miércoles, 8 de diciembre de 2010

RAP MUSIC BLOG!!!





This blog is about the rap music an the use of this pillar of the hip hop to make a particular style of revolution against  poverty, the discrimination and the social troubles that the poor people and people of suburbs has to fight with the past of the years. Equality of oportunities and the progress of one person of black race are the main topics to make the relation of black music (rap) and the american culture. In this blog you will understand the origin of rap music, the influence in the american culture, the continous fight between two parts of the country and finally in which way this style is use like a method of communication and development of a important speech.

RAP ORIGINS




Rap is a type of rhythmic recitation of rhymes, words and poetry. It began in the Latino and black neighborhoods of New York in 1970 (Bronx, Brooklyn and Queens). It is one of the four brenchs of hip-hop culture, and there is a continous conffusion to call it: hip-hop. Although it can be interpreted a capella, rap is usually accompanied by a rhythmic background music jam. Rap performers are the MC, abbreviation for "Master of Ceremonies."

 


The English term MC stands for Master of Ceremonies (Mc) was the name given to the people who was in charge of entertain the crowds at parties where the music was played by a DJ. Now in time, MC is  used to refer to rap music and vocalists, and also, other genres such as reggae, house, eurodance and Brazilian funk. The term was first used in the early 1980's when the DJ started performing like entertainers at parties in which they participated. One of the first songs that popularized this word is Suckers MC's by Run DMC, theme launched in 1983

Musically, while the hip hop itself comes from the religious music of black origin and it is related in a big way with the funk and disco, rap breaks this tendency and it is closer to breakdance, taking their own language and this language is based on a rebellious attitude, a clear tendency of anti-system. But like any artistic expression is very complex to stop or freeze. Thus, the rappers of the 70 resulted in a more metaphorical and complex expression of the lyric from the 80,  which in turn was reflected in the rates and bases used music.


DEF JAM RECORDS

RUSSELL SIMMONS

Def Jam Records, created by hip-hop entrepreneur Russell Simmons, is one of the most successful black-owned record labels in the history of the United States.  Its success and influence on music and popular culture are paralleled only by Motown Records in the 1960s and 1970s.





RICK RUBIN
Russell Simmons founded a production company called "Rush Productions" in the early 1980s which housed Run-D.M.C. and Kurtis Blow.  In 1984 Simmons met Rick Rubin, a rap and rock producer who was then attending New York University.   The two met in Rubin’s dormitory room where Def Jam Records was born. 









LL COOL J - I`M BAD
The first single released by Def Jam was "I Need a Beat," by teenage rapper LL Cool J. This single was shortly followed by another single "Rock Hard," by the Beastie Boys. The success of these two singles earned Def Jam a distribution deal with CBS Records which dramatically raised the profile of the young company in the music industry. 




When Rick Rubin left Def Jam in 1988 to form his own label, Russell Simmons became the head of the company.  Def Jam continued to expand in the early 1990s, attracting a new generation of rap artists such as West Coast producer/rapper Warren G. In 1999 Simmons sold his controlling interest in Def Jam to Universal Music for $100 million dollars.




Def Jam has continues to be a successful label in the post-Russell Simmons era, making lucrative business deals with Roc-A-Fella Records and creating subsidiaries like Def Soul Records. The Roc-A-Fella/Def Jam merger would prove fruitful for both corporations and ultimately led to Shawn Carter (Rapper Jay-Z) being named company CEO in 2005.


FIRST DEF JAM ARTISTS

DMX - PARTY UP
  1.  3rd Bass
  2. Beastie Boys
  3. BG knocc out and Dresta
  4. Cam`ron
  5. Capone
  6. Comp
  7. Cru
  8. DMX
  9. Jazzy Jay
  10. Jimmy Spicer
  11. MC Serch
  12. Public Enemy
  13. Sisqo
  14. The Suburban Boyz
  15. WARREN G - DO YOU SEE
  16. Warren G

EAST COAST vs WEST COAST

TUPAC SHAKUR - HIT`EM UP
The East Coast–West Coast rap rivalry was a feud in the early-mid 1990s between artists and fans of the East Coast and West Coast rap scenes. Seeming focal points of the feud were West Coast-based rapper 2Pac (and his label, Death Row Records), and East Coast-based rapper The Notorious B.I.G. (and his label, Bad Boy Records), both of whom were murdered.




The origins of the conflict were arguably initiated in 1991 when East Coast based rapper Tim Dog released “Fuck Compton”, a scathing diss track aimed at N.W.A. and other Compton artists including Compton's Most Wanted and DJ Quik. N.W.A. never officially responded due to their pending break up, but upcoming West Coast artist Tweedy Bird Loc would respond on the track “Fuck the South Bronx.”



