IN FRATERNAM MEAM: HISTORY OF HIPHOP

IN FRATERNAM MEAM

Wednesday, April 05, 2006

HISTORY OF HIPHOP

BACK IN THE DAY, when rap is its infancy, it was restricted to street corners and neighborhood block parties. Now, with the announcement that the venerated, venerable Smithsonian Institution has started piecing together a permanent hip-hop display ("Hip-Hop Won't Stop: The Beat, the Rhymes, the Life"), the genre has reached yet another level of cultural acceptance.

Hip-Hop pioneers would be amazed at the strides rap has made in just three decades, moving from basement experimentation to top 40 dominance to Hollywood acceptance.

The breatkthrough started on the radio and swung into high gear with the advent of MTV.

Rap, more than any other form of music, paints a cultural picture that, while not always pretty (NWA, Nas) opens listeners eyes to a different worldview. This is why Chuch D. Public Enemy's bombastic frontman, often labels rap "the CNN for black people." There's a truth in the music that is often not expressed anywhere else.

Of course, as with any burgeonne scene, quick expansion often comes with a downside. As rap has moved into the mainstream, it has embraced its comercial status with arms (and wallets) wide open.

And as the U.S. scene experiences growing pains, rap has exploded globally. Browsing the Internet one can listen to artists rhyme in evey conceivable language.
(ctc-arts@tribune.com)

1970 - DJ Kool Herc begins.

1975 - Kool Herc pairs with emcess Coke La Rock and Clark Kent to form the first rap crew.

1978 - The term "rap" is coined by the music industry.

1979 - Sugarhill Gang releases the first rap hit, "Rapper's Delight", which climbs to No. 36 on the Billboard charts.

1980 - Kurtis Blow's "The Breaks" is rap's first gold single, Blow becomes the first rapper to appear on national television on "Soul Train". Lady B records the first solo female hip-hop song with "To the Beat Y'all",.
Blonde releases "Rapture", the first rap song by a white artist. It climbs all the way to No. 1 on the Billboard charts and grab a new audience for the genre.

1981 - ABC's 20/20 features the first national story on the RAP PHENOMENON.

1982 - Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five release "The Message", considered the first politically charged rap song.

1984 - Los Angeles KDAY becomes the first rap-only radio station in the United States. Russell Simmons and Rick Rubin form Def Jam recordings.

1985 - Kurtis Blow films a commercial for Sprite.

1986 - Run-DMC releases "Walk This Way" and "My Adidas", "Walk This Way" revives Aerosmith's flagging popularity and introduces Run-DMC to a new audience., while "My Adidas" marks the rise of rap as a commercial force.

1987 - Public Enemy debuts with "Yo! Bum Rush The Show".
Salt N Pepa, the first female rap group of consequence, releases "Push It".

1988 - Yo! MTV Raps first airs. NWA'S "Straight Outta Compton" goes gold despite numerous protests and an FBI investigation into its incendiary lyrics.

1989 - In PUerto Rico, the first Spanish language rapper, Vico C. helps create what is later termed reggation.

1990 - MC Hammer's "U Can't Touch This" becomes the biggest rap to hit to date.
Vanilla Ice's "To The Extreme" sells more than 7 million copies and spawns a thousand latenight jokes as the karaoke favorite "Ice Ice Baby"
"The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air," starring raper Will Smith, premiers on NBC.
School D appears on the talk show "Donahue" to discuss "Money and Rap Music".

1991 - NWA releases "Efil4zaggin," which becomes the first hard core rap album to hit no. 1 on the charts.

1993 - The soundtrack for "Judgement Night" pairs rockers and rappers (Slayer/Ice-T and Pearl Jam/Cypress Hill, among others).

1996 - Tupac Shakur is shot and killed.

1997 - Christopher Wallace, a.k.a. the Notorius B.I.G. is shot and killed.

1999 - Lauryn Hill is nominated for a record 10 Grammys, She wins five, including album of the year, a first for rap.
Eminem releases the triple-platinum, "Slim Shady LP."

2000 - Dr. Dre like Metallica, sues the song downloading service Napster, affirming that rap has attained the same commercial status as guitar rock.

2003 - OutKast's "Speakersboxxxx/The Love Below" wins the album of the year Grammy. The single "Hey Ya!" becomes omnipresent.
Ex-President Bill Clinton shares the stage with Ginuwine and Outkast's Big Boi at a Democratic National Committe fundraiser.

2004 - Flava Flaw appears on the third season of VH1's "The Surreal Life" and begins a bizarre courtship with Brigette Nielsen.

2005 - Hip-hoppers, most notably Kanye "George Bush dones'nt care about black people" West, put voices to the suffering of thousands after Hurricane Katrina ravages New Orleans.

2006 - Three 6 Mafia's "It's Hard Out Here for a Pimp" from the film "Hustle and Flow", wins best-song Oscar.

(Source: CHICTRIBSPECIAL/by: Andy Downing)

posted by infraternam meam @ 2:45 PM

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