The Afterschool Hip Hop Era... "Do Your Homework!"

                                                    ( Courtesy of SugarHill Records 1979; 2019)

The current young Hip Hop generation is full of creativity and charima. Their heroes, recreations of the past, and movement remain connected to the movement of Hip Hop, regardless of how the previous generations have cried foul and for better leadership of the message and sound. The Flat-top, the new Harlem Shake, and constant borrowing from previous movements keep the misunderstanding going. If you ask a young Hip Hoper, who is Missy Elliot or Will Smith, you may be shocked by their answer. Ask them who Eric B & Rakim, Big Daddy Kane, or DJ Kool Herc and they will look at you as if you were on another planet. Mention Kodak Black, and they all have an opinion. This anomally is a matter of education. When the Old School passed the torch to the New School, they indoctrinated the Elements of Hip Hop, The Founders, and the birthplace. And the New School Era remained strong for two decades giving America raw talent from the ghettos of America, all with one unified Father, Hip Hop. The passing of the torch from the New School to the Afterschool generation was less clear. Many can't pinpoint when it occured or who lead the Afterschool Movement. Yet, the time has passed and Hip Hop is left with a Fatherless Generation, a generation, who has forgotten where it begun and who it is that they owe their respected alliegence and artform to. Thus, it is up to the previous generations to raise the next generation, go back like the Father, who left Mama, and the children, and make things right. The current generation, The Afterschool Generation, is ready to learn...

First, There are multiple Eras in the Hip Hop movement beginning with the: 


* Originators (1970s-1987)


* Old School (1987-1992)

* New School (1992-2008) [West Coast Dominated/East Coast Vs. West Coast/East Coast Dominated]

* After School (2008- present).

Second, there are Five Elements or "Schools," of Hip Hop. Hip Hop was created by the mixture and characterized by the main elements or “Schools:”

1. Graffiti-written form

2. Break Dance

3. DJ- cutting and scratching beats from classic songs in competition

4. Master of Ceremony/Rappin-MC

5.  Fashion

 other elements include beatboxing, historical knowledge of the movement, and street entrepreneurship.

The root word of the word, culture, is the word, Cult. A group of people, who believe roughly the same and share a common history. Hip Hop Culture is no different. The element of Historical knowledge of the movement was essential to keeping the commonality alive. No culture can survive without sharing and passing down historical knowledge. So, finally, here is a short abridged history for the Afterschool Generation to digest.


         Hip Hop is an American cultural artform created by African Americans and Latinos in New York City circa the 1970s. The term, "Hip Hop," comes from DJ Kool Herc in 1973 (Bronx, NYC). It was an urban cultural movement which sought to express the trials, tribulations, and life of people living in urban areas of America. From New York City (Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens, Manhattan, Staten Island), the cultural artform would spread to major cities like Philadelphia, Chicago, Boston, Oakland, Los Angeles, Houston, New Orleans,St. Louis, Miami, Richmond, Atlanta, and Jacksonville. This new culture took years to build, but would replace Rock N Roll as the dominant American Music in the early 1990s.  The new Black music would quickly become revolutionary as many songs would address pressing social issues like Gang violence, Police violence, poverty, young love, and being Black in America. Hip Hop would form a cultural alliance and mix with other music genres like RNB, Reggae, and Techno, to create and fuse other cultural elements to create the ultimate post modern artform. Hip Hop is based on the back drum beat beatdown of funk music (Funky Drummer- JamesBrown) and storytelling. Thus, through stories people from one city could understand what was going on in other cities across the nation without travelling to the city. 

       Now, that the Afterschool Generation has the information. It is time to introduce them to some of the figures who not only changed Hip Hop, but also American culture. This might look like an Shoutout from an album and the soldiers who are missing are not forgotten. Just add them in and tell these Afterschoolers, do your Homework!

·   Groups associated with the Originators of Hip Hop include Sugar Hill Gang, DJ Kool Herc, Afrika Bambaataa & Zulu Nation, Kool Moe D, DJ Red Alert, Grand Master Flash & The Furious Five etc.

