The main historical eras of hip hop are the old school hip hop era (1970 to 1985), which spanned from the beginning of hip hop until its emergence into the mainstream, and the golden age hip hop era (1985 to 1993), which consolidated the sounds of the East Coast and the West Coast and transitioned into the modern era with the rise of gangsta rap and G-funk, created by the West Coast. The years after 1993 contain the hardcore hip hop, bling, and underground genres, which largely define the modern era. Hip hop began in The Bronx, a borough in New York City, when DJs began isolating the percussion break from funk and disco songs. The early role of the MC was to introduce the DJ and the music and to keep the audience excited. MCs began by speaking between songs, giving exhortations to dance, greetings to audience members, jokes and anecdotes. Eventually this practice became more stylized and became known as rapping. By 1979, hip hop had become a commercially popular music genre and began to enter the American mainstream. In the 1990s, a form of hip hop called gangsta rap became a major part of American music, causing significant controversy over lyrics which were perceived as promoting violence, promiscuity, drug use and misogyny. Nevertheless, by the beginning of the 2000s, hip hop was a staple of popular music charts and was being performed in many styles across the world. Hip hop arose during the 1970s at block parties in New York City, at which the DJs began isolating the percussion breaks to hit funk, soul, R&B and disco songs. These songs were based on – "breakbeat" DJing. Early hip hop rhythms and (sampled) riffs were derived essentially from funk music. Some funk songs, such as James Brown's "The Payback" (1974) are clearly predicting hip hop music and also speaking over the music was used extensively in funk, most notably on records produced by George Clinton. As hip hop became popular, performers began speaking while the music played, and became known as MCs or emcees. In 1979, the first commercially issued hip hop recordings were released: "Rapper's Delight" by The Sugarhill Gang which became a Top 40 hit on the U.S. Billboard pop singles chart. 'Rapper' in reference to music was actually coined by this song. Some historians cite King Tim III (Personality Jock) by the Fatback Band to be the first commercially released hip hop recording but they were a funk and disco group. During the 1980s, hip hop began to diversify and develop into a more complex form. At the same time, more sophisticated techniques were developed, including scratching, and electronic recording. In the late 1980s, a number of new hip hop styles and subgenres began appearing as the genre gained popularity. Hip hop musicians collaborated with rock bands and spread out into the genres of conscious hip hop, jazz-rap and gangsta rap. In the 1990s, a prolonged confrontation between West Coast gangsta rappers and the resurging East Coast began. It centered around Tupac Shakur and The Notorious B.I.G. and led to both of their deaths, in 1996 and 1997 respectively.

Description

Main article: Hip hop production

Typically, hip hop music consists of rhythmic lyrics making use of techniques like assonance, alliteration, and rhyme. The rapper is accompanied by an instrumental track, usually referred to as a "beat", performed by a DJ, created by a producer, or one or more instrumentalists. Historically, this beat has often been created using a sample of the percussion break of another song: usually funk and soul recordings have been utilized. However, in recent years, it has become more common for the beat to be built up from individual drum samples. In addition to the beat, other sounds are often sampled, synthesized, or performed. Sometimes a track can be instrumental, as a showcase of the skills of the DJ or producer.

Production

Main article: Hip hop production

Hip hop production is the creation of the portion of hip hop music which is not lyrical. Modern hip hop production utilizes drum machines, turntables, synthesizers, hardware and software sequencers, and live instrumentation. In its original form, the second element of hip hop was turntable-ism, though that has evolved into other computerized production techniques. The evolution of the terms "DJ" and "producer" also speaks to the post-modern irony of hip-hop. The line across which a DJ becomes not only a disc-jockey, but an individual, creative artist has become increasingly blurred since hip-hop's conception. A "DJ mix", for instance, in which the DJ meshes the end of a song into the beginning of the following song, often contains music which the DJ had not created, but merely replayed. However, once it becomes part of the DJ's mix, the mix becomes a singular creation, and consequently, a piece of art which the DJ himself authored. Consequently, a DJ can represent himself as the main creator of a piece even though much more effort went into the initial creation of the sampled portion. Sometimes, hip-hop songs consist of only one sample, not at all manipulated. The original song may have itself repeated the pattern. Thus, because not much thought, effort or expertise is required to make a beat which sounds professional, hip-hop is both egalitarian and subversively ironic, in that a song can misrepresent itself as the product of much work and expertise. Prior to hip-hop, producers were usually more like recording engineers, the skilled musician who directed the creative direction of albums and songs. During the formative years of hip-hop, however, the producer became the person responsible for the instrumental track, the DJ, though he could also just be responsible for the scratches and live mixing of another producers work. A producer may not even need a sampling source, and create all his music with live instruments. The lyricist also may add his own portions to the instrumental track. There is no standard in hip-hop for crediting song-writing, and this has lead to many disputes, especially over the use of samples. In 1989, for example, the band The Turtles sued De la Soul over the group's uncleared sampling of the band, setting a legal precedent which is still in use today, effectively outlawing the use of samples without legal clearance. Still, legal and illegal sampling has continued since. Hip-hop's instrumental portion is ironic because though the listener understands the artist whose name appears on the record possesses a "symbolic domination over the process", the listener is without a complete understanding of the music's source, both its creator and how it was created. (Rose, 95)

