Mark Henderson answered
Rap music, also known as hip hop, is a music genre that features repetitive rhythms and a style of spoken vocal known as rapping. (Rapping is rhythmical and rhyming poetry which usually features social, economic, race and political themes.)
The invention of the synthesizer in the late 1960s, and the post civil rights culture of the 1970s led to the creation of rap music.
Initially the genre was limited to DJ sets with no vocals and relying heavily on the use of drum machines, synthesizers and samples. This was then combined with African American vocal traditions such as signifiyin and jazz poetry. Call and response patterns of traditional African music and soul artists such as James Brown also had a profound influence on the development of the genre.
The first hip hop record to be released was The Sugarhill Gang's "Rapper's Delight" in 1979. From then on rap music began to spread out across America from its birthplace of New York. With the introduction of new, more advanced synthesizers and drum machines in the 1980s, and the emergence of politically-motivated and militant rap groups, rap music became part of mainstream culture.
The 1990s signified the genre's breakthrough into the mainstream, and Public Enemy's album "Fear of a Black Planet" was warmly received by critics and consumers alike. Since the 1990s, rap music has been ever-present as one of the most popular genres in the western world.
Breakthrough Rap Artists
- Sugarhill Gang
- De la Soul
- Public Enemy
- Rum DMC
- N.W.A
- Ice T
- MC Hammer
The invention of the synthesizer in the late 1960s, and the post civil rights culture of the 1970s led to the creation of rap music.
Initially the genre was limited to DJ sets with no vocals and relying heavily on the use of drum machines, synthesizers and samples. This was then combined with African American vocal traditions such as signifiyin and jazz poetry. Call and response patterns of traditional African music and soul artists such as James Brown also had a profound influence on the development of the genre.
The first hip hop record to be released was The Sugarhill Gang's "Rapper's Delight" in 1979. From then on rap music began to spread out across America from its birthplace of New York. With the introduction of new, more advanced synthesizers and drum machines in the 1980s, and the emergence of politically-motivated and militant rap groups, rap music became part of mainstream culture.
The 1990s signified the genre's breakthrough into the mainstream, and Public Enemy's album "Fear of a Black Planet" was warmly received by critics and consumers alike. Since the 1990s, rap music has been ever-present as one of the most popular genres in the western world.
Breakthrough Rap Artists
- Sugarhill Gang
- De la Soul
- Public Enemy
- Rum DMC
- N.W.A
- Ice T
- MC Hammer