The roots of hip hop can be found in 1970s block parties in New York City, specifically The Bronx^[1]. Hip hop culture, including rapping, scratching, graffiti, and breakdancing. In the 1930s more than a sixth of Harlem residents were from the West Indies, and the block parties of the '80s were closely similar to sound systems in Jamaica^[1]. These were large parties, originally outdoors, thrown by owners of loud and expensive stereo equipment, which they could share with the community or use to compete among themselves, who began speaking lyrics or toasting. The 1970s decade refers to the years from 1970 to 1979, also called The Seventies. ... A block party is a large informal public celebration in which many members of a single neighborhood congregate to observe a positive event of some importance. ... New York, New York and NYC redirect here. ... For other uses, see The Bronx (disambiguation). ... Hip hop is a subculture, which is said to have begun with the work of DJ Kool Herc, Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five, and Afrika Bambaattaa. ... Rap redirects here. ... Scratching is a DJ or turntablist technique used to produce sounds for some types of music. ... For other uses, see Graffiti (disambiguation). ... A breakdancer performing a one-handed freeze (also known as a pike) in the streets of Paris. ... Sound system has multiple meanings: A sound reinforcement system is a system for amplifying, reproducing, and sometimes recording audio. ... Toasting, chatting, or DJing is the act of talking or chanting over a rhythm or beat. ...

Rap music emerged from block parties after ultra-competitive DJs isolated percussion breaks, those being the favorites among dancers, and MCs began speaking over the beats^[1]; in Jamaica, a similar musical style called dub developed from the same isolated and elongated percussion breaks. However, "most rappers will tell you that they either disliked reggae or were only vaguely aware of it in the early and middle '70s."^[1] For other uses, see Break. ... putang ina. ... Dub is a form of Jamaican music, which developed in the early 1970s. ...

Lastly, most existing hip hop acts were shocked when King Tim III's throwback [1] to radio DJs rhyming jive and the Sugarhill Gang's appropriation of rap on their remake, not sample, of Chic's "Good Times" were released, as most DJs and MCs knew each other and many had been attempting to record^[1]. Early rap records are a mix bag of quality material by party veterans and poorer material quickly produced for a profit. 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. ... For other uses, see Chic. ...

Lil Rodney Cee, of Funky Four Plus One More and Double Trouble, cites Cowboy, of Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, as, "the first MC that I know of...He was the first MC to talk about the DJ." ^[1] Funky Four Plus One (sometimes written Funky 4 + 1) was an early hip hop group. ... Double Trouble could reference many things: // Films Double Trouble, a 1967 Elvis Presley film. ... DJ Grandmaster Flash was one of the pioneers of hip-hop DJing, cutting, and mixing. ...

The historical conditions contributing to the origin of hip hop

The reasons for the rise of hip hop are complex. Perhaps most important was the need for Black Americans (descendants of American Slavery) to express themselves and describe the world that they were trapped in. Also, the low cost involved in getting started: the equipment was relatively inexpensive, and virtually anyone could MC along with the popular beats of the day. MCs could be creative, pairing nonsense rhymes and teasing friends and enemies alike in the style of Jamaican toasting at blues parties or playing the dozens in an exchange of wit. MCs would play at block parties, with no expectation of recording, thus making hip hop a form of folk music (as long as electronic music is not excluded from being folk). The skills necessary to create hip hop music were passed informally from musician to musician, rather than being taught in expensive music lessons. Toasting, chatting, or DJing is the act of talking or chanting over a rhythm or beat. ... Your father redirects here. ... Folk song redirects here. ...

