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Rapper's Delight: An Analysis Of Rap Music

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The Sugarhill Gang’s 1979 song “Rapper’s Delight” is widely regarded to be the first hip-hop record to gain widespread popularity in the mainstream. The 1980’s marked the diversification of hip-hop as the genre developed more complex styles. The person credited with originating the style of "delivering rhymes over extensive music", that would become known as rap, was Harlem, New York native, Anthony "DJ Hollywood" Holloway.
Rap music, is a music genre developed in the United States by inner-city African Americans in the 1970s which consists of a stylized rhythmic music that commonly accompanies rapping, a rhythmic and rhyming speech that is chanted. It developed as part of hip hop culture, a subculture defined by four key stylistic elements: …show more content…

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 Littleton, 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 …show more content…

The three most selling albums were The Eminem Show, The Marshall Mathers LP, and The Slim Shady LP. The Eminem Show is the fourth studio album by Eminem, released on May 26, 2002 by Aftermath Entertainment, Shady Records, and Interscope Records. The Marshall Mathers LP is the third studio album by American rapper Eminem. It was released on May 23, 2000, by Aftermath Entertainment, Interscope Records, and Eminem's newly founded label, Shady. The Slim Shady LP is the second studio album and the major-label debut by American rapper Eminem. It was released on February 23, 1999, under Interscope Records and Dr. Dre's Aftermath Entertainment. The album topped the Billboard 200 for five consecutive weeks. The album has gone on to sell over ten million copies and on March 7, 2011, it was certified ten-times-platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America, making it Eminem's first album to receive a Diamond certification in the United States. A violent fantasy, the acting-out of a persona. The follow-up: the vulnerable artist unmasked." The Marshall Mathers LP sold 1.76 million copies in its first week, which made it the fastest-selling rap album in history and also was fastest selling solo artist album. The album was met with both critical and commercial success; critics praised Eminem for his unique lyrical style, and the record debuted at number two on the US Billboard 200 chart

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