Hip Hop History.

This is a story about Hip Hop history. Recently, Hip hop culture is very popular in America and also Japan, but most people don’t know about Hip Hop history and roots. I want to tell everyone about these things.

Hip Hop culture began in the Bronx, in New York in the 1970s. Block parties became common in New York City, especially the Bronx. Block parties were usually accompanied by funk and soul music. Funk, soul and reggae were mixed in Block parties. In the 1970s, many Jamaican immigrants lived in the Bronx so dancehall reggae was popular there. Coinage of the term “hip hop” is often credited to Afrika Bambaataa. Afro American people make new style inspired from other cultures. Hip Hop has 4 elements. DJ, rapping, Graffiti and Break dancing. First, DJ means “disc jockey”. They selected and played songs on the radio. Rapping is a rapper expresses what I think about something, for example tell about social problem and announce I am a #1 star or I have some money. The next element is Graffiti. This is a way of the painting. It looks like art. A Graffiti artist wants to express “This is my territory.” The fourth element is Break dancing. Break dance is a street dance style. They battle which is a good dancer. It is like a quarrel. Break dancer also known as B-Boy and B-Girl. Many people think B-boy means “Bad Boy”. But this is not true. It means “break boy”. These are four elements in Hip Hop culture. Hip Hop history is so young. It started about 40 years ago. In 1970s to 1980s music called “old school”. Old school music used and mixed disco, soul and funk music. This is a very simple style. Old school famous artist are Sugarhill Gang, Kool Herc and Grandmaster Flash. Next is “Golden Age Hip Hop (1980 to 1990)”. At that time Hip Hop culture was a big part of music scene. Run-D.M.C was very famous in this time. They released “Walk This Way”. This song was made by with Aerosmith. Aerosmith is a famous rock band. This song had big impact about music history. Hip Hop artist use rock music. “Walk This Way” was a big hit. This song was the first Hip Hop artist top 5 on the Billboard chart. Then, 1990 from 2008, another style of Hip Hop developed, which is called “new school”. Hip Hop is not only New Yorkers music. West Coast people, for example Los Angeles people, are playing Hip Hop, too. Another region from Miami to Houston is called “South area”. So Hip Hop has three big territories. These are “East coast”, “West coast” and “South”. West coast’s artists are Snoop Dogg, Dr. Dre, 2 Pac, The Game and more. South’s artists are T.I., Slim Thug and Ludacris. South Hip Hop is young.

Now Hip Hop music has spread all over the world. In 2008 Many Hip Hop artist got #1 on the Billboard chart, for example Flo Rida’s “Low” got 10th weeks #1 and Lil Wayne’s “Lollipop” got 4th weeks #1. Nowadays, many people are dancing, rapping, scratching and drawing something. These are not special things.