Insights – Half a century of hip-hop

On August 11, 1973, at 1520 Sadwick Avenue, Brocks, DJ Kool Herc organized what is today the first hip-hop party and the beginning of the history of this musical genre. Obviously, one could spend hours trying to figure out possible other starting points, but given that DJ Kool Herc is (almost) unanimously considered the founding father, and given that even if we changed that date, we would still end up picking a bit sooner or later we can consider August 11, 1973 as the day when hip-hop came into our world. Since then, this seed has turned first into a seedling, then into a small garden, and finally into a forest.

After the founders, which include at least Afrika Bambaataa and Grandmaster Flash, as well as the aforementioned DJ Kool Herk, form the sacred trimurtis of the genre, and their block parties the first singles appeared, which later became important for the history of the genre – we will mention four: “The Breaks” (1980) by Curtis Blow; “Rapper’s Delight” (1979) by the Sugarhill Gang; “Message” by Grandmaster Flash; “Planet Rock” (1982) by Africa Bambaataa. The heterogeneous experience of the first artists in a few years condensed into a scene that already in the early 1980s acquired an amazing wealth of different voices, proposals and content. What was the performance music created on stage DJ

And leading becomes an interesting issue for the recording industry during this period, while subgenres and styles become more specific. In a golden era that usually spans much of the second eighties and early nineties, the protagonists among many others are Run-DMC, LL Cool J, Public Enemy, Boogie Down Production, Eric B. & Rakim, UltraMagnetic MCs, De La Soul, A Tribe Called Quest, Gang Starr, EPMD and Beastie Boys.

Thus, from the Atlantic coast, hip-hop multiplied: first with sound. gangsta or, more generally, West Coast – various NWAs (including lead singers Dr. Dre and Ice Cube), Ice-T, Mobb Deep and the founder of Schoolly D – and then with the team southern – among which are OutKast, Three-6 Mafia and Goodie Mob. And then there are the non-American national scenes, including the Italian one and its 30-year history, but no complete approach to the genre can do without looking at French, English, German, Canadian, and also South American and, why not, representatives of the main Asian countries. . The seed of hip-hop has spread around the world, taking root in national musical cultures, often with unexpected and, at best, idiosyncratic results.

But this is only the tip of the iceberg, because in a hurry and summing up there is a risk of being left without names that deserve extended discussion, for a variety of reasons: the maximalist genius Kanye West andchild prodigy us; “played” hip-hop The Roots and “instrumental” hip-hop Dj Shadow; the saga of the Wu-Tang clan and the character of the stylish billionaire Jay-Z; white superstar Eminen, whose face is one of the most recognizable in pop culture of the last thirty years, and who died prematurely wearing a Mf Doom mask; the gigantic (in every sense) Notorious BIG, the magnetic Tupac and the lanky Snoop Dogg; the gothic sound of Cypress Hill, the futuristic sound of the Deltron 3030 and the deafening sound of Dälek; Fugees pop rap and Cannibal Ox “cold vein”.

database The Your Music rating collects more than 200 thousand albums marked as hip-hop by users; in 2023 almost 17% release There are much more additions on the site than metal and punk. Among the most streamed artists ever on Spotify, that is, with a total of broadcast Major, there are artists who play (also) hip-hop music in abundance: four in the Top 10. Nielsen has been certifying hip hop as the most played music in the United States since 2017, and that is unlikely to change anytime soon.
For those who were born and raised in a musical context where hip hop was an afterthought, as it was in the eighties and partly in the nineties, this fiftieth anniversary may be an opportunity to stop looking at the genre as something insignificant. those who want to call themselves a fan of modern popular music.

Hip-hop is not, as it has long been tried to imagine, a strange brainchild of rock or trend this pop music will soon absorb one fashion and another again, but it is a musical genre that deserves attention and study by those who want to understand sound recent decades. In the words of Notorious B.I.G., “You never thought hip-hop would get this far.”