Breakdancing

Main article: Breakdancing

B-boying, also known as breaking, breakdancing, or B-girling (for women) by its practitioners and followers, is a dynamic style of dance. The term "B-boy" originates from the dancers at DJ Kool Herc's parties, who saved their best dance moves for the break section of the song, getting in front of the audience to dance in a distinctive, frenetic style. Hence the "B" stands for break-boy (or girl). According to the documentary film The Freshest Kids, a history of the b-boy; DJ Kool Herc describes the b in b-boy as short for breaking which at the time was slang for "going off" also one of the original names for the dance. However early on the dance was known as the "boiong" (the sound a spring makes). Breaking was briefly documented for release to a world wide audience for the first time in Style Wars, and was later given a little more focus in the fictional film Beat Street. It was then documented properly in the critically acclaimed documentary feature film; The Freshest Kids, a history of the b-boy. (released in 2002).

Breakdancing is one of the major elements of hip hop culture, commonly associated with, but distinct from, "popping," "locking," "hitting," "ticking," "boogaloo," and other funk styles that evolved independently during the late 1960s in California. It was common during the 1980s to see a group of people with a radio on a playground, basketball court, or sidewalk performing a breakdancing show for a large audience.

Breaking began to take form in the South Bronx alongside the other elements of hip hop. A "burn" is when you humiliate your opponent. The name of the first B-Boy crew was The Zulu Kings.

Hip hop as a form of dance is becoming more popular, it comes from breakdancing, but does not consist wholly of breakdancing moves. Unlike most other forms of dance, which are often at least moderately structured, hip hop dance has few (if any) limitations on positions or steps.

A history of b-boying has been documented in 'The Freshest Kids', a history of the b-boy. The film was produced and directed by Israel and was released in 2002 by Image Entertainment. The film chronicles the birth of b-boying and traces its evolution up until present day. The film features many early pioneers including Kool Herc, Afrika Bambaataa, Grandmaster Caz, The Nigger Twinz, The Bronx Boys, The Rock Steady Crew, New York City Breakers, and a crop of today's most important b-boys such as members of the Stylelements crew and also features members of the Electric Boogaloos and the important L.A. based Air Force Crew.

Beatboxing and other elements

Main article: Beatboxing

Beatboxing, popularized by Doug E. Fresh, considered by many to be the "fifth element" of hip hop, is the vocal percussion of hip hop culture. It is primarily concerned with the art of creating beats, rhythms, and melodies using the human mouth. The term beatboxing is derived from the mimicry of the first generation of drum machines, then known as beatboxes. As it is a way of creating hip-hop music, it can be categorized under the production element of hip-hop, though it does sometimes include a type of rapping intersected with the human-created beat.

The art form enjoyed a strong presence in the '80s with artists like the Darren "Buffy, the Human Beat Box" Robinson of the Fat Boys and Biz Markie showing their beatboxing skills. Beatboxing declined in popularity along with break dancing in the late '80s, and almost slipped even deeper than the underground. Beatboxing has been enjoying a resurgence since the late '90s, marked by the release of "Make the Music 2000." by Rahzel of The Roots (known for even singing while beatboxing).

As it grew and developed into a multi-billion dollar industry, the scope of hip hop culture grew beyond the boundaries of its traditional four elements.[citation needed] KRS-ONE, a rapper from the golden age of hip hop, names nine elements of hip hop culture: the traditional four and beatboxing, plus hip hop fashion, hip hop slang, street knowledge, and street entrepreneurship. He also suggests that hip hop is a cultural movement and that the word itself had to reflect this.[citation needed] He spells it Hiphop (one word, capital "h") and this is reflected in his Temple of Hiphop. KRS-One's philosophy is slightly more progressive in some ways than that of his contemporaries.[Who says this?] He is, however, one of strongest leaders championing hip hop's place in the world.