Hip Hop Music

Hip hop is a genre of music that typically consists of a rhythmic vocal style – called rap – accompanied by backing beats. Hip hop and rap music are often used synonymously, although there are forms of hip hop music that are instrumental only, as well as hip hop records which focus more on the deejay’s beats than the rapper’s rhymes. The genre is believed to have originated in the 1970s, at the Bronx in New York City, among African-American and Latin American communities. Past and present hip hop pioneers include DJ Kool Herc, Sugar Hill Gang, Afrika Bambaataa, Grandmaster Flash, Big Daddy Kane, LL Cool J, Rakim, Dr. Dre, Ice Cube, Run DMC, Public Enemy, Beastie Boys, 2Pac, Notorious BIG, Jay-Z, Diddy, Eminem, Nelly, Lil Wayne, T.I., and Kanye West, among many other acts, artists, emcees, deejays, and rappers across hip hop’s many subgenres.

The Culture of Hip Hop

While rap and hip hop are often used synonymously, the music is only part of the graffiti-spraying, break-dancing, beat-boxing, turntable-using hip hop culture. This emerged in black and Latino-American communities at the Bronx, New York in the 1970s, when deejays isolated the percussion break from funk or rock songs and emcees began to speak between songs to exhort audiences to dance, a practice that later evolved into rapping – a rhythmic style of chanting. Hip hop culture has since given birth to other pervasive forms of practice, and has been associated with other elements such as fashion, slang, glamorous lifestyles, and a general mindset that has been adapted not only by the black American youth, but the rest of the world as well.

Hip hop in the 70s and 80s

In early 70s New York, DJ Kool Herc and his contemporaries began incorporating mixing, scratching, and sampling techniques in large sound systems, often adding call and response chants in a rhyming, rhythmic style that would eventually be called “rap”. Soon, other deejays and emcees joined, such as Sugar Hill Gang, Grandmaster Flash, and Afrika Bambaataa, who all contributed to the diversification of the earliest hip hop styles.

In the 1980s, which is considered to be the genre’s golden age, hip hop became more complex. Notable hip hop artists in this decade include Rakim, Big Daddy Kane, Dr. Dre, LL Cool J, Public Enemy, Ice Cube, and Run DMC: their generation gave rise to the addition of new elements in the hip hop sound, such as drum machine snares, synthesized instruments, multi-layered beats, and more socially and politically conscious lyrics.

Hip hop in the 90s and Present Day

A decade before the turn of the century, hip hop globalized into many cultures and spread to other countries. At this time, gangsta rap also reached the height of its popularity, a hip hop subgenre that focused on controversial subject matters like drugs, violence, and sex. Among the hip hop artists who rose to fame during this period are: 2Pac, Notorious BIG, Jay-Z, and Diddy. By the end of the decade artists like Eminem and Nelly had thrust the hip hop genre into the realm of popular music.

Today, even as detractors continue to call hip hop a mere fad, the genre can’t be denied of its effects on other genres such as R&B, rock, and jazz. Artists like Kanye West, Lil Wayne, T.I., have been championing the hip hop movement and continuing to make the genre one of the most commercially and critically viable in the music world today.

Hip hop Albums, Hip hop Records, and Hip hop CDs

Listen to the unique beats and rhymes of hip hop here at MusicStack. “DJ Kool Herc” CDs, “Sugar Hill Gang” CDs, “Afrika Bambaataa” CDs, “Grandmaster Flash” CDs, “Big Daddy Kane” CDs, “LL Cool J” CDs, “Rakim” CDs, “Dr. Dre” CDs, “Ice Cube” CDs, “Run DMC” CDs, “Public Enemy” CDs, “Beastie Boys” CDs, “2Pac” CDs, “Notorious BIG” CDs, “Jay-Z” CDs, “Diddy” CDs, “Eminem” CDs, “Nelly” CDs, “Lil Wayne” CDs, “T.I.” CDs, and “Kanye West” CDs, among other hip hop albums, records, and CDs, are all available, as are hip hop vinyl LPs.

Hip Hop Records and Hip Hop CDs

Find all kinds of rare, hard to find and out-of-print Hip Hop records and Hip Hop CDs on MusicStack.

Sugar Hill Gang
Grandmaster Flash
LL Cool J
Rakim
Dr. Dre
Ice Cube
2Pac
Eminem
Nelly
Lil Wayne

Hip Hop Websites

Hip hop music Hip hop music page at Wikipedia
Hip hop at AllMusic.com Hip hop genre at AllMusic.com
Browse Hip hop music Browse Hip hop music at Lala.com