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Hip hop music originated 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.

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]

"Rappers Delight" by the Sugarhill Gang is the first song that was recorded & released by a rap crew, and therefore is considered the first true hip hop release, though "King Tim III" by the R&B group Fatback Band and "Groovy Ghost Show" by Casper are sometimes considered to be the first because they featured rapping, and predated "Rapper's Delight" by a few months.^[1].

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]

[edit] History

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From 1977 to 1982 on WGPR, followed by three years at WJLB, a 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.

[edit] 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.

On August 11, 1973, Jamaican DJ Kool Herc was a DJ and Emcee at a party in the recreation room of 1520 Sedgewick Avenue in the Bronx adjacent to the Cross-Bronx Expressway.^[2] It was not the actual "Birthplace of Hip Hop" -- the genre developed slowly in several places in the 1970s -- it was verified to be the place where one of the pivotal and formative events occurred.^[2] Specifically, DJ Kool Herc:

extended an instrumental beat (breaking or scratching) to let people dance longer (break dancing) and began MC’ing (rapping) during the extended breakdancing. ... [This] helped lay the foundation for a cultural revolution.

—History Detectives^[2]

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Rap/Hip-Hop Timeline
• Did Ali invent rap? (ESPN).
• All Latin Rap / Hip-Hop Artists