DRE / DOGG - STILL DRE

Between 1992 and 1993 rappers Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg were the most important artist sales with their Lp, meanwhile his label, Death Row became to a complete success and the west coast rap scene was winning the rivalry.




PUFF DADDY




  In 1993, Sean “Puff Daddy” Combs founded in New York the hip hop label, Bad Boy records. The next year “The notorious B.I.G.” and Craig Mack became immediate in commercial successes, and the east coast rap finaly raised and started the fight with the west coast.

Meanwhile, in California, Tupac Shakur forged a rivalry with “B.I.G.”, publicly accusing him and “Puff Daddy” of having facilitated his being robbed and shot five times in the lobby of a New York recording studio. Combs and Wallace emphatically denied having anything to do with the shooting and insisted that “Who Shot Ya?” (track made by “B.I.G.”) had been recorded before his shooting, 2Pac and the majority of the rap community interpreted it as BIG’s way of taunting him. Shakur would claim that the song proved that Bad Boy had set him up.






Tensions were escalated with the past of the years. The two labels contribute with a high number of artists and everyone of them used the concept of East coast vs West coast as an oportunity to made money from their records sending a war message to the rival coast. 
NOTORIOUS BIG -BIG POPPA





In March 1996, during the Soul Train Awards ceremony in Los Angeles, there was a confrontation in the parking lot between the respective entourages of Bad Boy and Death Row in which guns were drawn. Although an armed standoff was all it amounted to, it was becoming readily apparent to rap fans and artists that the situation was escalating into a serious issue. Local papers referred to the situation as, “the rap version of the Cuban Missile Crisis.”



On September 7 of 1996, one of the icons of Death Row records, Tupac, was wounded with four shots in his chest and six days after he was shot, Tupac Shakur died. “Notorious B.I.G.” was the first suspicious and in the next months rumors were circulating that he was in some way responsible for Shakur's murder. Six month later after tupac`s death, “Notorious B.I.G.” was murderer in the streets of Los Angeles. Finally, the two most important rappers of each coast were death, but the fight for the biggest territory continues until this days.

TOP 20 RAP RECORDS

Some of the most important artist, songs and complete recordings are fundamental pillars of the music creation in this time. The 20 most important LP disc comes from one select group of artist who made history whit their speech, lyrics or even a style of life, reflected in each creation or jam that are recording in those CDs.

TOP 20 RAP ALBUMS

BEASTIE BOYS
20 – A Tribe Called Quest – the low and theory
19 – DMX – it`s dark and hell is hot
18 – Krs One – I got next


17 – Rum Dmc – rum dmc
16 – Beastie Boys – i`ll communication
15- Tupac Shakur – all eyez on me


BUSTA RHYMES



14 – Public Enemy – it takes a nation of millions to hold us back
13 – Busta Rhymes – when disaster strickes
12 – Cypress Hill – black Sunday


11 – LL cool J – all world
10 – Nas – illmatic
09 – Eminem – the slim shady LP


CYPRESS HILL


 
08 – N.W.A. – straight outta comptom
07 – The Roots – things fall apart
06 – Outkast – ATLiens


N.W.A.




05 – Fugees – the score
04 – Notorious B.I.G – life after death




WU TANG CLAN





03 – Dr. Dre – chronic 2001 
02 – Wu Tang Clan – wu tang forever
01 – Snoop Dogg - doggystyle













RAP MUSIC IN THE AMERICAN CULTURE

Rap music began with first and second generation of Black ethnicity (mainly from the caribean territory). And the mission of this persons were entertain to other people in clubs of the suburbs. The black djs were saw like a symbol of respect to black people and like an oportunity to finally rise from the neigborhoods and had a better life.


  In the eighties, rap music moved from the dance to the musical industrie itself. The discographic records were created and rap MCs of black race dominated in one style that was already heard for black and white peoples in all the U.S.A.

Them, the gangsta rap was created. This style of music represent a lifestyle full of drugs, sex and violence in all the neigborhoods of america. The songs and the rappers generated an extraordinary controversy for the violence and inspired some groups to protests against this music (including the FBI). However, this controversy was a big impulse to young people of america for hear this style of music and gangsta rap was played in all the radios and clubs in the entire U.S.A.
 
Gangsta rap started a new revolution in young people from the poor neigborhoods of america. Now the music was seeing like a tool of discharge and protest of the bad lifestyles and the lack of oportunities in the ghetos. Rap music was also a criticize to american society and the abuse in some parts of the country to poor people.

Now in time, rap is the symbol of fight to some people who find in the lyrics, one voice to protest against all the injusties that exist in america. Rap music is also the oportunity for black people to make enough money to live better and sometimes to live like a real king of the street, a superstar, an untouchable person. In the hip hop culture (graffiti, break dance, rap music) the most significant expression is to say with songs, pictures or the dance, what things aren`t right in the country, and that is a civil right in the american culture.