origin of hip hop
There are very few musical genres that can be traced back to an exact date. Hip-hop is like that.
On August 11, 1973, Clive Campbell threw a back-to-school party with his sister Cindy at their apartment on Sedgwick Avenue in the Bronx. Party-goers danced to familiar tunes by James Brown and Aretha Franklin as Campbell, now better known as DJ Kool Herc, played two of his copies of the same record and set the beat. I started looping the percussive sections of the song to keep it going. Hip-hop was born.
“It was a confluence of events,” Carson said.
This new style of music became popular in New York City and became the soundtrack for all kinds of parties and celebrations. The genre, which originated in low-income black and brown neighborhoods, remained on the fringes for several years, even as artistic activity flourished.
Experts and musicians know that the Sugar Hill Gang recorded “Rapper's Delight” in 1979. This song is considered by experts and musicians to be the first commercial recording of a rap song. It wasn't until the early '90s that musicians like Vanilla Ice and NWA rose to the top of the charts.
Still, the history of the genre doesn't begin “when a song hits the charts,” Carson said.
Rap and hip-hop are often used interchangeably, but not every hip-hop song has someone rhyming to the beat. Rap wasn't always the most prominent aspect of hip-hop. That came later, he said.
In fact, hip-hop is more than just a type of music.
“Some people might look at this and think 'dance,' some people might look at this and think 'production,' and some people might think 'DJ.'” Carson said. Ta. “That's because hip-hop is a culture and it's all-encompassing.”
It also includes graffiti, one of the first aspects of hip-hop culture to gain widespread attention. But today, most people associate hip-hop with rap music.
evolution of hip hop
Although hip-hop is a relatively new genre, a lot has changed since DJ Kool Herc's back-to-school party.
“Fifty years is a long time, but it's also a very short time,” Carson said.
Although Billboard reports that hip-hop is the most popular music genre in the world, Carson said hip-hop continues to be marginalized in some ways. Carson said that when some people hear the word “rapper,” they associate poverty and crime, which leads to rappers being scapegoated. He must consider those associations himself when deciding whether to introduce himself as a rapper, a professor, or both.
Nevertheless, hip-hop's dominance is undeniable. From the South Bronx to Los Angeles, Atlanta, Houston, Chicago, and overseas. The importance of this music can also be seen in the fact that UVA has a faculty member dedicated to teaching hip-hop.
“A lot of academia has excluded hip-hop practices,” Carson said. “What does it mean for hip-hop in academia to have an associate professor of hip-hop at a place like the University of Virginia?”
