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Hip Hop at 50

paulfromcamden said:
Fair point. I think you also have to look at this as an amalgam of different aspects of the culture - not just the DJs and MC but the b-boys, graffiti artists and so on. The early years of hip-hop aren't about the records. Those came later.
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Right, which is why I think it's an evolution, not a birth.
 
Is there a link to the MC / toasting stuff going on in JA in the late 60s? Also dub, re-purposing existing recordings? Some of that might have drifted across.
 
I'd hate to get in to a debate about when something began. I believe things evolve slowly over time but it's interesting trying to pinpoint the main influences. I still love watching Style Wars for the way it documents the scene.

Some stand-out groups/artists;

KMD
Lootpack
Schooly D
Pete Rock
Spoonie G
The Pharcyde

 
HarryCrumb said:
I'd hate to get in to a debate about when something began.
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As others have pointed out that's reasonably legit given some have claimed such a specific time and date.

My view is that may have been a sort of conception but not necessarily birth. IMO Art /music always comes from what went before rather than there being a big bang. As others have said, you can look at Gil Scott Heron , Last Poets, Jamaican DJs, electronic beats in Kraftwerk... Very few things come from nowhere
 
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A personal fave using a sample from Scott Herons The Bottle


I saw them do this live a few months back in Birmingham- it seemed everyone in the crowd knew every word.

They'd scaled up a bit since 2016 - Suede is at 23.16 on this

 
Jeff Chang's book "Can't stop, won't stop" is an excellent history of hip hop. I'm fascinated with the historical origins, and the book covers this really well, including the pre-Kool Herc period.
 
Walter Gibbons' turntablism is under-rated outside underground Disco circles and he was cutting between two copies at least as early as Herc (most say earlier - he started at Galaxy21 in 1972).
"Pre-dating the amazing cut and paste skills later developed by hip-hop DJs, Gibbons would take two copies of a record and work the drum breaks so adroitly it was impossible to tell that the music you were hearing wasn't originally recorded that way. Two cuts that he was famous for using in this trick was "Erucu" from the "Mahogany" soundtrack and "Two Pigs & A Hog" from the "Cooley High" soundtrack.
John "Jellybean" Benitez is quoted as saying; "I thought I was the best DJ in the world until I heard Walter Gibbons play. Everything he was doing back then, people are doing now. He was phasing records, back-beating them for an echo effect, quick cuts and little tape edits that would freak people out."
https://heavyhits.com/blog/walter-gibbons-and-the-first-ever-12-single/
"Walter was doing what hip hop DJs did five, six years later, but doing it with disco songs."
Tony Smith
https://daily.redbullmusicacademy.com/2016/05/walter-gibbons-the-first-dj-s-dj
Good comp: https://www.discogs.com/master/2684...ith-Love-The-Walter-Gibbons-Salsoul-Anthology
 
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I guess like nearly all forms of music people will debate the origins till the cows come home :)
I’m fascinated by the transitions that occur in genres; what was the first rock’n’roll record?… the evolution of disco with the multitude of ‘proto disco’ songs in the early seventies. They’re often the most fascinating periods, before the music becomes formularised.
 
Wu Tang, Nas, House of Pain, Funkdoobiest, Onyx, Rass Kass, Naughty by Nature, Dr Dre, Snoop, Cypress Hill would be my highlights. All from the 90s golden age era.

Plus Public Enemy starting from albums in the 80s.
 
Mogreg said:
It never fails to amuse me why people who don’t like something find the need to click on an article about that thing and then share with the world their fascinating story of ‘I don’t like this’
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The comments? Just middle-aged peeps whining that music today isn't as good as when they were kids. Pick any genre you'll find some old git having the same moan.

"Modern donk is just derivative nonsense for pissed up teenagers..."

EBrxdYS.png
 
Mogreg said:
It never fails to amuse me why people who don’t like something find the need to click on an article about that thing and then share with the world their fascinating story of ‘I don’t like this’
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i could answer this, but do not want a banning. Shine on you diamonds, we all know dsotm was the greatest ever record, NOT
 
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