had always been in the background but now, these stories were leaking into the mainstream news and an East Coast / West Coast gang war was often headlined. The media often associated heavy hitters in the game to stories of murder and gang related violence due to their global fame. Notorious B. I. G
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