Rappin' Society

Rappin' Society

One of the most popular music forms today is rap. It is one of the most profitable and chart topping genres of music. From MTV and even VH1, rap has rooted it self as a permanent feature in the eye of our society. Rap music is also one of the founding corner stones to networks like BET (Black Entertainment Television). But how is it this relatively young form of music, which most middle class hoped would be a passing fad, manage to establish it self and become this hugely successful market of its own? To answer these questions, rap must be introspectively explored, from its origins through its evolution into the rap of today.

First, let us clarify any confusion one may have differentiating rap and hip hop. Hip-hop was born in the late seventies and originally, according to MacAdam's The Birth of Cool, "Thelonious Monk says that he actually called the music 'bi-bop,' but 'everybody must've misheard'". Hip-hop was a sub-culture, born to the youth in urban areas. It spread from New York to Los Angeles and included other urban cities between them like Chicago and Detroit. The characteristics of this hip-hop culture included rap, break dancing, taggin' (graffiti), and certain fashion amongst these inner-city youth. Thus, music can be hip-hop style but not rap. An example of being hip-hop but not rap is the group TLC, where mostly song dominates over the typical spoken rhythm/rhyme of rap.

Rap has been rumored to have multiple origins and roots. Robin Kelly's approach traces back to and calls for "...go[ing] back to the blues, to the baaadman tales of the late nineteenth century, and to the age-old tradition of 'signifying' if we want to discover the roots of the 'gangsta' aesthetic of hip hop." He traces some of the early works to 1938 folklorist Alan Lomax and on to 1958 Lloyd Price's "classic black baaadman narrative, 'Stagger Lee'". This theme is also evident in multiple other sources which trace rap's roots to African culture and tradition of utilizing and valuing the spoken word. Griots are, according to Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, "any of a class of musician-entertainers of western Africa whose performances include tribal histories and genealogies". According to African-American Arts: Music these griots are described as "...an entire class of male professional singers and poets..." whose job it was to, "...carry news of wars, births, deaths, and other important events" including "remember[ing] the history of the tribe."

In several traces of the roots of rap, griots are identifies as the ancestors of rap. Rap's referencing to present social, often socio-economical and political issues is often related to the form addressing and communicating these issues in the same manner as griots. The interaction between rappers and their audience is also seen by most sources as the acknowledgment of their message by the people are common as with griots as are the responsorial lyrics seen when the audience responds or accompanies the rappers words. Another root of rap comes from "toasting", which African-American Arts: Music describes as being linked to calypso singers who were improvisational poets. When these calypso and African "toasts" came to America, "...songs of praise turned into boasting ... [as] different poets and singers competed for public recognition as masters of creatively delivered orations."

Rap as we know it today, "two turn tables and a microphone", has actually been commercially recognized for the past 25 years as recently published in an Entertainment Weekly article celebrating the success and future of rap. The article also accredited an earlier date for the origin of rap as well, "...rap actually started in the South Bronx circa 1974 and hence is at least 30 years old -- we know all about it. But for five years it was little more than a murmur." The rap which is commonly accredited as leading to today's best known style of rap is indeed recognized by multiple sources as originating in the South Bronx. The "murmur" which was early rap's music style ironically was a result of the disco dance club scene of the 1970's. In these psychedelic clubs, their was the birth of the disk jockey, or more commonly known as the DJ, whose job it was to blend from one song to the next smoothly and without break to create a seamless mix of music to dance to. This important role of the DJ also gave way to their dual role as the "hip talking master-of ceremonies" (as quoted in African-American Arts: Music) or more commonly know as the MC.

The techniques of these DJ-ing MCs were taken to the next level and completely innovated by two young men from the heart of the Bronx, New York - Kool DJ Herc (Clive Campbell) and Grandmaster Flash (Joseph Saddler). Kool DJ Herc is quoted in Entertainment Weekly as to what his contribution to rap was, ''Two turntables been out there, but they wasn't using the same two records -- obscure records -- and prolonging [them]. That's my innovation.'' What Herc was able to do was use a dual turn tables and while playing the same record on both tables, he was able to flip the needle back and forward playing the beats over and over in a continuous pattern. As a Jamaican immigrant to the Bronx, his innovation resulted as a combination of the New York sound and his own back ground which was influenced by Caribbean's DJ's. These DJ's in the Caribbean were a celebrity of sorts who traveled from village to village playing record mixes, removed the vocal and add his own "toast" this would greatly influence both Herc and much of what rap was to become. A great expression which aids in reflecting the influence Herc's back round played in contributing to rap as a whole is capsulated in a quote by R. A. Potter, "In fact, the Jamaican connection is hip-hop's strongest claim to specifically African roots, since not only the narratives and the technology, and the concepts of talking over recorded music arrive via this route, but also the rhythmic, cut 'n' mix sound that is at the very heart of the hip hop aesthetic."

Grandmaster Flash is quoted in African-American Arts: Music as to how he contribution to rap, "I had to go to the raw parts shop downtown to find me a single pole double throw switch, some crazy glue to glue this part to my mixer, an external amplifier and a headphone. What I did when I had all this soldered together, I jumped for joy-[saying] I've got it, I've got it, I've got it!...My main objective was to take small parts of records and, at first, keep it on time,