This Blog is about the genre of Hip Hop in America; focusing on Mainstream and Underground, from East Coast to West Coast Hip Hop, from artists old and new!!
Underground artists dont care for the commercialized route of the Hip Hop scene and tend to stay away from big labels, so as to not "taint" their work. Presenting their music using metaphors giving raw experiences of life, with messages of self-awareness, having a purposeful life (none of the themes mainstream hip hop focuses on like money, cars and sex) but that one should open there eyes to see the real realities of our society. This is Hip Hop music that deals with political issues, economic and educational issues, as well as the darker side of life. If youve seen the other videos ive posted on mainstream Hip Hop you can see the difference of lyrical content and artistic style between underground and mainstream music.
Artists include:
Aesop
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"Daylight" 2002
Label: Definitive Jux
Immortal Technique
"Point of No Return" 2003
Revolutionary Vol. 2 album
Dead Prez
"Hip Hop"
Fabriclive.22 album 2005
The Roots
"Dont Feel Right"
The Best of the Roots album 2006
Nas
"As We Enter" ft. Damian Marley
Distant Relatives, 2010
Visionaries
"Love (Hip Hop)
Galleries album 2004
Erykah Badu
"On and On"
Baduizm, 1997
Atmosphere
"Sunshine" 2007
Sad Clown Bad Summer Number 9 album
Living Legends
"Never Fallin"
Classic album
A Tribe Called Quest
"Can i Kick It?" single
Jive, 1991
Blackalicious
"Blazing Arrow"
Blackalicious album 2002
MCA records
Beastie Boys
"Intergalactic"
album Hello Nasty 1998
Capital Records
Masta Ace
"Beautiful"
album A Long Hot Summer 2004
Grouch
"Weight of the World"
album Three Eyes off the Time 2009
Hierogylphics
"Fantasy Island"
Full Circle. Hiero Imperium 2003
I also wanted to mention the influence of women rappers in Hip Hop. These women not only showed that Hip Hop isnt just for the guys, but that women can dominate the charts and create their own artistic style that can and have influenced young women through out America.
Artists include:
MC Lyte
Queen Latifah
Salt and Pepper
Nikki Minaj
1. MC Lyte (Lana Michele Moorer) was raised in Brooklyn and became known in the late 1980's as the first solo female rapper to release a full album, "Lyte as Rock," featuring her hit single "Paper Thin."
2. Queen Latifah
"U.N.I.T.Y"
from the album Black Reign
Motown Records
Released Jan 6 1994
In this song Queen Latifah is speaking out against the disrespect of women!
3. Salt and Pepa
"Push It"
Hot, Cool, Vicious album
Next Plateau records/London records
Released March 9 1987
4. Nikki Minaj
"Itty Bitty Piggy"
from her debut album Pink Friday, which became a commercial success and hit platinum by th RIAA. She is the first female rap artist to have 7 songs within the Billboard charts at the same time.
The West Coast Artists i would like to highlight are:
Tupac
N.W.A
Game
Dr. Dre
Snoop Dogg
1. 2Pac; Tupac Amaru Shakur (June 16, 1971-September 13, 1996). He was an American rapper and actor coming out of Marin County, California. He sold over 75 million albums world wide. His themes stems from violence, hardship, racism and social problems. He played a key role in the East Coast-West Coast Hip Hop rivalry.
Tupac “Changes”
From the album Greatest Hits
Interscope Records/Death Row
Recorded 1992, Released (Remixed): 0ct. 13, 1998
2. N.W.A (Niggaz Wit Attitude), was a group established from Compton, California. Widely known for their gangsta rap, a sub-genre of Hip Hop, its original members included Arabian Prince, DJ Yella, Dr. Dre, Eazy-E, Ice Cube and MC Ren.
Debut Album “Straight Outta Compton”
Ruthless/Priority/EMI Records
Released Aug. 8, 1988
3. Game (Jayceon Terrell Taylor) born Nov. 29, 1979 in Los Angeles California, he is considered to be an important figure in bringing back the "West Coast" Hip Hop scene. He owns the record label The Black Wall Street Records.
"My Life" The Game ft. Lil Wayne
From his third album LAX
Label: Geffen
Released 2008
4. Dr. Dre (Andre Romelle Young) is a album producer, rapper, executive and actor. He is the founder ans CEO of Aftermath Entertainment and has helped out with the careers of other artists like Eminem, Snoop Dogg and 50 Cent.
"Nuthin' but a 'G' Thang"
Debut Album The Chronic
Label: Death Row 53816
Released Jan 12, 1993
5. Snoop Dogg. He is a rapper, record producer, actor and is one of the best known rappers in the West Coast Hip Hop scene as well as one of Dre's notable proteges. His debut album Doggystyle under Death Row records released in 1993 and hit #8 on Billboards Hot 100 in 1994
"Who Am I?" (Whats my name?)
