Gangsta-Funk History

Rap is a genre in music that consists of rhyming or being poetic over a certain unique beat. The origin of rap is significantly different from any other form of music. The flow, change, subject of the music, and the instrumentals behind the rapping has all changed with time. Most people would underestimate the complexity of the music and the evolution it has undergone. The real roots of rap music began in the late 1980’s with the “Golden Age.” It was innovative and mostly based around the party scene. Gangsta Rap followed the Golden age and was very impactful on the young culture. After the Gangsta Rap era came the time in rap referred to as Crunk Rap which combined the country sound with the party lifestyle. Conscious

In the early 80s in South Bronx, hip hop culture was created as a way people expressed themselves to make a statement of some sort of art form that was diffused within the local community without outside influences orally and through localization. Commercialization changed and evolved these cultures making the producers not equal the consumers; globalization diffused these cultures with mass communication with the media. Spatially, hip hop used to be concentrated within a local community and it spread through relocation of the subway graffitti, while now it’s urbanized around the globe. In terms of social characteristics, rap has always been there as a way to express oneself through art forms such as b-boying, graffiti, and rapping; now it’s

Hip hop, the creation of electronic sound and enticing language is a style born from the African American and Hispanic cultures. It formed in New York City from block parties and the participation of the youth culture. This style of music began as a minimal change in rhythm to a globally popular culture consisting of graffiti art, dancing, and music. Hip hop was not only a type of tasteful music, but it also became a benchmark in history. When this style of music was created, it served as an outlet for those who did not have a voice, particularly the minority groups. These groups were given rights that they deserved just like everyone else. In the 1970’s is when hip hop began to spread, creating not just

Reggae music had a direct impact on the development of hip-hop music. Both styles of music emerged from the dancehall, with lyrics containing social and political message. “Reggae started as ‘sufferah’s’ music in poor Jamaican villages. Inside gritty dancehalls, selectors spun scratchy sides, called ‘specials,’ and MC’s boasted, talked nonsense and criticized political, cultural and economic oppression” (Havlock). Reggae emerged out of the island culture of Jamaica and the “poor man’s party,” while hip-hop music emerged in New York City, specifically the Bronx, in the early 1970s.

1. Keyes points out that rap music derives from what she refers to as the “West African bardic tradition.” What is this tradition? What is the role of the griot in this tradition? What parallels do you see between the groit and a hip hop MC (the rapper, often the main writer of lyrics for a group)?

It was during the mid-1980s that the emergence of a new smokable form of cocaine, called crack, had been introduced to the United States. Crack, was highly-addictive and swept through impoverished areas of cities such as New York, Los Angeles, Oakland, and Miami. In the end it caused devastating effects for black and Latino Americans. As crack cocaine was becoming a grim and rising epidemic, hip hop was evolving alongside it. It was in the 1980s that crack cocaine and hip hop became the two leading fundamentals of urban street culture. It is not suggested that hip hop caused the crack epidemic, or vice versa. But, it can be argued that both fed off each other, particularly hip hop off the crack culture itself.

The genre created in very poor districts, like the Bronx, in New York by African-American and Latino teenagers. They learned how to use turntables by working as DJs at discos. DJs and MCs would play at free block parties. An MC is an abbreviation for Master of Ceremony his/her job is to focus on skills, lyrical ability, and subject. So, during block parties, the DJ would play music and the MC encouraged guest to have fun. Parties went on MCs slowly started to rhyme while they were performing. Hip-Hop was only played live at first until Sugar Hill Gang released Rappers Delight in 1979. Rappers Delight was a huge success for hip-hop. Personally, I consider the Sugar Hill Gang the founding fathers of Hip-Hop.

Hip-hop, which originated more than 20 years ago, is a musical art form. It has went through many changes during its lifetime. The music and lyrics have always remained centered in urban settings, with most artists of the music rising up from the inner-city neighborhoods. Beginning with a young generation of African-Americans from the Bronx looking to express themselves, it has since evolved to inspire people from all backgrounds across the world. During a time of segregation where clubs and the music played in them were only for white citizens. Hip hop was created in the 1970s and is defined by four key elements; MCing/rapping, DJing/scratching, break dancing, and graffiti writing. People would learn to breakdance to Afrika Bambaataa, who contributed a series of tracks influencing the hip hop culture.

