... and Grandmaster Flash were among the first to gain popularity. In 1982, Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five released the first popular politically based rap. Grandmaster's song "The Message" deals with life in the inner city, and the stress of being around violence and drugs. It ... Raps". The rhythms and the lyrics attracted a spectrum of listeners, from inner-city minorities to suburban upper-class whites. During the same era, as rap was rising in popularity, the infamous "PMRC hearings" occurred. Tennessee senator Al Gore's wife, Tipper, led the PMRC, or Parents' Music Resource Cen...

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• Grade Level: High School

... to incorporate his Jamaican style of dj which involved reciting improvised rhymes over the dub versions of his reggae records (Davey). Kool Herc separated rap music from other popular music and set the stage for further innovation. he is know for his massive stereo system speakers and his practice ... of extending obscure instrumental breaks that created an endless collage of peak dance named b-beats or breaks-beats (Rose). Afrika Bambaataa influence on rap's development is pivotal. He is often referred to as the God Father of Hip Hop, born and raised in the Bronx, he was a ... break da...

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... by another patron and a police officer had his foot run over by a vehicle attempting to push through a crowd of three-hundred people the rap events have produced disturbances, unruliness, and assault all of which were alcohol-related Experience has proven that there is a greater risk of incident at ... should be encouraged and not vilified" (Stateman 5). Dr. James Johnson disagrees. "Violence is the No.1 killer of black males today gangsta rap confirms negative impressions of rap music the last thing black males need is to be exposed to a genre of music that says the way to resolve con...

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... " (Rose 2008:141). White rapper Vanilla Ice's illustrations of urban street life were exposed as artificial, while west coast rapper Dr. Dre became the dominant artist of gangsta rap despite his lack of involvement in gang activity. The difference between Vanilla Ice's inauthenticity and Dr. Dre's authenticity stems from the audience's assumptions that the thuggish and violent messages were ... , the media-controlled images began to be associated with authentic Blackness, and much of White America began filtering their definitions of Blackness through historically negative perceptions pre...

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• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... the white kids of suburbia and taught them about a whole other world that they could never conceive. Compton. With this came the movement of gangsta rap, with its hard-hitting lyrics, and truthful story telling. In the height of this period, it was evident that the white population bought into ... it. A statistic done in 1992 stated that whites bought 75 percent of Hip Hop albums.3 There seemed to be a rising market for rap music, which was astonishingly occupied by whites, and the farther away the lyrics were from the suburban-white way of life, the more a demand ... platinum Rolls Royc...

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... this day. The reasons that people believe such things are all due to the music that he produces or is associated with, which is completely unfair. Rap music, just like any other genre of music, is simply a form of entertainment which should not be taken so seriously to people. For example, ... wanna f*** with Shady (his nickname), cause Shady, will f***** kill you,"" anger the average person that knows nothing about hip-hop culture, but to the regular rap listener, those words are nothing but another set of lyrics being heard over a track of music. "When Eartha Kitt salaciously sings "Sa...

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... Flash and the Furious Five were popular throughout New York by 1978, but they did not record until the Sugarhill Gang's "Rapper's Delight" showed that rap records could be hits in 1979. d. Flash and the Five recorded "Superrappin"" for Harlem-based Enjoy Records in 1979, before signing with Sugarhill Records ... severed as Suge Knight and his label fell on hard times. He then became a gospel singer. (Light, 238) VIII. Death Row Records hardcore gangsta rap label started in 1992 by Dr. Dre and Suge Knight. a. This hardcore gangsta mentality embraced guns, gangs, violence, and degrading w...

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• Grade Level: High School

... companies that generate violent music be held legally liable for the effects of the music they produce? Over the years music has become more violent, mostly in rap, and rock and roll. Many of the outside critics believe that the violence in music has a lot to do with the increase in violence in society. ... not Ice T's fault for these crimes, but the fault of the person committing these crimes against the police. The media along with the critics of the rap industry would say that while the person that tried to kill the officer is guilty, they were lead to do this because of the lyrics in...

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... are the first things that come to mind when you here hip-hop. When the average person thinks of hip-hop music, they think of violent rap that's talking about killing and raping. People don't know that hip-hop wasn't created for the callous purpose in which it is represented in today. ... the artificial value of fleeting wealth and the failure of hip hop wealth to strategically better the quality of African American life." (Tyson P.10) Gangster rap is what most people think of though that isn't all that it is. It isn't necessary to use obscenities or to speak of murder or drugs ... Tyson P...