Album Doggystyle
Death Row Records
1993
Stemming from my previous posts I will break down mainstream Hip Hop into 3 categories: East Coast, West Coast and Women rappers. From within theses categories I have included old and recent artists. A lot of these artists that I have chosen are artists that I like, but mainly because of their influences in Hip Hop and American culture on a basic level.
East Coast Artists:
Afrika Bambaataa
Biz Markie
Wu Tang Clan
Jay-Z
Eminem
1. Afrika Bambaataa (Born April 19, 1957). He is an American rapper that came out of the South Bronx, NY. He is known to be one of the originators of deejaying and is responsible for the spread of early Hip Hop throughout the 1980's. He is known as "The Grandfather" and "The Father of the Electro Funk Sound."
Afrika Bambaataa ft. SoulSonic Force "Planet Rock" on Planet Rock Album Label: Tommy Boy/Warner Bros. Records 01007 Released in 1986
2. Biz Markie (Marcel Theo Hall born April 8, 1964). His first break came in 1985 as a beat boxer for Roxanne Shante of the Juice Crew. Originally from Harlem then later moved to Long Island, he is remarkably known for his beat box style and rhyming. His single "Just a Friend" his #9 on the Billboard Charts.
Biz Markie "Just a Friend"
A single by Biz Markie
Label: Cold Chillin/Warner Bros.
Recorded/Released: 1989
3. Wu Tang Clan. Assembled in 1992 Staten Island, NY. Members include RZA, GZA, Method Man, Raekwon, Ghostface Killah, Inspectah Deck, U-God, Masta Killa and the late Ol' Dirty Bastard. With multiple members and all their eccentricities, Wu Tang is one of the most greatest Hip Hop groups of all time.
"Triumph" from Album Wu-Tang Forever Label: Loud RecordsReleased: 1997
4. Jay-Z (Shawn Corey Carter born Dec.4, 1969) Brooklyn, NY. He is a financially successful Hip Hop artist and entrepreneur. He has sold about 50 million albums worldwide and won 13 Grammy Awards. He co-owns 40/40 club, part-owner of NBA's New Jersey Jets, founder or Rocawear Clothing and CEO of Def Jam records.
Jay-Z "D.O.A, Death of Autotune"
The Blueprint 3
Label: Roc Nation, Atlantic
Released: June 5, 2009
5. Eminem (Marshall Bruce Mathers III, born Oct. 17, 1972). Coming out of Detroit Michigan, he is a rapper, record producer and actor. Billboard Magazine quote said that he "realized his musical ambitions were the only way to escape his unhappy life," after his studio album The Slim Shady LP was released.
Hip Hop is a musical expression and artistic culture that came out in the 1970's from African American communites in Bronx, New York. Notably the four key elements of Hip Hop are: emceeing, deejaying, breaking and graffiti( coined by Afrika Bambaataa). It began as loop breaks on two turntables accompanied by rap. It was a cultural movement for the minorities of the youth. Hip Hop arose from issues like; poverty, racism, educational issues and from the struggles of Human Rights. In the Early 1970's artists would accompany a beat on a 12" record, through a rhytmic delivery that derives from folk poets out of West Africa and from Jamaican style toasting. In the 1980's with the introduction of beat boxing, Hip Hop had encompassed social statements on life and social justices. Early Hip Hop had helped reduce inner city violence because it gave people an outlet to express themselves through rap, breaking and artwork By the 1990's Hip Hop included a sub-genre known as Gangsta rap, were previous themes of poverty, social injustice, and media ignorance shifted to themes of sex, drugs and violence.
Now this is where an explicit gap appears in the genre of Hip Hop> Mainstream vs. Underground.
Mainstream Hip Hop is the commericialized part, where you hear and see it everywhere; on the radio, in movies, shows, and advertisment. The major division i believe between mainstream and underground is the lyrical content and overall message and style. Some individuals view mainstream Hip Hop as a "devolution," that it is no longer authentic because its losing sight from what it had originally been created for. Themes like money, cars, women and drugs are marketed to the youth as "the way of living." If you dont have any of those things you aint in the 'game', so many young individuals feel like they have to be a rapper in order to live the good life. I see some mainstream work as a degradation to our youths morality and knowledge. Hip Hop was and still is a source of hope from everyday living dramas. It was created to empower and up lift people from their situations through protest and freedom of expression. However recent popular artists seem to counter produce and give Hip Hop a bad reputiation and image.
Underground Hip Hop on the other hand, is the lesser form known. Underground artists tend to stay away from marketing and big labels in order to present their work "untainted." They focus on raw experiences through use of metaphors with messages of self-awareness and for a purpose driven life! Although through globalization, many underground artists have come up from under through internet distribution and of course by word of mouth.
Hip Hop has a clearly violatile division of artistic style. Just remember Hip Hop is not just radio music of money and ho's. You have to take a closer look and give credit to Hip Hop artists who have shaped American culture and American music by its influences and messages.
(Note: I cite all info from websites like wikipedia and google. And for the most part, mainstream artists do have their own official artists)
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