{"id":47,"date":"2019-12-15T22:23:55","date_gmt":"2019-12-16T03:23:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/jjmunfysm\/?p=47"},"modified":"2019-12-17T19:20:09","modified_gmt":"2019-12-18T00:20:09","slug":"historical-change-in-hip-hop-and-its-journey-to-a-successful-development","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/jjmunfysm\/2019\/12\/15\/historical-change-in-hip-hop-and-its-journey-to-a-successful-development\/","title":{"rendered":"HISTORICAL CHANGE IN HIP-HOP AND ITS JOURNEY TO A SUCCESSFUL DEVELOPMENT"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hip hop first originated around 1970 in the Southern Bronx, New York City. The South Bronx was a predominately African American community with an unimaginable amount of gang violence and drug dealing. Due to this reason, most people living in Southern Bronx had an unstable income. By the mid-1970s, the South Bronx had lost 600,000 manufacturing jobs; 40 percent of the sector disappeared (13, Chang). The average per capita income also dropped significantly to $2,430 which was just half of the New York City average and 40 percent of the nationwide average. Originating from the gang and drug-filled neighborhood, hip-hop culture naturally had aspects of gangs, particularly territorialism and the tradition of battling. As hip-hop developed in the 70s and DJs like DJ Kool Herc, the elements of hip-hop culture started to form. By this time, the hip-hop culture made its mark by its racial pride, self-expression, and its original style. The music itself had more meaning in lyrics and rhymes within the lyrics as seen in songs like Rapper\u2019s Delight<\/a> by the Sugar Hill Gang. With this killer hit turning hip-hop into mainstream music, rappers started to sign with record labels. Ever since the creation of record labels, there has been a controversy on whether the record labels, predominantly owned by white people, led to a loss of the hip-hop culture. One could argue that the outside influence on hip-hop led to the downfall of the hip-hop culture. However, the historical impact on hip-hop culture ultimately led hip-hop to have great success by acting as a platform for self-expression, gaining a social significance for the African American community and providing a path for kids in the hood to draw themselves away from the drugs, guns, and violence.<\/p>\n

Starting in the late 70s and early 80s, rappers got endorsement deals and signed with record labels. Being under a label not only shined a direct light to the rapper to gain popularity, but it also gave rappers more tools to work with as labels had incomparably more money than individual rappers. With all the pros of the label, it also brought some cons. Soon after rappers have signed with different record labels, the traditional culture of hip-hop seemed to diminish due to the strict restriction that was given by the labels to the rappers. This action at first lead to a loss of self-expression of rappers which was one of the core values of hip-hop. This also led to a loss of black culture in hip-hop as the record labels were predominantly owned by rich white people which blurred the black identity in raps. However, the hip-hop culture did not die off completely. By the mid-80s, many rappers brought the core values of hip-hop back. In fact, the idea of self-expression and standing up for the black culture seemed to be more defined than it has ever been in the history of hip-hop.<\/p>\n

Booming in the East Coast, rappers started to brand themselves and create their restrictions that allowed things that were prevented in previous labels. With the founding of the Def Jam Records in 1984, in New York, New York, rappers were able to bring back free self-expression through lyrics. The lyrics started to again have more meaning and intent behind instead of just having lyrics to please the crowd at the party. For example, the song \u201cShowdown<\/a>\u201d by the Sugar Hill Gang was released under the Sugar Hill Records, which was funded by a white entrepreneur named Morris Levy, had lyrics that targeted the market as a party song. On the other hand, the song \u201cMama Said Knock You Out<\/a>\u201d by LL Cool J had a gangster rap style and lyrics, putting their emotions into the music and lyric itself. For example, the verse \u201cDon\u2019t call it a comeback, I been here for years, Rocking my peers and putting suckas in fear\u201d has two meanings, the first describing his previous platinum album that got criticized by other hip-hop artists and the second sending a message to the critics that it did not faze him. In fact, he is warning them that he will \u2018knock out\u2019 the critics through the gangster style rapping. The absence of restriction on rappers allowed them to express themselves in a way that would be impossible in labels that were owned by white people.<\/p>\n

The process of losing and gaining the originality of hip-hop brought the black community to a realization of the significance of lyrics and guided them to use hip-hop as a platform to fight against white racism and institutional power. The discrimination due to race could not be avoided and the black community struggled to have a say in the society due to heavy favoritism against the black community. However, with hip hop being included in mainstream music and played on the radio across the nation, it created a successful platform for them to throw their voice out regardless of the institutions and the society, in general, wanting to hear them or not. The gangster rapping got changed slightly due to this reason as well. The raps now had the same aggressive lyric, but it was primarily targeted against the institutions that unfavored the black community. The song \u201cCan\u2019t Truss It\u201d by the Public Enemy criticized the corporate world that is a modern version of slavery. The music video recalls the slave auction and one can see the objectification of the black men by the white people.<\/p>\n\n\n