MEMORIES:
KPac remembers...LL, RUN DMC, KRS-ONE and BDP, De La Soul and of course Public Enemy were among some of my favorites.The ... More »
Posted on 11/15/08
PHOTOS:
Rap. Beat Boxing. Slamming. With the release of the 1979 hit “Rappers Delight” by the Sugarhill Gang, a new music genre would replace rock ‘n’ roll as the voice of rebellious youth. After the disco phenomena faded, African and Jamaican youths read their poetry against the samples of funk and soul records. It was called hip-hop, and like any new cultural revolution, it needed a new style.
Born on the streets of the Bronx and Brooklyn in New York City, rap music started when kids performed spoken word over beat-heavy music, a form of Jamaican toasting using drum machines and synthesizer beats. The words focused on social commentary, but the strength of performance lay in the rhythm. Rap combined with a new dance style called break dancing, or breaking, and the music started to reach a much larger audience.
The music birthed a new fashion garnered from both the streets and the black culture that spawned it. The red, green, and yellow colors of Jamaica, with the dreadlocks and rasta caps combined with the logo tracksuits and hi-end sneakers of the b-boys. Kente cloth of Africa, featuring bright colors and African symbols mixed with oversized clothes and heavy gold chains. The mixing pot of these looks grew together into the hip-hop style of the 90s.
DJ Kool Herc was the father of rap, spinning and mixing records from funk superstars James Brown, Sly Stone and George Clinton since 1973. Otherwise known as Clive Campbell, Herc was a mobile DJ, taking his music on the road and performing at many clubs. When rapping grew in popularity, he and the other DJs soon brought their own MCs to the show, and started to physically manipulate the vinyl records, with Grandmaster Flash “backspinning” and Grandwizard Theodore “scratching.”
While the DJs concentrated on the records, the MCs stepped to the mike and rapped over the new beats. The sound was fast and rhythmic, talking about life on the streets, politics, and, of course, the ladies. The ladies, however, had their own rappers. Known as “fly girls,” artists such as Queen Latifah and Sista Soulja opened up the mike to women performers.
Rap’s popularity began to break racial boundaries by 1981, helped by a Saturday Night Live appearance by The Funky Four + 1 More. Suddenly, white middle class kids were introduced to rap and breakdancing, and responded by putting on their own adidas with no laces and gold dukie chains, and listening to crossover artists Run-DMC and LL Cool J. When white rappers The Beastie Boys hit the charts with 1986’s "Fight for Your Right,” rap was no longer exclusively a black art form. It was now a full fledged cultural force.
The hip-hop genre became broader as old school rappers Whodini, Kurtis Blow and Kool Moe Dee were joined by new artists such as LL Cool J, DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince, Salt-n-Pepa, and hits like “Wild Thing” by Tone Loc. In 1990, the first #1 rap single hit the charts with Vanilla Ice’s "Ice Ice Baby.”
One thing the new artists had in common was a strong sense of hip-hop style. Vanilla Ice sported shaved eyebrows and razor cut hair, and Kid ‘n’ Play wore a gradually cut hair style called a fade. Bobby Brown and MC Hammer had razored designs cut into their hair, and Hammer also had his Vegas-style, big, baggy Hammer pants. Public Enemy’s Flavor Flav wore big clocks around his neck, while Queen Latifah dressed herself in African-inspired Nefertitti Kente crowns.
The hip-hop genre became broader as old school rappers Whodini, Kurtis Blow and Kool Moe Dee were joined by new artists such as LL Cool J, DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince, Salt-n-Pepa, and hits like “Wild Thing” by Tone Loc. In 1990, the first #1 rap single hit the charts with Vanilla Ice’s "Ice Ice Baby.”
One thing the new artists had in common was a strong sense of hip-hop style. Vanilla Ice sported shaved eyebrows and razor cut hair, and Kid ‘n’ Play wore a gradually cut hair style called a fade. Bobby Brown and MC Hammer had razored designs cut into their hair, and Hammer also had his Vegas-style, big, baggy Hammer pants. Public Enemy’s Flavor Flav wore big clocks around his neck, while Queen Latifah dressed herself in African-inspired Nefertitti Kente crowns.
While the lyrical themes of early rap centered on political musings with KRS-One and Grandmaster Flash's "The Message" in 1981, the late 80s brought a new message in rap, one that was angry and violent. Commonly called gangsta rap, and performed by artists such as Ice-T, NWA and Tupac Shakur, this extreme form of rap was big on attitude and gangster-style posing.
Street style clothing labels such as Cross Colors, Fubu, Enycee, and X-Large brought hip-hop style to retail and to anyone who wanted it. Oversized pants were so big that waistbands had to be tied around the tops of the thighs to keep them from falling off, and exposed boxer shorts between the waist and the top of the pants completed the look. Huge t-shirts were worn on top, hiked up on the front. Color themes borrowed from the Afrocentric look of red, yellow, green and orange, combined with the requisite African emblems.
Today, hip-hop is an inherent part of American culture. On the fashion side, it’s a combination of old school sneakers and track suits, designers like Tommy Hillfiger, and new labels like Stop Hatin’ and Da Bomb. No longer black or white, hip-hop is the epitome of the great American melting pot.
