The Last Poets, Gil
Scott-Heron, and others spoke about African American and urban life with a
percussion backdrop in the early 1970s. New York City, particularly Brooklyn
and the Bronx, was home to a large Jamaican community. Jamaican DJs (DJ Kool
Herc has been credited as the first) mixed sounds from several turntables. This
became a rap trademark. The Sugarhill Gang popularized this technique with Rapper's
Delight in 1979. Grandmaster Flashs 1982 single, ‘The Message’ is considered by
many to be one of the first rap songs. The Sugarhill Gang and Grandmaster Flash
helped to get rap from the streets onto the radio. Blondie sang ‘Rapture’ in
1989, pointing the way toward rap. Later, Run-D.M.C. collaborated with
Aerosmith and brought rap to a wider (and whiter) audience. Then came the
Beastie Boys, Russell Simmons, Def Jam records, Run-DMC, Eminem, and so many
others who helped popularize the form.
Hip hop is said to be
a reaction to the emptiness of disco, which came after blues, soul and funk. Of
course, the beat (the drum) is an essential element in rap, and that beat comes
from ancient and modern African traditions. There is no clear history of rap
music, but rap may be said to have some of its roots in and connections to a
number of oral traditions and poetic and musical movements. For instance, many
cultures throughout history (such as Japanese battling haiku; French Bouts Rims;
and German spontaneous poetry competitions; British and American poetry slams)
have used poetry in competitions, as do today’s battle rappers. In a battle
rap, opponents use rap-style rhymes to insult each other.
Rap music has been
compared with the oral tales told by African griots. As Senegalese musician and
singer Baba Maal put it, a griot "listens and talks to the people and
tells what is going on in the society, both the good and the bad." This is
how a group of people can know their history. Rhythms, rhymes, and messages in
rap can be successfully compared with the speeches of African American
preachers and political activists, such as Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X,
Jesse Jackson, and Mohammed Ali. The Beat movement may also have been an
influence in the development of rap, as both have a tendency toward
autobiography and the confessional mode, filled with feeling and commentary
about socio-political affairs that affected the poet’s generation.
Rap has some of its
linguistic roots in street jive and in the words of the street poets of
Brooklyn. The energy and some subject matter of blues and early rock and roll
can also be detected in today’s rap songs. Some people credit The Last Poets as
the first rappers, because they put their political messages into poetic form
and set them to the sounds of congas and other percussive instruments. Rappers
use a lot of word play and made-up words, as do poets. You can find the use of ‘ebonics’
throughout rap (see The Rap Dictionary at to learn more). In terms of language,
rappers often use signifying to communicate multileveled meanings in their
work. Signifying has historically referred to the way in which subjected
cultures develop a way of using the masters language in order to gain
independence, or a voice of their own. Signifying is a way people in a weak
position play with language to trick more powerful people who will not
understand the hidden meanings.
Freestyling (as
improvisational rapping is called) can be compared with French theatrical
tirades and tirades found in Shakespeare. You can find exaggerated, boastful
rhetoric in Act 3; Scene 1 of Henry IV Part One, which can be compared with
some of today’s rap lyrics. In addition, technological advancements have helped
the form to grow quickly. For example, the advent of drum machines has made it
relatively simple for rappers to add a rhythmic beat to their raps, and
sampling equipment has allowed rappers to appropriate the work of others.
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