The History of Rap Music

1
The History of Rap Music

• 1970Jamaican born DJ Kool Herc moved to New York
  in the late 1960's and brought with him the
  Jamaican tradition of "toasting", which involved
  reciting improvised rhymes over instrumental
  sections of reggae records.

2
Early 80s Flava

• 1982Grand Master Flash, the founding father of
  scratching and quick mixing offered a demo to a
  group called the Furious Five which consisted of
  five mc's - Melle Mel, Cowboy, Rahiem, Mr Ness
  and Kid Creole. "The Message" was the first rap
  record to break away from typical rap lyrics
  boasting about being the "biggest" and the
  "baddest" by describing the hopelessness of the
  American Black ghetto's. The hard hitting
  anti-cocaine single "White Lines (don't do it)"
  became a classic rap hit. In only a few years hip
  hop came from the underground and hit the
  mainstream.

3
The Legal system gets involved

• 1985Miami based rappers 2 Live Crew
  portrayed their themselves as macho and extremely
  sexist. They hit the headlines when they released
  their album "As Nasty As They Wanna Be" becoming
  the first album in the US to be deemed obscene in
  the Law courts. They appealed on the grounds of
  free speech.

4
Rap Music lands over seas

• 1987LL Cool J which stands for Ladies Love Cool
  James (just in case you wanted to know!) was
  discovered by the Beastie Boys in 1984 when he
  was just 15 years old. Influenced by RUN D.M.C,
  LL created his own identity with the beat box and
  street style raps. Adding a sexy element to rap,
  "I Need Love" was the first ever rap ballad and
  gave LL his first European top 10 hit.

5
Public Enemy Revolutionizes Rap music

• Public Enemy changed that forever. Tapping
  into the real life hardships and frustrations of
  America's black community, their continuous
  themes of black rage and alienation caused a wave
  of media criticism. "Don't Believe the Hype" was
  Public Enemies response to the media's negative
  portrayal of the groups supposedly violent,
  anti-Semitic and sexist image.

6
Raps first Lady

• 1989- Queen Latifah stands for delicate and
  sensitive in Arabic which contradicts her lyrical
  style. Opening doors for other female rappers and
  leading the way for them to respond to their
  sexist counterparts she broke through a male
  dominated rap scene to become known as "Raps
  First Lady".

1989
7
Ice Cube hits the scene

• 1990 Ice Cube launched his solo career and joined
  forces with Chuck D of Public Enemy. The result
  was the album "Amerikkka's Most Wanted" which
  went gold in ten days and sold over 1 million
  copies. Ice cube's outspoken attacks on white
  America upset many extreme right wing
  organizations who targeted him on an
  assassination list which was discovered by the
  police in 1993.

8

• 1996--The Fugees comprises of University graduate
  Wyclef, his cousin, Pras and high school friend,
  Lauryn Hill. Their songs often deal with issues
  such as America's negative perception of Haitian
  immigrants and their own experience's growing up
  in New York, hence "fugee" which comes from the
  term refugee. Being of mixed race, their lyrics
  promote positive non-violent ideals fusing
  hip-hop with soul, raggae and jazz.

9
Rap Music receives a black eye.

• 19972pac and Notorious B.I.G became embroiled in
  a feuding war between east coast's 'keeping it
  real' and west coast's 'it's all good' rappers.
  Violent feuds escalated between east and west
  coast rappers, leading to the deaths of Tupac and
  Biggie.

10
Present Day Rap

• Artistically, the genre split into "hard-core,"
  with political and social commentary versus the
  in-your-face "gangsta" acts, who have earned
  razzes from Democrats and Republicans, critics,
  old-school acts, educators, and parent groups
  alike.
• Music is always a reflection of where we are.