Music "is an art form and cultural activity whose medium is sound and silence -(Wikipedia 2016)." Only the definition of music cannot be confined to a two dimensional phrase, which lacks intention, emotion, and the ability to convey a message across great distances. Music implies a great cultural agency by credible and skilled performers to install values, tell stories, and convey messages, that everyday prose is insufficient to do. Thus, this article and enclosed videos, will put to study, one form of music, Hip Hop, which has evolved as a means of communication by African Americans city to city, to an international product, performed and traded all around the world by all the races. To understand Hip Hop, as a fan, artist, or spectator, one must study the art form and its history. How did Hip Hop begin? What were the cultural elements that converged to create Hip Hop and why? What were the values and messages being sent from place to place, city to city? Last, for new listeners and artists to continue this form of music, they must know the major developments, and understand how Hip Hop has come to be what it is today, and where it is headed.
The Old School Hip Hop Heads coming out of the Jazz, R&B Soul, & Disco-Funk Era (50s, 60s, & 70s) form the nucleus of everything Hip Hop came to be. The New School, took on new dimensions and brought the music from the streets of the ghettos of Black America into the bedrooms and livingrooms of White American households. Old School and New School fans now see a new era of Hip Hop, a post modern era with splittering factions, like Street Hop, Techno Hop, and Bubblegum Hop, all contesting the validity of the music that many love and some claim to have been highjacked or dead.
Thus, from the DJ, Break Dancers, MCs, Graffiti Crews, Stylists, and Beat Boxers, to The Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens, Manhattan, and Staten Island (the whole tri-state), to the North, West, Mid-West, and Dirty South, and now the entire world, even spawning into new musical forms like Japan's K-Pop Scene, or Africa's Resistance Rap Scene. We at West Oakland Imports Publishers present, lesson 1, Hip Hop For the New Kids (Parental Advisory)
The Show (1995)
What is Beef (2003)
Krush Groove (1985)
Study these enclosed films, and compose an essay or for the fast paced, an knowledgeable foundation of Hip Hop and its purpose. Check back in for Lesson 2. Oh, and in case you have to know my Top Five, email me at WestOaklandImports@gmail.com and place Top Five in the Subject line. Blessings.
- Mr. Cowan Amaye-Obu
West Oakland Imports Publishers 2016
Disclaimer: This article is for educational purposes only. All copyrights are the sole rights of the creators and owners of the above films. Parents please supervise any underage viewership, and viewers, please respect and reflect on the work of the creators. Thank you.
Old School ****: Shoutout to Sugar Hill & the Game, Shoutout to Russel Simmons, LL Cool J, Run-DMC, All of Queens, Brooklyn, Bronx, Manhatten, Staten Island, Harlem, KRS One, DJ Red Alert, Eric B & Rakim, Whodini, Kurtis Blow, Kool Moe Dee, Kwame, The Fat Boys, Doug E Fresh, Big Daddy Kane, Nice & Smooth, MC Lyte, Tribe Called Quest, Queen Latifah, Kid N Play, Will Smith, Masta Ace, Leaders of the New School, Naughty by Nature, Digital Underground, MC Hammer, Public Enemy, EPMD, Slick Rick The Ruler, Pete Rock, Diamond D, Salt N Pepper, Heavy D, Grand Puba, Craig Mack, Def Squad, Everybody! I missed the Whole Old School!
Nas, The Wu Tang Clan, Mobb Deep, Capone & Noreaga, Puff Daddy-P Diddy and the whole Family, The Notorious BIG and all of Brooklyn, Junior Mafia, The Lox in Yonkers, Crown Heights, Franklin Avenue before the Starbucks, Redman, Method Man, Busta Rhymes, The Fugees- Lauren Hill, Pras, and Wyclef Jean, DMX & the Ruff Ryders, Jay-Z, Dame Dash Rockerfeller Records, Buckshot, AZ, Oynx, MOP, Black Star, everybody, I missed, the whole borough! DJ Funk Master Flex, DJ Clue, Clark Kent, Just Blaze, Them other Harlem cats, Mase, Camron, The Diplomats, 50 Cent, G-Unit, DJ Whoo Kidd, JA Rule, Murder Inc, Swiss Beats, Drag-on, Green Lantern, DJ Drama, Philly- The Roots, Eve, Beanie Seagal, Freeway, ... everybody!
The Midwest- Bone Thugs N Harmony, Do or Die, Twista, Common, Krucial Konflict, NO ID, Kanye West, the whole Mid-west and Chicago scene, The Detroit Scene from D-12 & Eminem to Slum Village, J Dilla, Royce Da 5'9 & Obie Trice, I know I'm missing everybody... Love.
The West- one of the first DJs I ever knew, DJ Quik, E-40, The whole Bay Area, Hierglyphics, People Under the Stairs, Souls of Mischief, and South California, Ice T, Ice Cube, Tone Loc, Easy E, NWA, Coolio, The Dogg Pound, Death Row, Snoop Dogg, Pac, Nate Dogg, Warren G and the Genius, Dr. Dre. The Game, Kendrick Lamar
The Dirty South- The original Elevators- Outkast, The Whole Dungeon Family, Uncle Luke, Tag Team, 95 South, Jam Pony Express, Quad City DJs, So So Def, Jermaine Dupree, Kris Kross, Tha Brat, Timberland & Magoo, Missy Elliot, Pharrell & Star Trek, Elipcse, Masta P-No Limit and the 504 Boyz, Mannie Fresh, Baby, Cash Money and now Young Money, Juvenile, Mystical, Pedi Pablo, David Banner, Lil John, T-Pain everybody in the South! Miami Hustlers, Trick Daddy, Rick Ross
Of course there are more Hip Hop Legends not mentioned, so shoutout to all of Hip Hop!
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