In Washington, D.C., go go also emerged as a reaction against disco, and eventually mixed with hip hop during the early 1980s, while electronic music did the same, developing as house music in Chicago and techno music in Detroit. For other uses, see Washington, D.C. (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see Go go (disambiguation). ... The 1980s refers to the years from 1980 to 1989. ... For other uses, see Electronic music (disambiguation). ... House music is a style of electronic dance music that was developed by dance club DJs in Chicago in the early to mid-1980s. ... Nickname: Motto: Urbs in Horto (Latin: City in a Garden), I Will Location in the Chicago metro area and Illinois Coordinates: , Country State Counties Cook, DuPage Settled 1770s Incorporated March 4, 1837 Government  - Mayor Richard M. Daley (D) Area  - City 234. ... Techno is a form of electronic dance music that became prominent in Detroit, Michigan during the mid-1980s with influences from electro, New Wave, Funk and futuristic fiction themes that were prevalent and relative to modern culture during the end of the Cold War in industrial America at that time. ... Detroit redirects here. ...

In addition to this origin of modern Hip Hop, a primitive form of Hip Hop was first shaped by slaves that came to America in the 18th Century from West Africa. The scenic background is that slaves who were often tired and bored with hard work, started speaking out complaints or sang phrases that would cheer them up. These words were accompanied with claps or beats made by hitting a spot on their bodies. This shaped the very primitive form of Hip Hop.

Disco

Hip-hop was both rooted in disco, and a backlash against it. According to Kurtis Blow, the early days of hip-hop were characterized by divisions between fans and detractors of disco music. Either way, it is indisputable that disco had an effect on hip-hop music and culture, due to the fact that the first commercial rap hit "Rapper's Delight" by The Sugarhill Gang in 1979, was flush with tenets of disco, from the funk-laden beat to the televised exploitation involving the clothes, dancing, and corny special effects, all associated with disco. 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. ... Rappers Delight is a 1979 single by American hip hop trio The Sugarhill Gang; it was one of the first hip hop hit singles. ... The Sugarhill Gang is an American hip hop and funk group, known mostly for their biggest hit, Rappers Delight, the first hip hop single to become a Top 40 hit. ... Also: 1979 by Smashing Pumpkins. ...

Minimalism

Minimalism --and more significantly Electronic Minimalism-- resorted to calmly, methodically --and sometimes even organically-- remove the extensive mess of ornamentation existent in both Popular and Classical Music; cleaning the palate and paving the Autobahn for the discovery of new rhythms. Autobahn (German for motorway) is an album by Kraftwerk, released in 1974. ...

From 1977 to 1982 on WGPR, followed by three years at WJLB, Detroit FM DJ named Charles Johnson better known by his on-air name, the Electrifying Mojo, presided over the Midnight Funk Association, broadcasting a diverse anti-format with special attention given to the German minimalist electronic group Kraftwerk. Having fished the Autobahn album out of the "discarded" bin at a previous station, and soon after having acquired a copy of Trans Europe Express, when the 1981 album Computer World came out, Mojo played the entire albums virtually every night, making a lasting impact on listeners. WGPR is a U.S. radio station founded in 1964 in Detroit, Michigan. ... WJLB, is a Clear Channel-owned mainstream urban radio station in Detroit that broadcasts on 97. ... Motto: Speramus Meliora; Resurget Cineribus (We Hope For Better Things; It Shall Rise From the Ashes - this motto was adopted after the disastrous 1805 fire that devastated the city) Nickname: The Motor City and Motown Location in Wayne County, Michigan Founded Incorporated July 24, 1701 1815  County Wayne County Mayor... Charles The Electrifying Mojo Johnson was a Detroit, USA radio disc jockey from the 1970s through the 1990s, whose on-air journey of musical and social development shaped a generation of music-lovers in Detroit and throughout southeastern Michigan and Canada, and was of paramount importance to the development of... The Midnight Funk Association was an eclectic, 5-hour, late-night radio program hosted by The Electrifying Mojo on various Detroit, Michigan radio stations including WCHB, WGPR, and WJLB-FM from 1977 through the mid-1980s. ... A radio format or programming format describes the overall content broadcast on a radio station. ... Kraftwerk (pronounced [], German for power station) is a German musical group from Düsseldorf that has made immense contributions to the development of improvisational rock and electronic music, most notably within the latter categorys sub-genres which later became known as synthpop, electro, techno, house and IDM. Early musical... Autobahn (German for motorway) is an album by Kraftwerk, released in 1974. ... Trans-Europe Express is a Kraftwerk album released in 1977. ... Computer World (German version: Computerwelt) is a concept album created by Kraftwerk and released in 1981. ...

