Old school, variously spelled old skool, oldschool or oldskool, is a slang term referring to an older school of thinking or acting and to old objects in general, within the context of newer, more modern times. Rather than carrying the negative connotation of obsolete, it may be used to refer to a time of perceived higher standards or level of craft. The term "old school" may be effectively equivalent to "They just don't make 'em like this anymore". Slang is the use of highly informal words and expressions that are not considered standard in the speakers dialect or language. ... In most educational systems, a School is a semi-automonous unit in a university which study a particular discipline, such the School of Journalism which studies journalism. ...

Old school is often interchangeable with the word nostalgic, but practitioners of semantics often define old school as simply something of an earlier period but not necessarily inferior or hopelessly dated. Nostalgia, on the other hand, is often given a negative connotation. For example, as a sentimental attachment to dated works many of which are now considered embarrassingly 'corny' or 'cheesy' in their execution, yet retaining a place in one's sentiments as a guilty pleasure or relic of one's youth. Old school items or concepts, in contrast, are shown to have residual real-world functionality. Nostalgia currently describes a longing for the past: Often an idealized and unrealistic past The term was originally coined in 1678 by Johannes Hoffer (1669-1752) from Greek (νόστος = nostos = ones homeland, άλγος = algos = pain/longing) roots, to refer to...

History

The term came originally from religion--in the 19th century the Presbyterians split into "Old School" and "New School" denominations, based on theology. This usage, however, had no impact on popular culture and the term did not approach mainstream use until around 1986, when it was popularized by rap musicians. Presbyterianism is part of the Reformed churches family of denominations of Christian Protestantism based on the teachings of John Calvin which traces its institutional roots to the Scottish Reformation, especially as led by John Knox. ... Popular culture, or pop culture, (literally: the culture of the people) consists of widespread cultural elements in any given society. ... 1986 (MCMLXXXVI) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

"Old School", in early hip hop culture, simply referred to the originators of any particular area. Thus a modern spoken word poet might reference beat poets as "old school". In rap music, old school originally meant the earliest period of rap, from its inception in the 1970s, until that time. The original "old school" of rap was considered the likes of "Grandmaster Flash, Afrika Bambataa, Sugar Hill Gang, Kurtis Blow and Run-DMC. Sometimes, the period of 1984 to 1986, with rappers such as LL Cool J was called "Mid-School". "The New School" comprised the new crop of rappers rising up after that period, such as Public Enemy and Eric B & Rakim. But as another of this group of rappers, KRS-One reminds us in his 1988 rap "Still Number One": Hip hop is a cultural movement that began amongst urban African American youth in New York and has since spread around the world. ... Spoken word is a form of music or artistic performance in which lyrics, poetry, or stories are spoken rather than sung. ... A poet is someone who writes poetry. ... The term beat generation was introduced by Jack Kerouac in approximately 1948 to describe his social circle to the novelist John Clellon Holmes (who published an early novel about the beat generation, titled Go, in 1952, along with a manifesto of sorts in the New York Times Magazine: This is... Hip hop music is a style of popular music. ... Grandmaster Flash (born Joseph Saddler on January 1, 1958 in Bridgetown, Barbados) is a hip hop musician and DJ; one of the pioneers of hip-hop DJing, cutting, and mixing. ... Afrika Bambaataa (born April 10 or October 4, 1957 or 1960, though his birthdate is hotly debated; he himself refuses to comment on his age) is a DJ and community leader from the South Bronx, who in the late 1970s, was instrumental in the early development of hip hop. ... The Sugarhill Gang is an American hip hop group, known mostly for one hit, Rappers Delight, the first hip hop single to become a Top 40 hit. ... Curtis Kurtis Blow Walker, (born on August 9, 1959, in Harlem, New York) is one of the pioneer rappers in the recording industry, and hip hops first mainstream star. ... Run-DMC is a famous hip hop crew founded by Jason Mizell (Jam Master Jay) and includes Joseph Run Simmons and Darryl DMC McDaniels, all from Hollis, Queens. ... James Todd Smith III (born January 14, 1968), better known as LL Cool J, is an American hip hop artist and actor. ... This article is about the music group. ... Eric B. & Rakim was an East Coast rap group that popularized the James Brown-sampled funky hip hop of the late 1980s. ... KRS-One (born Lawrence Krisna Parker on August 20, 1965 in Brooklyn, New York. ...

Rap is still an art, and no-one's from the Old School

cuz Rap is still a brand-new tool

I say No one's from the old school, cuz rap as a whole

Isn't even 20 years old

50 years down the line we can start this

cuz we'll be the 'old school' artists...

Sure enough, by the mid 1990s, late 80s and early 90s rap acts were being called "old school". It was at this point that the term then spread to R & B, (for instance, a series of Warner Brothers Records CD re-releases were dubbed "Black Music Ol' Skool"). From there, it spread to the other forms of music and finally, the rest of the modern uses. Rhythm and blues (or R & B) is a musical marketing term introduced in the United States in the late 1940s by Billboard magazine. ... Warner Brothers Records is a record label which was launched on March 19, 1958 by Warner Bros. ...

