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Home::Music
Music History - Hip Hop, Rap, R&B
Author : Matthew Kellmer
History of Hip Hop & Rap
In the early 1970s, the cultural movement of hip hop music was
born. Hip hop's fast paced music style is made of two parts; the
rhythmic delivery of rap and the use of instrumentation by a DJ.
Hip hop music also brought with it a fashion of its own, the
fashion helped to represent this newly created music. Hip hop
music has its roots from West African music and African-American
music. The first rap song to be put onto a vinyl record was,
"Rapper's Delight", a song by the Sugarhill Gang back in the
1970s. This is when block parties started becoming the norm in
New York City, which gave hip hop and rap the chance to explode
in popularity. Hip hop's instrumentation came from funk, R&B,
and disco, when combined together make this dynamic type of
music. When the DJs at these block parties learned what the
people liked, they began mixing these vinyl records and created
music that played continuously with amazing transitions between
songs. Hip hop was actually created by a DJ named Kool Herc, a
Jamaican that had moved to the United States with a style that
consisted of mixing music by using two copies of the same
record. Many of the poor Jamaican's in the town could not afford
vinyl records, so huge stereo systems were set up so that many
could here the rhythmic beats. These stereo systems were the
kick-off for the beginning of the evolution of block parties. So
with the musical talent of these amazing DJs, with the use of
vinyl record mixing, the culture of hip hop and rap music was
born.
History of R & B
R&B, which stands for Rhythm and Blues, was the greatest
influence on music around the world for most of the 20th
century's second-half. Rhythm and Blues is a term with a broad
sense, but typically recognizing black-pop music. This type of
music was introduced to the world by artists' combining the
music styles of jazz and blues. R&B is actually what was later
developed into what we know as rock and roll. In the 1970s, the
term R&B was being used to describe soul and funk music styles,
which today we know it describes Rhythm and Blues. Along with
being influenced by jazz and blues, R&B also had influences from
gospel and disco music. Disco's downturn in the 1980s opened the
door for R&B to truly take-off in popularity.
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