This year is the 50th year anniversary of Hip Hop. Hip Hop is unique in many ways. To me, it's the most controversial musical genre in human history and the most resilient musical genre in human history. Hip Hop has been loved, hated, banned by many individuals, praised, and acknowledged as a key part of world culture. Like with many things, hip hop originated with black people, and it has been expressed by human beings of every color as hip hop is a universal culture. Elements of hip hop existed long before the 1970's like graffiti, turntables, rapping (we know of people rapping in the 1930's in blues/jazz songs), beatboxing, breakdancing, and DJs existed before the 1970's. Modern day hip hop was created by Kool Herc by August of 1973. So, hip hop was created by Afro-Caribbeans and African Americans working together to celebrate music in parties and celebrations. Early on, hip hop was headed by the DJ. The DJ is equivalent to the orchestra manager or conductor like Duke Ellington conducting the notes of the orchestra. The DJ in hip hop originally conducted the beats and the sounds. African Americans and Afro-Caribbeans in the Bronx and the rest of the city of New York City used block parties to have competitions and parties to see who the better hip hop artist was (amid poverty, police brutality, and deindustrialization in New York City).
The M.C. rose in prominence to talk about music, bragging, having fun, and other topics. During the 1970's, prominent hip hop artists were Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, The Sugar Hill gang, King Tim III, Funky Four Plus One More, Lady B, Jocko, Paulette and Tanya Winley, Ron Hunt, and Eddie Cheba. Kurtis Blow started his hip hop career during the 1970's too. By the 1980's, hip hop music changed forever. It was the time when hip hop was taken more seriously by mainstream society. The samples of funk and R&B records increased. Legends grown. LL Cool J, Salt n Pepa, Rakim, Eric B, Kane, and other artists helped to develop the Golden Age of hip hop. The Golden Age lasted from the late 1980's to the early 1990's. It featured many artists. The 1980's hip hop diversified with conscious groups like Public Enemy, hardcore reality rap (or gangster rap) with N.W.A, sexual hip hop with 2 Live Crew, and more pop rap like Will Smith and Kid and Play. The 1990's saw hip hop reach new heights of international power making billions of dollars of people. New Jack swing started the decade and in the end of the decade having hardcore, conscious, and the bling era. The two most prominent artists of the 1990's were Tupac Shakur and the Notorious B.I.G. They lived and traveled all over America and their lives were cut short unjustly by jealous, cowardly people. They remain the most influential hip hop artists of all time with their impact, talent, and style. During the 1990's, Wu Tang Clan, Outkast, Snoop, Scarface, DMX, Jay Z, Lauryn Hill, Wyclef Jean, and other artists shown their musical abilities. By the end of the 1990's, newer artists like Mos Def, Canibus, Eminem, Nia, Jean Grae, and other people released their own musical songs and albums.
By the 2000's, there was the end of the bling era and the start of new forms of hip hop sounds. Many sounds mixed hip hop and R&B together. Hip Hop became the new rock stars in terms of popularity and influence by the 2000's. In the 1990's, there were debates on the commercialization of hip hop. By the 2000's, more hip hop artists embraced themselves as a business. By the 2000's, we saw the increase influence of Dr. Dre, 50 Cent, Ja Rule, Jay Z, Eminem, Cam'ron, Mase, Ludacris, Ying Yang Twins, and other artists. The South not only grown hip hop culture but became the the large face of hip hop by the 2000's. The growth of snap and crunk were prominent. By the 2010’s, a new generation of artists talked about politics, love, romance, the life or the urban communities, and justice like Tribe, Kendrick Lamar, Drake, Pusha T, Kanye West (with probably the most experimental album of his career in Yeezus), Rapsody, The Roots, Young Thug, Future, Vince Staples, Mac Miller, and others. From the 2010’s, a new renaissance of young women hip hop artists have taken the stage like Nicki Minaj, Noname, Azalea Banks, Princess Nokia, Cardi B (I don’t agree with her on many issues, but I mention here for historical reference), Rico Nasty, Doja Cat, Megan Thee Stallion, Rapsody, Tierra Whack, and Coi Leray. By the 2020’s, hip hop has evolved more in embracing the same youth culture along with soundcloud beats. The fashion has changed, historical events have changed, but the same goal of musical excellence has not changed in hip hop culture. By the 2020’s, we see artists like Lil Baby, Lil Uzi Vert, Ice Spice, Polo G, Jack Harlow, Fivio Foreign, and other artists. Cheat Codes from Black Thought was an album released in 2022 with lyrical power and flow. At the end of the day, hip hop, the elements of hip hop include emceeing, deejaying, break dancing, graffiti, beatboxing, fashion, language, and knowledge. One element is not better than the other as hip hop is diverse. Human creativity is very diverse, and hip hop has been around for more than 50 years. It will continue to expand for many more years to come.
BY Timothy
