Dear Nikki, I think there is such a thing as a hip hop culture. In the mid to late seventies, we had The Sugar Hill Gang and Grandmaster Flash who in my opinion, were early forerunners of the hip hop culture we know today. We also had electronic dance music like that which came from the German group, Kraftwerk (Trans-Europe Express) which as a Black person, I remember being very popular with the Black community in the late seventies. I feel that rap music came about from the meshing of the two styles. Another group that I feel also had a strong influence was Blondie with their song, "Rapture." (not sure if they were before or after Grandmaster Flash and the Sugar Hill Gang) Once rap made an imprint upon the music scene, Quincy Jones took a big step in legitimizing it as a true musical form when he came out with the CD, "Back On The Block." I might be mistaken, but I think he caught some flack for what critics considered "selling out." According to his interviews, he has no regrets about the decision he made.
My opinion is that the arrival of Mary J. Blige really brought the vocalist into the hip hop era. Before that, there were predominantly rap-only artists groups and some male singers on the scene, but Mary kind of gave the term "hip hop" a more solid meaning in the realm of musical genres and styles. Queen Latifah and Salt-n-Peppa were also very influential in reference to the genre of hip hop along with Dr. Dre, Snoop Dog, EPMD, and many others that I am probably not mentioning, but Mary J. Blige had a way of congealing the two styles of rap and singing into a new form and a new identity. Hip hop also seemed to be a lifestyle as well as a musical style. From what I've been learning, in the beginning, unless you came from the street and knew what street life was about, you were not considered part of the hip-hop scene. Even if you came from the street (like M.C. Hammer did), if you did not rap with the hard core edge which represented hip hop, you were considered a sell out. From what I understand, some hard core rap artists had trouble with Will Smith's style because it was not hard or gritty enough. Today, even though the style has lightened up a bit, it still seems like the hip hop culture is about lifestyle as much as it is about music. Mary J. Blige is starting to be criticized because she's taken up religion and has stopped going to clubs as much. Even though she's making lifestyle changes for her health's sake, it appears that in order to maintain her title as the "Queen of Hip Hop," she must also maintain the lifestyle, which is clubbing, partying, drinking and drugging. I'm not saying that everyone in the hip hop life style does this, but many feel it is part of the "image" along with the accumulation of material things. This could also be considered the life style of a rock star. The difference is that more Hip Hop artists write lyrics based on this "lifestyle" or "image" than do rock stars, in my opinion. To answer your question about what culture hip hop derived itself from, I believe it derived itself mostly from Black as well as Hispanic culture (Cypress Hill, the first Latino rap group). But to every rule, there is an exception. House of Pain was a white rap group who was as hard core as any black rap group I'd ever seen. From their video, it appears that most of the group was predominately Irish, and had a real problem with their treatment as Irish Americans by the police department. Today, "Limp Bizkit" is as raw and as edgy as any black rap group I've heard. My best example of raw and edgy is "Rage Against the Machine" who is a rap group and not a rap group at the same time. Their sound is raw with metal overtones, yet I don't think I can classify "Rage Against the Machine" in the Hip Hop category. (probably a debatable topic) So I feel that Hip Hop started out encompassing communicating the hardships of living in an underprivileged environment and grew to encompass so much more (living large, being a player, etc..) Mary J. Blige's latest single, "No More Drama" takes a step in a new direction of dealing with emotional and social issues. This style of music is constantly changing and evolving. It will be very interesting to see where it ends up. (Please note that these are only "my" opinions on the subject) Sherelle In a message dated 02/25/2002 12:06:13 AM Pacific Standard Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: > Date: Mon, 25 Feb 2002 01:57:13 -0500 > From: "Nikki Johnson" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Subject: RE: RAP, racism & hip hop culture njc > > This is interesting because I am in a hip hop class this semester. I > thought > it would be interesting to study as part of pop culture. So I have some > questions just for my own curiosity that deal with issues we are grappling > with in discussion...I kind of already have opinions but want to see what > anyone has to say... > > Is there really a hip hop culture? > If so is it really so diverse? If not what culture is the basis for hip > hop? > > Like my professor says.... "It's bigger than hip hop!" :-) > > Take care > Nikki > > np: Erika Badu ~ Bag Lady
