A DISC JOCKEY OR DJ
is a person who selects and plays prerecorded music for an audience.
There are several types of disc jockeys. Radio DJs introduce and play music that is broadcast on AM, FM, shortwave or digital radio stations. Club DJs select and play music in a bar, club, disco, a rave, or even a stadium. Hip hop disc jockeys select, play and create music with multiple turntables, often to back up one or more MCs. In reggae, the disc jockey (deejay) is a vocalist who raps, toasts or chats over pre-recorded rhythm tracks while the individual choosing and playing them is referred to as a selector.[1] Mobile disc jockeys travel with portable sound systems and play at a variety of events. Jamaican-born DJ Kool Herc (born 1955), inventor of the breakbeat technique; he is considered to be "the father of hip hop culture". Grandmaster Flash (born 1958), one of the early pioneers of hip-hop DJing, cutting, and scratching. Created the Quick Mix Technique, which allowed a DJ to extend a break using two copies of the same record; essentially invented modern Turntablism. Afrika Bambaataa (born 1957), was instrumental in the development of hip-hop from its birth in the South Bronx to its international success. He also created the first hip-hop track to feature synthesizers; "The godfather of hip-hop"
Jazzy Jay (born 1961) was pioneering DJ, who helped Rick Rubin lay the foundation for what would become Def Jam Recordings. DJ Jazzy Jeff (born 1965), of DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince (also backed Will Smith on his solo efforts). Jam Master Jay (1965-2002), founder and DJ of Run-DMC, one of the most innovative hip-hop groups of all time. DJ Clue (born Ernesto Shaw on January 8, 1975 in Queens, New York City) is a mix DJ known for his involvement in the mix tape circuit. He signed as an artist on Roc-A-Fella Records. Eric B. (born 1965), one half of duo Eric B. & Rakim, popularized the James Brown-sampled funky hip-hop of the late 1980s. Terminator X (born 1966), DJ of the highly influential hip-hop group Public Enemy. Before rapper, Redman put out albums as an MC, he DJed for several New York City groups and solo artists and even was the official DJ for a New York night club under the name DJ Red Dott.
DJ Lethal, the DJ for Irish hip-hop group House of Pain who subsequently became the DJ for Limp Bizkit. DJ Qbert (born 1969), founding member of the turntablism group the Invisibl Skratch Piklz and three-time winner of the International DMC Award.Mix Master Mike (born 1970), skilled DJ of hip-hop group Beastie Boys, three-time winner of the International DMC Turntablism Award. The X-Ecutioners, a turntablist band with several collaborations with groups and artists, including Linkin Park and Xzibit. DJ Premier (born 1966), one of the duo Gang Starr. He also featured with many famous Hip-Hop artists like Nas, LL Cool J, Rakim and many others. See also: Category:Hip hop DJs
RAPPING
(also known as emceeing, MCing, spitting, or just rhyming) is the rhythmic spoken delivery of rhymes and wordplay, one of the elements of hip hop music and culture. Although the word rap has sometimes been claimed to be a backronym of the phrase "Rhythmic African Poetry", "Rhythm and Poetry", "Rhythmically Applied Poetry", "Rapping About Poetry," "Racing Always Pacing," or "Rhythmically Associated Poetry", use of the word to describe quick speech or repartee long predates the musical form, and is abbreviated from the English word "rapid", which is from the Latin rapidus. The word had been used in British English since the 16th century, and specifically meaning "to say" since the 18th. It was part of the African American dialect of English in the 1960s meaning "to converse", and very soon after that in its present usage as a term denoting the musical style.
Rapping can be delivered over a beat or without accompaniment. Stylistically, rap occupies a gray area among speech, prose, poetry, and song. Rap is derived from the griots (folk poets) of West Africa, and Caribbean-style toasting. It also has precedents in traditional Gaelic music. Modern rap battles, for instance, bear a striking resemblance to the Limerick Game, a traditional Gaelic drinking game in which people compete for notoriety by making up insulting limericks about each other the loser having to buy the next round of drinks. Likewise, puirt a beul, a form of Scottish mouth music was incorporated into Appalachian music and is an early ancestor of modern mouth percussion, or beatboxing. The influence of Scottish and Irish music on hip hop is not direct, since virtually all of the originators of hip hop culture were African American, but were transferred indirectly by way of American roots music. Roots music was created out of the fusion of African and Celtic music in the American South and is typified by the combination of African rhythms, Gaelic melodies, and (occasionally) vocal improvisation. It forms the basis of virtually all American musical styles from bluegrass to the blues, jazz, rock, funk, and country. Hip hop grew out of this same tradition; stripping down the melody, emphasizing the rhythm, and incorporating mouth music, battling, and vocal improvisation.
