Contexts for hip

Contexts for hip-hop culture
Contexts for hip-hop culture
• Mid-late 1970s: Carter aggressively
deregulates and reforms labor law,
beginning a long “neo-liberal”
phase of the U.S. economy
• 1980: former California governor
Ronald Reagan wins the presidency
‣ on a wave of reaction against 70s
cynicism & moral ambiguity
- promised to make “America
great again”
‣ preached small government =
divestment from urban public
housing projects
Kool DJ Herc (1955-)
Kool DJ Herc (1955-)
• Born in Jamaica, raised in Jamaican
NYC exposed to Reggae, Ska, and
Dub
• Began spinning records in the
mid-70s at neighborhood block
parties, gym dances, dance clubs,
and public parks.
• Noticed that his audiences
responded energetically to the
rhythm “breaks” on funk and salsa
records
• Originated “break-beat DJ-ing”:
use of 2 records to create a perpetual
break beat by switching back and
forth between the turntables
Reggae and the Genesis of Hip-Hop
• IN HIP-HOP: The DJ-MC collaboration = appropriating
commercial music for new purposes
‣
Jamaica, 1970s: “sound-system” shows require few
resources, express rude-boy gang identity
- Bronx, 1980s: "boombox"/ “ghetto blaster” culture,
block parties express neighborhood identity
‣
Jamaica, 1970s: appropriated background music sets
stage/tone for political speech
- Bronx, 1980s: Afrika Bambaataa preaches African-
American solidarity with "Zulu Nation in the Bronx"
Contexts for hip-hop culture
• Wave of deregulation 1980-1982
“Reaganomics” = California-style economy on Wall
Street
‣ 1981: recording industry: “big three” market share
doubles (40% -> 80%)
‣ exploding value of radio and TV ads
• Cassette technology (1979-1990s) empowers consumers
‣ boomboxes, walkmen --> music more portable, personal
‣ unrestricted copying; “mix-tapes” = haven for consumer
re-appropriation and redistribution of pop culture
‣ Expansion of U.S. culture in USSR & developing nations
‣
Contexts for hip-hop culture
Conion Technisonic TC-999, popularized by L.L. Cool J’s
1986 appearance on American Bandstand
Contexts for hip-hop culture
Sony Walkman WM-2, the best-selling model in 1981, with
plastic battery case and belt clip.
Contexts for hip-hop culture
Contexts for hip-hop culture
• SOUTH BRONX: 1977-78 cuts in public services,
breakdown of inner-city infrastructure
• Capitalist/Collectivist Tension in Urban AfricanAmerican response
‣
Capitalist: Search for individual wealth and security =
promise of cultural liberation
- easy/profitable drug market
- protecting a market share through militarization
‣
vs. Collectivist: search for social space, community
identity.
- Autonomous, self-reliant groups
- Replace failed institutions
(police, traditional families, employers, and the
welfare state)
Contexts for hip-hop culture
• Marcus Pohlman, ed. Capitalism vs. Collectivism: 1945 to the
present. African American Political Thought, Vol. 4 (New
York: Routledge, 2002)
Grandmaster Flash (1958-)
• Refined Kool Herc’s approach by
adopting the headphone mixing
techniques of disco DJ
• Helped popularize “backspinning” and
“scratching” practices --> key elements
of hip hop’s sonic signature even after
the music largely went digital
‣ extended the use of turntables as
“talking” instruments --> echoes
blues musicians adaptations of the
guitar
Grandmaster Flash
(Joseph Saddler, b. 1958 in
Barbados)
‣ helped elevate technological
virtuosity as a critical component of
hip-hop
Elements of Hip-hop culture
1.The DJ: a musician appropriating (or re-appropriating)
recorded music, to manipulate beats and other samples
2.The MC: a speaker, rapping (mixing an amplified voice
rhythmically with dance music), representing group identity.
3.Graffers: visual expressions of group identity, claiming
neighborhood territory
4.B-Boying/Breakdancing: athletic representational dance
‣ contrast planned ensemble dancing / planned or improvised
“solos”
5.KNOWLEDGE [coined later by Grand Master Flash]:
‣ all other elements require this “core” as a foundation and a
goal
Elements of Hip-hop culture
• Hip-hop culture was forged by African American and Caribbean
American youth in New York City in search of “alternative identity
formation and social status” (Rose 1994, 34)
“I’m wearing my suede Pumas. I got the whole thing with my Gazelle spectacle frames and Kangol hat with my gold watch going on. In short, I’m fresh. In this community, I can win. Now, if I step out of this community dressed like this, not only will I be thrown up against the wall and asked what drugs I got, but I also can’t get a job and I’m ridiculed in school. So this community, the block parties, was an escape” -­‐KRS-­‐ONE
Elements of Hip-hop culture
Afrika Bambaataa (1960-)
• A prominent South Bronx street gang leader
in the early 1970s
• Mid -1970s: pilgrimage to Africa, transformed
by exposure to Zulu culture
• Founded "Zulu Nation" in NYC, focused on
community building
• Developed reputation as pioneering DJ and
crew leader in the 1980s, calling the music
“electro-funk”--> adapted imagery and
performance practices of P-Funk to “nationbuilding”
Afrika Bambaataa
(Kevin Donovan, b. 1960
in the Bronx)
• Used samples from diverse sources including
Euro-Disco bands like Kraftwerk on tracks
like “Planet Rock” (1982)
Roots of Rap Music: The Old School
• Innovative DJs increasingly attracted large and excited crowds, but
tended to draw their attention away from dancing --> MCs were
added to hype the crowds and keep people moving
• Kool Herc was one of the first DJs to rhyme phrases over the
“breakbeats” produced on his turntables.
