Becky Blanchard
Poverty & Prejudice: Media and Race
In recent years, controversy surrounding rap music
has been in the forefront of the American media. From the hype of the
East Coast-West Coast rivalry that shadowed the murders of rappers Tupac
Shakur and Notorious B.I.G. to the demonization of modem music in the
wake of school shootings in Little ton, Colorado, it seems that political
and media groups have been quick to place blame on rap for a seeming
trend in youth violence. however, though critics are quick to point out
the violent lyrics of some rappers, they are missing the point of rap's
message. Rap, like other forms of music, cannot be understood unless it
is studied without the frame of its historical and social context.
Today's rap music reflects its origin in the hip-hop culture of young,
urban, working-class African-Americans, its roots in the African oral
tradition, its function as the voice of an otherwise underrepresented
group, and, as its popularity has grown, its commercialization and
appropriation by the music industry.
Hip-hop music is generally considered to have been
pioneered in New York's South Bronx in 1973 by Jamaican-born Kohl DJ
Herc. At a Halloween dance party thrown by his younger sister, Herc used
an innovative turntable technique to stretch a song's drum break by
playing the break portion of two identical records consecutively. The
popularity of the extended break lent its name to "break dancing"--a
style specific to hip-hop culture, which was facilitated by extended drum breaks played by DJs at New York dance parties. By the mid-1970s,
New York's hip-hop scene was dominated by seminal naturalists DJ
Grandmaster Flash, Africa Bambaataa, and Herc. The rappers of Sugar hill
Gang produced hip-hop's first commercially successful hit, "Rapper's
Delight," in 1979'.
Rap itself--the rhymes spoken over hip-hop
music--began as a commentary on the ability--or "skillz"--of a
particular DJ while that DJ was playing records at a hip-hop event. MCs,
the forerunners of today's rap artists, introduced DJs and their songs
and often recognized the presence of friends in the audience at hip-hop
performances. Their role was carved out by popular African-American
radio disc jockeys in New York during the latel96Os, who introduced
songs and artists with spontaneous rhymes. The innovation of MCs caught
the attention of hip-hop fans. Their rhymes lapped over from the
transition period between the end of one song and the introduction of
the next to the songs themselves. Their commentaries moved solely from a
DJ's skillz to their own personal experiences and stories. The role of
MCs in performances rose steadily, and they began to be recognized as
artists in their own right2.
The local popularity of the rhythmic music served by
DJs at dance parties and clubs, combined with an increase in
"b-boys"--breakdancers--and graffiti artists and the growing importance
of MCs, created a distinctive culture known as hip-hop. For the most
part, hip-hop culture was defined and embraced by young, urban,
working-class African-Americans. Hip-hop music originated from a
combination of traditionally African-American forms of music--including
jazz, soul, gospel, and reggae. It was created by working-class
African-Americans, who, like Herc, took advantage of available
tools--vinyl records and turntables--to invent a new form of music that
both expressed and shaped the culture of black New York City youth in
the 1970s.
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