Early Days - Hip Hop originated in America in the 1970s in New York as a source of African American culture mainly taken up by the youth. Since its humble beginnings it has been able to become a global source of music and counter culture. It has been considered as a form of subverting the law as it was common around the Latin and African American youth which had been written off by the government around the 1970s. The hip hop genre was created as a form of protest against this image of hereditary groups. Creation of the term hip hop is often credited to Keith Cowboy, rapper with Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five. However, Lovebug Starski, Keith Cowboy, and DJ Hollywood used the term when the music was still known as disco rap.

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                    Harlem 1970

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First Hip Hop record - 1979

Keith Cowboy later worked with the sugarhil Gang to create the first ever hip hop record 'Rappers delight' in 1979. However, much controversy surrounds this assertion as some regard 'King Tim III (Personality Jock)' by The Fatback Band, which was released a few weeks before 'Rapper's Delight', as a rap record.

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Origins:

Hip hop's early evolution into a form distinct from R&B also, not coincidentally, occurred around the time that sampling technology and drum-machines became widely available to the general public at a cost that was affordable to the average consumer and not just professional studios. This allowed many young rappers to be able to create a beat to rap over in a rhythmic style which was adopted by many as they seemed to find the right 'flow'.

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Technology being used to create

Hip Hop beats:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Introduction of Rapping:

Rapping, also referred to as MCing or emceeing, is a vocal style in which the artist speaks lyrically, in rhyme and verse, generally to an instrumental or synthesized beat. The roots of rapping are found in African-American music and ultimately African music, particularly that of the griots of West African culture. It has been influenced by the West African style of jazz comedy and call and response music which come together to create a rhythmic flow and inventive lyrics shown in Hip Hop music.

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1980s Hip Hop - Introduction of more complex styles of Hip Hop. It started to merge with electro with the likes of Grandmaster flash and Africa bambaataa. As technology became more available to the public it became easier to merge the two forms of music to create a new genre.

Artsits (1980s) - Public enemy, Run DMC, LL cool J, KRS one, Ice T, 

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1990s Hip Hop - Mainstream Breakthrough: Nicknamed 'the year that rap exploded'. It was the most exciting development in American music in the last decade. MC Hammer was one of the most successful rappers of the early nineties and his album 'please hammer don't hurt em' went multi - platinum which showed the growth of the Hip Hop genre in the 90's. This decade also saw the ride of east coast vs west coast rapping which was seen as a contest of rapping ability (more on East coast vs West coast below). Hip Hop became the best selling music genre in the mid 1990s with 81 million CDs sold. 

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