Hip Hop's
Musical DNA

Precursors

The Birth of Hip Hop Music

• Jamaican toasting or chatting; largest group of American immigrants from the English-speaking Carribean.
• People played 60s Funk and Disco at parties, but especially loved dancing during the break.
• August 11, 1973: DJ Kool Herc's Merry-go-round
• Grand Wizzard Theodore: needle dropping
• Grandmaster Flash: turntablism and the crossfader

Hip Hop

"Conscious" vs "Gangsta"

• Both styles include party songs, but both subtrees can explore and critique issues in the world around them.
• Conscious Rap tends to focus on raising awareness without necessarily demanding action. Examples: Common, Digable Planets, The Roots, Blackalicious.
• Gangsta Rap is more radical and openly critical, with songs like 911 is a Joke (Public Enemy), Fuck tha Police (NWA), etc.

P-Funk, G-Funk, Electro-Funk

• 60s Funk: James Brown, Lyn Collins. Dry, syncopated drums, short guitar bursts, staccato vocals.
• 70s Funk or P-Funk: "fat" synthesizers, psychadelic vocal styles. George Clinton, Bootsy Collins, Parliament-Funkadelic.
• G-Funk: Gangsta Rap meets P-Funk. Producers such as DJ Quik, Battlecat, Dr. Dre. Artists such as Warren G, Tony! Toni! Toné!, or from the Bay Area where it evolved to the "Hyphy" subgenre: Mac Dre, E-A-Ski.
• Electro-Funk: 80s nostalgia filter applied to G-Funk. Gangsta lyrics, 80s synthpop loops. Example: LNDN DRGS.

Trap

• Music made for, by, or in the "Trap House"
• Usually a half-speed underlying beat with faster hi-hats, very heavy bass, and lyrics that almost exclusively focus on selling (or doing, depending on the subgenre) drugs.
• Related styles:
  • Southern US: crunk, bling
  • Bay Area: hyphy
  • Chicago: drill
  • UK: grime
• Gets a lot of commercial focus, so when people who don't actually listen to hip hop say they "don't like rap" they are often thinking about Trap they overheard.

Hip Hop