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... or class within a large culture, one having beliefs, interests and customs that are different to those of the greater population. Hip hop music (rap) can be viewed as just one aspect of the subcultural movement of hip hop which also includes, graffiti, breakdancing, distinctive clothes and slang. ... we are shaped by culture. When listening to hip-hop, one immediately notices that it is a form of articulating identity and self-assertion. The rap artists frequently call attention to their origins, usually grounded in a particular region like South Central, Los Angeles, the Bronx, or Comp...

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• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... a "Hip-Hop world"(Terry, 1999). Since Hip-Hop first made its mark on American music nearly 20 years ago with the emergence of rap, Hip-Hop culture has become a worldwide phenomenon. Born in the African-American inner cities, Hip-Hop is the ever-encompassing word for a ... WB and UPN networks have become key players, marketing themselves to teens weaned on hip-hop culture. Magazines such as Vibe, Blaze, The Source, Rap Pages, and Stress were created to appeal to this population. Because of its multiethnic popularity, Vibe Magazine's circulation has risen to 606,237, ... Advertisers, of ...

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... -bred society with an immense following. It didn't take long for marketers and other business people to realize that this was no longer merely a community expression, but a money making venue. Rap is the music, hip-hop is the style, urban is the mindset in this affluent culture. Advertising hip-hop goes well beyond the music being played, it speaks to a lifestyle ... branding. There is hardly a major consumer company around that isn't trying to cash in on hip-hop's popularity, if not its edgy authenticity. Hip-hop music, and its signature style: rap, emerged from mostly impoverished, pre...

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... someone always seems to argue about their negative effects on society and the need for government regulation. Being a fan of rap, I am particularly interested in issues effecting regulation of the recording industry and rap artists. Popular gangsta rappers include Dr. Dre, Snoop Doggy Dog, Tupac Shakur, Ice Cube, and Ice T. Many are ... most publicized gansta rappers whose songs contain explicit lyrics and who has been indicted for criminal activities. Tupac was a gangster rap artist who practiced what he preached. Because of his profanity and lyrics, people say he should be censored. H...

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... started to "scratch" in songs which became the new style. Grand master Flash formed a new group called the "Furious Five." They became the first big rap group. Their first single dubbed "Super Rappin" became the first big hip-hop success. But, it was Sugar Hills Gang, who released the biggest single called ... became the leading supplier of heroin and cocain. This drug explosion ruled most of the inner city ghettos. Gangsta Rap is a major by product that emerged from the explosion of crack-cocain. Rap and Hip-hop quickly spread all over North America and became one of the leading types ...

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... to do and keep them occupied for most of the time. Competitions were held in parks, community halls and other open spaces around the block. Rap caught on because it offered young urban new Yorkers a chance to freely express themselves. It was seen as an art for accessible to any one. ... lot of money, or expensive resources to rhyme. Rapping was a verbal skill that could be practiced and honed to perfection at almost any time. Rap also became popular because it offered unlimited challenges. There were few set rules and the main rule was to be original and rhyme on time to ... are preva...

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... Inevitably, the acknowledgement that the DJ's offered their crowd turned into little rhymes. At the time, they were not called rappers or lyricists but rather "emcees." "Rap is a type of music, Hip- hop is a way of life."- KRS- one KRS- one is one of the longest- standing, most influential lyricists. Since ... inner cities, as well as extremely beautiful. The artists often paint murals, depicting things that only hip- hop people can understand. It is obvious why rap is a type of music and hip- hop is a way of life. Hip- hop combines so many elements but not all of them are directly ... cr...

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... the people that hold power and influence can turn something like freedom of expression, something legal and innocent, into something immoral and even illegal. After the coming of West Coast Rap, artists started to take more violent lyrics and sexual exploitations. Rapper and producer of hip hop music Dr. Dre was notorious for his violent lyrics from his song Deep Cover ... -hop artists feel that they can talk about what's on their mind. For a long time, anyone who was associated with reality rap when assumed to be involved in criminal activity and anyone (in the minority) who dressed in ...

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... mouth to supply the beat, a framework that would evolve to be the foundation of the Hip Hop infrastructure. There has been appreciation throughout rap music to prove the continuity of this building block. Fast forward to 2001, and you still have rappers giving praise to the beat. An underground ... rap group from Los Angeles named Dilated Peoples wrote, "never forget that the real backbone of Hip Hop, is disc jocks." As important to the ... . He is known for his political vocals with a group called Public Enemy. Being a child of the 1960's, Chuck D. has seen the entire reign of the rap ...

• Word Count: 2082
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• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School