Music roots

 For this blog I choose to do the history of hip hop music. Throughout history Hiphop has been one of the most influential types of music in the black community. It all started in the 1970s in the Bronx, New York City. In the summer time it was a big time for block parties, where the whole neighborhood would come together and gather to just celebrate the community. That was where Dj Kool Herc thrived, he began Djing these parties. He would get everyone out of there seats by taking records but playing only the solo drum beats from the songs. This became the foundation for hip hop. One of the main factors of hip hop music is the bassline and the drums which is exactly what was highlighted by Djs at the time. Then on August 11 1973, Dj Kool Herc’s little sister asked him to Dj her back-to-school bash for the neighborhood, it was here where he did something that no one had ever seen before. At the time Djs would one use one turntable, but Dj Kool herc introduced using 2 turntables to be able to fade one drum solo into one of another song, this was his huge claim to fame. 





Later in this decade there was another Dj that had an idea to change the way Djing was done. Grandmaster Flash, wanted to find a way for the Dj to hear the beat of a song before the crowd heard it, so they could prepare for how they were going to mix it into the previous song. So he found a way to plug headphones into his turntable to hear the music before the crowd. His invention became the 1st queuing system which is used by all Djs to this day.


There is one last Dj in the 1970s that paved the way for hip hop at that time, Theodore Livingston, aka Grandwizard Theordore. Livingston was only 12 years old at the time, he had an old brother that was an aspiring Dj, but so was Theodore even though he was so young. One night when his brother went to sleep Theodore decided he was going to record his own Djing mix tape. Not noticing how loud he was being, he began recording until his mom came out of her room and caught him messing with his brother. She startled young Theodore so much he was shaking with his hand still on the record. After his mother went back into her room he decided to play back what he record,until he heard what his hands shaking on the record created, it made this strange sound that he had never heard before, but he liked.

So, Theodore decided to take his creation to his 1st block party Djing gig. Where both Grandmaster Flash and Dj Kool Herc were. He got in front of everyone, played the record and did what had created, scratching the record, everyone went crazy for what he created. 



From all the Djs came people that would speak to the beat of the songs, back then it was called Mcing, they would try to come up with words that rhyme and say them to the beat. We obviously know this now as rapping. The 1st rapping group to actually record an album was the group The Sugar Hill Gang, which consisted of the rappers Big Bank Hank, Wonder Mike, and Master G. Though after the song came out it created some controversy, because the beat they used was stolen from another group, and Big Bank Hank used lyrics given to him by another rapper there is no denying that this was the 1st hip hop album ever recorded, and it paved the way for other rappers and rap groups as time went on.


Hip hop is a very diverse genre that is made up of many different other genres, since it was born from sampling from other songs. Genres like the blues, jazz and funk all had a huge impact on the birth of hip hop. Also genres like rag-time, salsa, and disco.


The types of instrument involved in hip hop are sampling tracks, which is when you use a little bit of a track from another song to get a good beat. That along with a good bassline, and drums. A big part of hip hop is the ability to get the crowd moving and dancing, this was done by using these. Also a big part of hip hop is rapping and the lyrics they use, back in the day MCs would rap more about the community, and showing love from where they come from. But they would also rap about there own personal trials and tribulations.





https://iconcollective.edu/hip-hop-history/

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