Ghetto DJs

Librarians of lunacy and analog alchemy, Ghetto DJs found solace in experimentation. A generation that refused to be silenced by urban poverty, teenagers with little cash but plenty of imagination began to forge new styles from spare parts.

In an interview for David Toop's book 'Rap Attack 3', Afrika Bambaataa said that Afrika Bambaataa is a DJ and community leader from the South Bronx, who was instrumental in the early development of hip hop throughout the 1970s. ...

"The Bronx wasn't really into radio music no more. It was an anti-disco movement. Like you had a lot of new wavers and other people coming out and saying, 'Disco Sucks'. Well, the same thing with hip hop, 'cause they was against the disco that was being played on the radio."

and in a reference plastered countless time on the internet, known as "The History Of Rap" by Kurtis Blow, he writes 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. ...

"You have to understand that disco music was the hottest thing out -- it was a craze that infiltrated all of American society. We were the rebels who couldn't relate. We weren't going for it. The B-Boys were from the ghetto, while disco was for the middle class and the rich. But there was hip-hop in both worlds. It was the hip-hop tug-o'-war -- disco rappers versus the B-Boys."

Doug Wimblish (bass), who together with Keith LeBlanc (drums) and Skip McDonald (guitar) took over the Sugarhill Records production and arrangement responsibilities from Positive Force and label arranger Jiggs Chase, says

"Jiggs had done an arrangement that was pretty slick but it wasn't the raw stuff they wanted. One of them was almost in tears, 'cause they though they were going to have to do it. And then Rodney [Cee] was just, 'Man, this sounds like it's for an older crowd. What is this shit?' So then we cut 'That's the Joint' and they liked that much better. You couldn't do those boring disco tracks -- everything was four-on-the-floor all the way through. The rappers, they wouldn't have that shit."

Minimalists and DJs; all suppressing the fear of ridicule, all mindful of the delicate balance between challenging and alienating listeners, and all proud of their ability to understand increasing amounts of technical knowledge in light of the creative independence it reaped; have crosspolinated with and from each other since their infancy.

Urban socioeconomics

Along with the low expense and the demise of other forms of popular music, social and political events further accelerated the rise of hip hop. In 1959, the Cross-Bronx Expressway was built through the heart of the Bronx, displacing many of the middle-class white communities and causing widespread unemployment among the remaining blacks as stores and factories fled the area. By the 1970s, poverty was rampant. When a 15,000+ apartment Co-op City was built at the northern edge of the Bronx in 1968, the last of the middle-class fled the area and the area's black and Latino gangs began to grow in power. The Cross-Bronx Expressway is a major expressway in New York City. ... Co-op City is a housing development located in the Baychester section of the Northeast Bronx at the intersection of I-95 and the Hutchinson River Parkway. ...

Earlier styles that contributed to hip-hop music

• West African griots, wandering poets and "praise-singers"
• spirituals and other forms of Christian music, as well as certain Protestant preachers' sermons
• Voice instrumental, long-standing tradition in world music of many varieties and across peoples
• scat singing, using the voice to imitate a musical instrument.
• toasting, traditional African-American and Afro-Caribbean entertainment, long, rhymed tales of great heroes, Stagger Lee and Jack Johnson among others (see dub)
• Dirty Dozens, stylized exchange of insults.
• "Signifying Monkey", long series of rhymed tales in which the weaker monkey triumphs through tricks over the more powerful beasts of the jungle, a ruder version of the Brer Rabbit stories.
• talking blues, popularized by Woody Guthrie, John Lee Hooker, and others, featuring rhyming talking with ironic asides to the audience.
• Late 1960s and early '70s at least proto-rap poets such as Gil Scott-Heron, the Watts Prophets and the Last Poets
• Jazz vocalese and pop/R&B Doo wop, using voices to imitate an entire band (dating back at least to the Mills Brothers).
• Here Come The Judge, a song recorded by Pigmeat Markham in 1967, can be considered a prototype of rap.
• Memphis Jug Band, had a style and flow which could be the very first prototype of rap.

