Old School Rap

However, the definition of all rap music of the eighties as old school rap seems to be more common nowadays, although musically it is not particularly useful. In the mid-1970s, hip hop split into two camps. One sampled disco and focused on getting the crowd dancing and excited, with simple or no rhymes ; these DJs included Pete DJ Jones, Eddie Cheeba, DJ Hollywood? and Love Bug Starski. On the other hand, another group were focusing on rapid-fire rhymes and a more complex rhythmic scheme. These included Afrika Bambaataa? , Paul Winley, Grandmaster Flash and Bobby Robinson. As the 70s became the 1980s, many felt that hip hop was a novelty fad that would soon die out. This was to become a constant accusation for at least the next fifteen years. Some of the earliest rappers were novelty acts, using the themes to Gilligan’s Island and using sweet doo wop-influenced harmonies. With the advent of recorded hip hop in the late 1970s, all the major elements and techniques of the genre were in place. Though not yet mainstream, it was well-known among African Americans, even outside of New York City ; hip hop could be found in cities as diverse as Los Angeles, Washington, Baltimore, Dallas, Kansas City, Miami, Seattle, St. Louis, New Orleans, and Houston. Philadelphia was, for many years, the only city whose contributions to hip hop were valued as greatly as New York City’s by hip hop purists and critics. Hip hop was popular there at least as far back as 1976 (first record : "Rhythm Talk", by Jocko Henderson in 1979), and the New York Times dubbed Philly the "Graffiti Capital of the World" in 1971, due to the influence of such legendary graffiti artists as Cornbread. The first female solo artist to record hip hop was Lady B. ("To the Beat Y’All", 1980), a Philly-area radio DJ. Later Schoolly D helped invent what became known as gangsta rap? The 1980s saw intense diversification in hip hop, which developed into a more complex form. The simple tales of 1970s emcees were replaced by highly metaphoric lyrics rapping over complex, multi-layered beats. Some rappers even became mainstream pop performers, including Kurtis Blow? , whose appearance in a Sprite commercial made him the first hip hop musician to be considered mainstream enough to represent a major product, but also the first to be accused by the hip-hop audience of selling out. Another popular performer among mainstream audiences was LL Cool J, who was a success from the release of his first LP, Radio. Hip hop was almost entirely unknown outside of the United States prior to the 1980s. During that decade, it began its spread to every inhabited continent and became a part of the music scene in dozens of countries. In the early part of the decade, breakdancing became the first aspect of hip hop culture to reach Germany, Japan and South Africa, where the crew Black Noise established the practice before beginning to rap later in the decade. Meanwhile, recorded hip hop was released in France (Dee Nasty’s 1984 Paname City Rappin’) and the Philippines (Dyords Javier’s "Na Onseng Delight" and Vincent Dafalong’s "Nunal"). In Puerto Rico, Vico C became the first Spanish language rapper, and his recorded work was the beginning of what became known as reggaetonIn the 90s, gangsta rap became mainstream, beginning in about 1992, with the release of Dr. Dre’s The Chronic. This album established a style called G Funk, which soon came to dominate West Coast hip hop. Later in the decade, record labels based out of Atlanta, St. Louis and New Orleans gained fame for their local scenes. By the end of the decade, especially with the success of Eminem, hip hop was an integral part of popular music, and nearly all American pop songs had a major hip hop component. In the 90s and into the following decade, elements of hip hop continued to be assimilated into other genres of popular music ; neo soul, for example, combined hip hop and soul music and produced some major stars in the middle of the decade, while in the Dominican Republic, a recording by Santi Y Sus Duendes and Lisa M became the first single of merenrap, a fusion of hip hop and merengue. In Europe, Africa and Asia, hip hop began to move from an underground phenomenon to reach mainstream audiences. In South Africa, Germany, France, Italy and many other countries, hip hop stars rose to prominence and gradually began to incorporate influences from their own country, resulting in fusions like Tanzanian Bongo Flava.

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