The History of Rap Music :: Rap Music Jamaican Culture Essays

The History of Rap MusicRap music originated as a cross-cultural product. Most of its important early practitioners-including KoolHerc, D.J. Hollywood, and Afrika Bambaataa-were either firstly- or second-generation Americans ofCaribbean ancestry. Herc and Hollywood are both credited with introducing the Jamaican style of lancinateand mixing into the musical culture of the South Bronx. By most accounts Herc was the first DJ to buy twocopies of the same record for just a 15-second break (rhythmic instrumental segment) in the middle. Bymixing back and onwards between the two copies he was able to double, triple, or indefinitely persuade thebreak. In so doing, Herc effectively deconstructed and reconstructed so-called found sound, victimisation theturntable as a musical instrument. While he was shift with two turntables, Herc would also perform with the microphone in Jamaican crisp style-joking, boasting, and using myriad in-group references. Hercs musical parties eventuallygained notoriety and were often authenticated on cassette tapes that were recorded with the relatively newboombox, or blaster, technology. Taped duplicates of these parties promptly made their way through theBronx, Brooklyn, and uptown Manhattan, spawning a minute of comparable DJ acts. Among the new breed ofDJs was Afrika Bambaataa, the first important Black Moslem in pat. (The Muslim presence would becomevery influential in the late 1980s.) Bambaataa often engaged in sound-system battles with Herc, similar tothe so-called harsh contests in jazz a generation earlier. The sound system competitions were held atcity parks, where hot-wired street lamps supplied electricity, or at local clubs. Bambaataa sometimes sundry(a) sounds from rock-music recordings and television shows into the standard funk and disco fare thatHerc and most of his pursual relied upon. By using rock records, Bambaataa extended rap beyond thestraightaway reference points of contemporary black youth culture. By th e 1990s both sound source wasconsidered fair game and rap artists borrowed sounds from such disparate sources as Israeli folk music,bebop jazz records, and television intelligence activity broadcasts. In 1976 Grandmaster Flash introduced the technique In 1979 the first two rap records appeared KingTim III (Personality Jock), recorded by the Fatback Band, and Rappers Delight, by Sugarhill Gang. A serial of verses recited by the three members of Sugarhill Gang, Rappers Delight became a nationalhit, reaching number 36 on the Billboard magazine popular music charts. The talk content, mostlybraggadocio spiced with fantasy, was derived largely from a pool of material utilise by most of the earlierrappers. The backing track for Rappers Delight was supplied by hired studio musicians, who replicated