Funk was an element that was highlighted within hip hop. Many people argued that funk was the beginning of hip hop. James Brown helped to promote black music in general and he was known as the King of Funk. Hip Hop didn't exist when dance started, that all dealt with

The introduction of an 18th Amendment that banned the sale, consumption and manufacturing of alcohol in America had an unprecedented outcome: the gangster era. This era filled with elaborate crimes, speakeasies and outlaws continue to have an influence on the America of today. The gangster era has influenced the legal system of America, American literature (for example The Godfather and the Jazz Age Mystery Series), and American films (for example Mobsters, Dilinger, and Capone) and has even become integrated into language. People compare crimes and criminals today to the famous ones of the eras saying someone is pulling a "Bonnie and Clyde" scheme as well as some of the slang from the era (broad, goon, Big House, etc.). "You can get a long

The hip-hop cultural movement has been divided into four categories: the 1970’s discovery of turntable sampling and the emergence of "Rapper’s Delight" from The Sugar Hill Gang; "The Old School" defined by Run-D.M.C.; The 1980’s Rapper’s of "Social Realism" dealing with the identification of racial issues within the urban lifestyle, expressed in lyrics by rappers such as Ice-T, Rakim, N.W.A. and LL Cool J; The present day commercial hip-hop centered around monopolized record labels sacrificing art for the benefit of commercial revenue, such as "No Limit Records." The hip-hop movement originated as an urban impulse using various elements of performance art to discover a cultural identity, which was usually deemed unacceptable by law enforcement officers. The culture adopted an "outlaw" image through graffiti art, breakdancing and DJ’s mixing samples at public party performances. The two most

Beginning at 0:09 in “My Name is”, Eminem uses sample appeared at 2:31 in “I Got the…” as a major rhythm for the whole song. Sampling is one of the most common elements in the hip-hop music. Sampling is the act of using recordings of other music in making new music. In the hip-hop music history, sampling is always a controversial topic legally and musically since sampling relates to the issue of the copyright of the music. Does sampling violate the other musicians’ copyright? Does sampling threaten the innovation of the music? Those questions are the most sensitive debates about sampling. Sampling begins in mid-1970s, when DJs mixed between particular parts of records, especially the breakdowns, to inspire dancers in the party. The technique, such as spinning and scratching the record while it played, can be considered as an early form of sampling in hip-hop music. In the mid-1980s, the primary use of “sampling” as a basis of the beat is a main shift in production. “La Di Da Di” produced by Slick Rick and Doug E Fresh is probably the most sampled song in hip-hop. Sampling has three “layers”, which are the sound, the reference and the intertextuality. The artist may use sampling to refer the older piece’s context or refer to other people’s use of the same sample. There are some famous cases regarding sampling in the hip-hop history. For example, “Pretty Women” produced by 2 Live Crew was sued for using Roy Orbison’s song. As a result, 2 Live Crew won on the basis

Hip-Hop emerged in the 1970’s upon the arrival of a one Kool DJ Herc. Kool DJ Herc migrated to the United States from Kingston, Jamaica and settled in the West Bronx of New York. Kool DJ Herc was a disc jockey that attempted to incorporate his Jamaica style of disc jockeying, which involved reciting improvised rhymes over reggae records. Unfortunately for Kool DJ Herc New York seemed

With things, such as explicit lyrics and depiction of women, drugs, and violence an assumption can be made that gangster rap represents a masculinity that rappers portray themselves as in their songs. Dating back to its origins, African Americans had always been the face of gangster rap, with such names like Tupac, Biggie, Jay-Z, DMX, and much more, as covers of rap magazines. Gangster rap had always been seen as what people interpret it to be and that is a raw rhythmic and explicit version of poetry in motion, but gangster rap depicts more than what people interpret it to be. Gangster rap depicts the image of how a strong African American male should look like, a bold, angry, rebellious, and fierce man. Strong African American males are subjective to gangster rap, mainly because of how gangster rap portrays masculinity. In “Brotherly Love: Homosociality and Black Masculinity in Gangsta Rap Muscic” Oware argues that although gangster rap music portrays the masculinity of African American males through the use of hyper masculinity, misogyny, and violence in lyrics, gangster rap music also provides a way for rappers to express themselves to commemorate their fellow friends through lyrics that depict family/friend relationships, success by association, and have a tribute for lost friends.

Music has been divided in different types and styles that have ranged from traditional to the current new genres. Many of the genres of music have had a history behind themselves having both geographical and cultural significance. Many of the genres has had a following resembling a cult going beyond the 20th century. Some of the genres that continue to be popular in the world today include Alternative Music, Classical music, Dance music, County music, Electronic music, Hip hop, Opera, R & B and Reggae among many others. The artistic nature of music would mean that the classifications are mainly controversial and subjective while some genres may overlap (Borthwick, Stuart, and Ron, 46). To classify the music into different genres, different criteria are used including time period, instrumentation and techniques, social functions and fusion origins. The paper will tackle on the Gangster Rap genre’s use of language, ideas expressed and motivational of artists towards the attitudes and word choice.