The History of Hip-Hop

Many people did not know that Hip-Hop is the most listened to genre of music in the United States. In fact many people glance over hip-hop. Do they know its origins and where it comes from though. Many people listen to Hip-Hop but, do they know where it comes from? From the origins in 1925, to the golden era in 1990, to now, the present day.

The origins of Hip-Hop can be traced back to the early time of 1950s-60s. According to “The History of Hip-Hop: 1925 to Now” (Para.

5), “The Soundclash contest between Coxsone Dodd’s “Downbeat” and Duke Reid’s “Trojan” gives birth to the concept of DJ battling.” This concept called DJ Battling or DJs in generally didn’t get that big until a time a little later in the Seventies. Then in 1965 Professional Boxer Muhammad Ali states one of the earliest known rhymes right before beating Sonny Liston in the ring. The Rhyme states: “Clay comes out to meet Liston, And Liston starts to retreat.

If Liston goes back any further He’ll end up in a ringside seat. Clay swings with a left, Clay swings with a right, Look at young Cassius Carry the fight. Liston keeps backing But there’s not enough room It’s a matter of time…” Then in 1969 Producer James Brown would record two songs that would further influence the drum programming in today’s rap music. In today’s music people can hear drums in about every song.

Hip-Hops best time can be traced back to the Seventies, eighties, and early nineties and many refer to that as the golden age.

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In, “WHO STARTED RAP? A BRIEF SUMMARY ON THE HISTORY OF RAP AND HIP-HOP” (para 3.) it is said that, “DJ Kool Herc is widely credited with kicking off the genre. His back-to-school parties in the 1970s were the incubator of his burgeoning idea, where he used his two record turntables to create loops, playing the same beat over again, and extending the instrumental portion of a song.” This is where DJing really gets big and well known. Then In 1984, The Golden Era, “Key players included Eric B. & Rakim, Run-DMC, A Tribe called Quest, and Public Enemy. Beat productions were denser, raps faster, and sampling technology skyrocketed. This also coincided with the time lyrics became a more vocal form of protest,” (Orfield, para 15) These artist and groups all are very influential in today’s hip-hop genre. “Then the 1990s saw the split of East and West and there became a rivalry of the coasts”( Orfield, para 19) Then this split with front runner of the west being Tupac Shakur and the Eastside being the Notorious B.I.G. This coast rivalry ultimately ended up in the deaths of Tupac and B.I.G and were both killed by a drive-by shooting less than a year apart.

Now in the present day many refer to this as the streaming age where anyone can become a Hip-Hop artist or Rapper through streaming services such as Soundcloud and youtube. (Orfield para 24)”From the 2000s on, well, the rest is history, as they say. Streaming and new technological advances allow for more nuances within the genre. helping to form the inescapable mainstream genre we know and love today.” This is saying that anybody today can become internet famous off of pure luck and become someone big. A good example is the rapper Ski Mask the Slump God he got immensely popular because of his longtime friend Jahseh Dwayne Ricardo Onfroy ,otherwise known as, XXXTentacion blew up.Jahseh then helped his lifelong friend get big and popular named, Ski Mask up too out of pure luck. Soundcloud has helped jump Hip-Hop to a worldwide phenomenon it is today and why a lot of people try to get big.