·         Old School Artists are organized by powerful record companies including Def Jam, Sony, Rawkus, Interscope, Tommy Boy with groups like: Run DMC, Fat Boys, Kurtis Blow, LL Cool J, beastie Boys, Roxanne Shante, MC Lyte, Whodini, DJ Quik, Spice 1, Ton Loc, Tribe Called Quest, Nice & Smooth, Pete Rock, EPMD, Das Effects, NWA, Diamond D, Masta Ace, Biz Markie, Uncle Luke & Too Live Crew, Digital Underground, Public Enemy, De La Soul, Big Daddy Kane, Kwame ,Heavy D & the Boys,  Kid N Play, Salt N Pepper, etc

·         New School is sparked by the New Jack Swing in the East & Gangster stories in the West, as Hip Hop continues to spread across the USA, and characterized by the expansion of Hip hop out of NYC to other American cities with stories to tell, ending in the American South & producing Larger than Life Hip hop artists- Geto Boys Houston, Easy E, Too Short, Ice T, Ice Cube, E-40, Deathrow Records- Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Dogg Pound, Cypress Hill, Vanilla Ice, House of Pain, Naughty By Nature, Will Smith & DJ Jazzy Jeff, Funk Master Flex, Leaders of the New School, Black Sheep, Busta Rhymes, Tupac, Bad Boy Records, Puff Daddy, Notorious BIG & Jr Mafia, Lil Kim, Mase, Black Rob, G-Dep, Camron, Foxy Brown, Wu Tang Clan, Nas, Mobb Deep, Nature, Capone & NORE, Def Squad, Redman, Keith Murray, Common, Twista, Outkast, The goodie Mob & Dungeon Family, Crucial Conflict, Po Pimp, 95 South, 69 Boyz, Timberland & Magoo, Missy Elliot, Master P, 504 Boys, Silk the Shocker, Mystikal, Cash Money Millionaires, Juvenile, Turk, Lil Wayne, Mannie Fresh, Terror Squad, Fat Joe, Big Pun, Cuban Links, Ruff Riders Records, DMX, The Lox, Eve, Drag-on, Swiss Beats, Rockerfella Records, Jay-Z, Memphis Bleek, DJ Clue, Beanie Segal, Freeway, Murder Inc., Ja Rule, Black Cha, Star Trek Pharelle, Just Blaze, FABOLOUS, Nelly & the St. Lunatics, Eminem, D-12, 50Cent, Tony Yayo, Lloyd Banks, Young Buck, The Game, Kanye West, Young Jeezy, Young Money, Lupe Fiasco, Young Jacka, Rick Ross, Briscoe. The Late New School was characterized by major hip hop acts, road tours, and Super Producers. They will also transition into the next Era as Gods of Rap.

The End of the New School must've begun with Soldier Boy because there was a clear creative break with tradition in Hip Hop, including the official acceptance of the "Front" or "Front'in," as actual reality. Thus, while New School was blasted for its new characterization of women as "Bitches, hoes, or sluts," no one would dare call their Mama, Aunt, or Sister, one. Reality was one thing and entertainment or music was just that, art. There was an active debate on this issue and more including the use of drugs, violence, and misogyny in songs versus the lyrical wordplay tradition. In the Afterschool this changed. This generation would accept that this is what women were and so begun a generation who took the "front," and lived it like it was a reality. So after, Travis Scott would invent this stellar method of production and lyrical sound (mumble) and a new generation was born. Leaders of the Late New School would and do still command the generation, but artists like Kid Kudi, Drake, Nicki Minaj, 2 Chainz, and Kendrick Lamar, would set themselves apart and lead this Afterschool Generation into its current course of orbit. So, it is said, "if Travis Scott is the Father of this generation, 2 Chainz is definitely the Step Father. Drake is the God and Nicki is the Mama... Kendrick is the West Coast Uncle" 

There you have it, Afterschool Generation. Now, you are grafted into the fold, connect and are one with the rest. When you are lost and cannot find your way. Just remember this question, "what do you do in Afterschool? Your homework!"