Hip-Hop has overcome many adversities to become among the largest grossing genres in music today.

I. Hip Hop is an art form that includes DJing [cuttin' & scartchin'], MCing (Master of Ceremony or “mike controller”) /rappin', break-dancing (people who partake in this dance form are known as b-boys and b-girls) and graffiti art.

a. These art forms as we know them today originated in the South Bronx section of New York City around the mid 1970s. (Davey)

II. Hip Hop has thrived within the subculture of Black and Puerto Rican communities in New York and is now just recently beginning to enjoy widespread exposure.

a. From a sociological perspective, Hip Hop has been one of the main contributing factors that helped curtail gang violence due to the fact that many adults found it preferable to channel their anger and aggressions into these art forms which eventually became the ultimate expression of one's self. (Light, 21)

I. If anyone were to be cited as the “founder” of rap it would be Koo

b. Critics LOATHED it while fans LOVED it.

b. Here, he attempted to incorporate his Jamaican style of dj, which involved reciting improvised rhymes, taken from the Jamaican art form known as toasting, over the dub versions of his reggae records.

b. Instead, the five-piece crew (consisting of Dr. Dre, Ice Cube, Eazy E, DJ Yella, and MC Ren) celebrated the violence and hedonism of the criminal life, capturing it all in blunt, harsh language.

a. Run DMC were responsible for pretty much every first in rap music:

1. The main riff for Hammer’s big hit single “U Can’t Touch This” was ripped from Rick James’ “Super Freak”

VI. N.W.A., the unapologetically violent pioneers of gangsta rap, is in many ways the most notorious group in the history of rap.

Some topics in this essay:
Hip Hop, Kool Herc, Run DMC, Rick James’, MC Ren, LIMIT Records, LL Cool, Flavor Flav, Suge Knight, MC Hammer, kool herc, dr dre, hip hop, death row records, grandmaster flash, art form, hardcore gangsta, ll cool, ice cube, death row, rap music,