Specific uses

• Old school hip hop, referring to the hip hop music of anywhere from the late 1970s to the early 1990s. Hip hop historians consider the late 1970s to 1986 to be old school, then 1986 to 1993 as Golden Age, but the mainstream often refers to the late 1980s, early 1990s period as Old School.^{[citation needed]}
• For classic car fans, old school can refer to a style based on popular styles of a particular era.
• For electronic music fans, Oldskool (with a 'K', one word) is now a popular term that usually refers to a style of music popular in the early 1990s, which was at the time called breakbeat hardcore or rave. The style fragmented in the mid 1990s but the "cheezy" Old Skool roots and even direct samples are easily found in many Happy Hardcore genre tracks as well as in other genres that share a common link with breakbeat hardcore.
• Old Skool/rave style parties are still widely held in the UK. Referring back to the music generally played at raves during the period 90-94 that were staged by the likes of Fantazia, Rezerection, Raindance, Obsession, The Eclipse, Helterskelter and Perception. Several of these companies still stage events, alongside a number of newer names.
• In the world of rock music, Old School usually refers to the period between the early 1970s, when hard rock and heavy metal emerged, and the early 1990s, just before the advent of grunge. This period is a common format for classic rock/AOR radio stations.
• For heavy metal music old school refers to the big guitar sounds of bands such as Iron Maiden and Judas Priest and is the opposite of nu-metal.
• In computer and video games, the dividing line for Old School is often before the advent of 3D graphics, generally the 8 to 32-bit sprite based games of the late-1970s to mid-1990s such as Super Mario Bros.
• In demoscene, an old school production means a production made before the mid-1990s.
• Some fans of pencil and paper role playing games use the term to describe RPGs characterized by simple game mechanics and flexible rules. The character generation system in such RPGs tend to lack extensive lists of skills and abilities. Basic Dungeons & Dragons and the first edition of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons are often considered "old school" role playing games.
• The term is also in use in skateboarding, referring to the third generation.
• In tattooing the term refers to the style of tattoos that developed from the classic sailor, military and carnival tattoos of the 19th and early 20th centuries. It is characterized by bold lines and maritime themes, as well as pinup girls and classics like the heart pierced by a dagger. Those who tattoo primarily in this style often refuse the term "tattoo artist" and go by "tattooists". The most famous of Old School tattooers is probably Sailor Jerry. This style is sometimes called "classic" or "Americana".
• The "Old Skool" is also a style of shoe made by Vans.

Old school hip hop is a term used to describe the very earliest hip hop music to come out of the block parties of New York City in the 1970s and 1980s. ... Breakbeat hardcore (popularly known as rave music, originally referred to as simply hardcore in the United Kingdom, with old school hardcore a common term in the 21st century) is a style of electronic music that primarily uses breakbeats for its rhythm lines. ... For other uses, see Rave (disambiguation). ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article may require cleanup. ... Happy hardcore is a form of dance music typified by a very fast tempo (usually around 165-180 BPM), often coupled with male or female vocals, and saccharine lyrics. ... Rock is a form of popular music from the mid 20th century which typically features a vocal melody (often with vocal harmony) that is supported by accompaniment of electric guitars, a bass guitar, and drums, often with a strong back beat. ... This article does not cite its references or sources. ... Heavy metal is a subgenre of rock music that emerged as a defined musical style in the 1970s, having its roots in hard rock bands which, between 1969 and 1974,[1] mixed blues and rock music to create a hybrid with a thick, heavy, guitar-and-drums-centered sound, characterised... Grunge music (sometimes also referred to as the Seattle Sound) is an independent-rooted music genre that became a commercially successful offshoot of hardcore punk, thrash metal, and alternative rock in the late 1980s and early 1990s. ... For the magazine, see Classic Rock Classic Rock was originally conceived as a radio station programming format which evolved from the album oriented rock (AOR) format in the early-1980s. ... Album Oriented Rock, abbreviated AOR, was originally an American FM radio format focusing on album tracks by rock music artists rather than singles releases. ... Heavy metals, in chemistry, are chemical elements of a particular range of atomic weights. ... For other uses, see iron maiden. ... Judas Priest are a heavy metal band formed in 1968 in the northwest midlands of England, near Birmingham. ... Nu metal (also called new metal, aggro metal or nü metal using the traditional heavy metal umlaut) is a musical genre that has origins in the mid 1990s. ... This article is about computer and video games. ... Super Mario Bros. ... The demoscene is a computer art subculture that specializes itself on producing demos, non-interactive audio-visual presentations, which are run real-time on a computer. ... This article is about traditional role-playing games. ... It has been suggested that this article be split into multiple articles. ... A skateboarder performing a frontside lipslide Skateboarding is the act of rolling on or performing tricks with a skateboard. ... For other uses, see Tattoo (disambiguation). ... Norman Sailor Jerry Collins (1911-1973) Considered the foremost American tattoo artist of his time, Sailor Jerry is widely considered to the dominant figure in the art of tattooing as it is practiced in the USA today. ... Womens shoes on display in a shop window, July 2005 A shoe is an item of footwear. ... Vans are a brand of shoe which enjoy popularity among young people, especially those involved in skateboarding and snowboarding. ...

See also

• Retro