• Early influential MCs included Melle Mel and Kid Creole, both of
whom joined with Flash in Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five
‣ “rapping” derived from a tradition of verbal performance called
“toasting,” a form of poetic storytelling with roots in the trickster
tales of West Africa
‣ MCs updated this approach by adapting the aggressive vocal-
patterning of James Brown.
Roots of Rap Music: The Old School
• Until the release of the Sugar Hill
Gang’s 12-inch single “Rapper’s
Delight” (1979) hip-hop music
was a largely a local phenomenon
‣ provided the first indication of rap’s
potential crossover appeal (#4 R&B,
#36 Pop)
‣ popularized the use of the term
“rapper” as an equivalent for “MC”
• Unexpected crossover success paved
the way for hip hop’s commercial
breakthrough in the mid-late 80s
Afrika Bambaataa
• "New York...was losing the funk. Back in the early 70s there
existed a heavy funk sound. Parliament would come to town
and pack Madison Square Garden. Sly & the Family Stone
would come in and pack the Garden as did James Brown.
Some of the NY radio stations weren't into Sly and James
anymore...." -Afrika Bambaataa, in an interview with Davey D,
1991.
• On white rappers: "Everybody thinks this is somehow a new
thing with Vanilla Ice and the Beastie Boys. But it was the
punk rockers and new wavers that were the first of all white
people to accept this music. They were bringing me down to
the punk rock clubs to mix. You used to see punk rockers
come up to jam at the hardcore black and Hispanic
neighborhoods."
Def Jam Records
• Rick Rubin (on right) from Brooklyn
suburb; “DIY” punk producer as teen
• Age 19: his band Hose opened for the
Meat Puppets, Hüsker Dü, and the
Butthole Surfers.
• 1983: Rubin studies beat-juggling and
scratching with "Zulu Nation" DJs.
• With then-concert promoter Russell
Simmons (on left), Rubin starts "Def
Jam Records", signs artists T La Rock
and LL Cool J.
Def Jam Records
• Russell Simmons (Queens): in early
80s, concert promoter, wanted to bring
hip-hop to a larger market.
• DJ Joseph Simmons (brother): member
of Run D.M.C.
• 1983: Def Jam signs punk band
"Beastie Boys" (w/ Rubin as member)
‣ Rubin convinces them to switch to
rap
‣ fires only female member.
• "Beastie Boys" to open for Madonna's
Virgin tour.
Beasties & Madonna on tour ‘83-84
• Madonna and the Beastie Boys slashed by the critics:
‣
‣
‣
"singing out of tune and out of rhythm"
"their image has completely overshadowed their music."
Madonna "stole" Michael Jackson's 'Billie Jean,' behaved like a
brat.
Beasties & Madonna on tour ‘83-84
• Critical failure, audience success:
‣
White artists, playing to suburban white audiences but produced
by African-Americans [Madonna produced by R&B Reggie
Lucas].
‣
Enigma for baby-boom parents: "our children aren't rebels.
They're just apathetic beasts, slackers, and trashy sex-objects."
Madonna and David Lee Roth
Hugo Mistry from
Chicago Tribune
(1984): "Like a Virgin
is self-conscious
campiness ... a series
of hot dance tracks,
attention-grabbing
lyrics and steamy
videos."
"Music was clearly
ancillary ... a trashy sex
queen pulling out all her
moves." Variety (1985)
Mark Andrews from
the New York Times
(1984):
“David Lee Roth sinks
to new lows in sexual
depravity”
Andrew Fionan from
the LA Times (1985):
“Every time David Lee
Roth grabs his crotch,
I hear the music die a
little more.”
SEE NEXT SLIDE
Madonna and David Lee Roth
Hugo Mistry from
Chicago Tribune
(1984): "Like a Virgin
is self-conscious
campiness ... a series
of hot dance tracks,
attention-grabbing
lyrics and steamy
videos."
"Music was clearly
ancillary ... a trashy sex
queen pulling out all her
moves." Variety (1985)
Mark Andrews from
the New York Times
(1986):
“David Lee Roth sinks
to new lows in sexual
depravity”
Andrew Fionan from
the LA Times (1986):
“Every time David Lee
Roth grabs his crotch,
I hear the music die a
little more.”
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