 Western Africa (UN subregion)  Maghreb[1] West Africa or Western Africa is the westernmost region of the African continent. ... This page is about the West African poets. ... A spiritual is a African-American song, usually with a religious text. ... Topics in Christianity Movements · Denominations Ecumenism · Relation to other religions Preaching · Prayer Music · Liturgy · Calendar Symbols · Art · Criticism Important figures Apostle Paul · Church Fathers Athanasius · Augustine · Constantine Anselm · Aquinas · Palamas Calvin · Luther · Wesley Arius · Marcion of Sinope Archbishop of Canterbury · Pope Coptic Pope · Ecumenical Patriarch Christianity Portal This box:      Christian... Protestantism is a general grouping of denominations within Christianity. ... Preacher is a term the for someone who preaches sermons or gives homilies. ... Topics in Christianity Movements · Denominations Ecumenism · Preaching · Prayer Music · Liturgy · Calendar Symbols · Art · Criticism Important figures Apostle Paul · Church Fathers Constantine · Athanasius · Augustine Anselm · Aquinas · Palamas · Luther Calvin · Wesley Arius · Marcion of Sinope Pope · Archbishop of Canterbury Patriarch of Constantinople Christianity Portal This box:      A sermon is an oration by... Voice instrumental music is the term used for compositions and improvisations for the human voice. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Toasting, chatting, or DJing is the act of talking or chanting over a rhythm or beat. ... Languages Predominantly American English Religions Protestantism (chiefly Baptist and Methodist); Roman Catholicism; Islam Related ethnic groups Sub-Saharan Africans and other African groups, some with Native American groups. ... Afro-Caribbean may refer to: the British Afro-Caribbean community other members of the African diaspora in or from the Carribean This is a disambiguation page: a list of articles associated with the same title. ... Stagger Lee (also known as Stagolee, Stackerlee, Stack OLee, Stack-a-Lee and by several other spelling variants) was an African American murderer whose crime was immortalized in a blues folk song, which has been recorded in hundreds of different versions. ... John Arthur Johnson (March 31, 1878 – June 10, 1946), better known as Jack Johnson and nicknamed the Galveston Giant, was an American boxer and arguably the best heavyweight of his generation. ... Dub is a form of Jamaican music, which developed in the early 1970s. ... The dozens is an African American custom in which two competitors -- usually males -- go head to head in a competition of often ribald trash talk. ... Brer Rabbit is the hero of the Uncle Remus stories derived from African-American folktales of the US South. ... Talking blues is a sub genre of the blues music genre. ... Woodrow Wilson Guthrie (July 14, 1912–October 3, 1967) was a prolific American songwriter and folk musician. ... John Lee Hooker (August 22, 1917 – June 21, 2001) was an influential American post-war blues singer, guitarist, and songwriter born in Coahoma County near Clarksdale, Mississippi. ... The 1960s decade refers to the years from 1960 to 1969. ... The 1970s decade refers to the years from 1970 to 1979, also called The Seventies. ... Photo of Gil Scott-Heron. ... The Watts Prophets are a group of musicians and poets from Watts, Los Angeles, California. ... The Last Poets are a group of poets and musicians, arising from the late 1960s African American civil rights movement. ... For other uses, see Jazz (disambiguation). ... Vocalese is a style or genre of jazz singing wherein lyrics are written for melodies that were originally part of an all-instrumental composition or improvisation. ... For the Lauryn Hill single, see Doo Wop (That Thing). ... The Mills Brothers were a major African-American jazz and pop vocal quartet of the 20th century producing more than 2,000 recordings that sold more than 50 million copies and garnered at least three dozen gold records. ... Pigmeat Markham (April 18, 1904 - December 13, 1981) was an African American entertainer. ... Year 1967 (MCMLXVII) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display full calendar) of the 1967 Gregorian calendar. ... This music article needs to be wikified. ...

References

see also Did Ali invent rap? (ESPN).