Rapping developed both inside and outside of hip hop culture, and began with the street parties thrown in the Bronx neighborhood of New York in the 70s by Jamaican expatriate Kool Herc and others. The parties introduced dancehall and the practice of having a "Master of Ceremonies," or MC, get up on stage with the DJ and shout encouragements to the crowd in a practice known as 'toasting'. Over time, those shouts of encouragement became more longer and more complex and cross-pollinated with the spoken-word poetry scene to evolve into rap. From the beginning hip hop culture has been syncretic, incorporating sounds and elements from radically divergent sources. While Funk breaks formed the backbone of early hip hop, Kraftwerk and other early techno artists were widely sampled as well.
In the 1980s, the success of groups like Run-D.M.C. led to a huge wave of commercialized rap music. By the end of the 1990s, hip hop became widely accepted in mainstream music. Underground hip hop rapping from the 2000s has complex rhythms, cadences, an intricate poetic form, and inventive wordplay. Rap lyrics convey the street life from which hip hop originally emerged with references to popular culture and hip hop slang. Many types of rap also deal with issues such as race, socioeconomics, and gender.
SCRATCHING
Scratching (or "skratching") is a DJ or turntablist technique used to produce distinctive sounds by moving a vinyl record back and forth on a turntable while manipulating the crossfader on a DJ mixer. While scratching is most commonly associated with hip hop music, since the 1990s, it has been used in some styles of pop and nu-metal. Within hip hop culture, scratching is one of the measures of a DJ's skills, and there are many scratching competitions. In recorded hip-hop songs, scratched hooks often use portions of different rap songs.
History
Scratching was developed by early hip hop DJs from New York such as Grand Wizard Theodore and DJ Grandmaster Flash, who describes scratching as, "nothing but the back-cuing that you hear in your ear before you push it [the recorded sound] out to the crowd." (Toop, 1991). Jamaican-born DJ Kool Herc also influenced the early development of scratching. Kool Herc developed break-beat DJing, where the breaks of funk songs—being the most danceable part, often featuring percussion—were isolated and repeated for the purpose of all-night dance parties (AMG [1]).
Two of the earliest recorded scratching examples were released in 1983, both via prolific bassist and producer Bill Laswell: scratches by Grand Mixer DXT on Herbie Hancock's hit song "Rockit" (co-written and produced by Laswell), and, more obscurely, on a few songs the first Golden Palominos record, where Laswell or M.E. Miller scratched. Scratching (and sampling) also gained mainstream popularity in the UK and Europe from the 1987 hit "Pump Up The Volume" by M/A/R/R/S.
Christian Marclay was one of the earliest musicians to scratch outside of hip hop. In the mid-1970s, Marclay used gramophone records and turntables as musical instruments to create sound collages. He developed his turntable sounds independently of hip hop DJs. Although he is little-known to mainstream audiences, Marclay has been described as "the most influential [turntable] figure outside hip hop." [1] and the "unwitting inventor of turntablism."
MODERN GRAFFITI
An Aerosol paint can, common tool for modern graffiti
Modern graffiti is often seen as having become intertwined with Hip-Hop culture as one of the four main elements of the culture (along with the Master of ceremony, the disc jockey, and break dancing), through Hollywood movies such as Wild Style. However, modern (twentieth century) graffiti predates hip hop by almost a decade and has its own culture, complete with its own unique style and slang.
For example, a famous graffiti of the 20th century was the inscription in the London subway reading "Clapton is God", in reference to the guitar skills of Eric Clapton. The phrase was spray-painted by an admirer on a wall in an Islington Underground station in the autumn of 1967. The graffiti was captured in a now-famous photograph, in which a dog is urinating on the wall. Similar approvals or disapprovals of musicians have continued since, for instance, the summer 2007 inscriptions in Harlem reading "50 Cent is Wack". A popular graffitos of the 1970s was the legend "Dick Nixon Before He Dicks You," reflecting the hostility of the youth culture to that U.S. president. The belief that graffiti and hip-hop are related arises from the fact that some graffiti artists enjoyed the other three aspects of hip-hop, and that it was mainly practiced in areas where the other three elements of hip-hop were evolving as art forms. Graffiti is recognized as a visual expression of the rap music of the decade, as breakdancing is the physical expression. Graffiti also became associated with the anti-establishment punk rock movement beginning in the 1970s. Bands such as Black Flag and Crass (and their followers) widely stenciled their names and logos, while many punk night clubs, squats and hangouts are famous for their graffiti.
Modern graffiti artists sometimes choose nicknames or "tags." Tags need to be quick to write, so they are often no more than 3 to 5 characters in length. A nickname is chosen to reflect personal qualities and characteristics, or because of the way the word sounds, and/or for the way it looks once written. The letters in a word can make execution difficult if the shapes of the letters don't naturally fit next to each other in a visually pleasing way. It's common for a graffiti artist to select a name that is a play on a common expression, such as "2Shae," "Page3," "2Cold," "In1," and other such names.
A name might also represent a word using an irregular spelling; for example, "Train" could be Trane or Trayne, and "Envy" could be Envie or Envee. Names can contain subtle and sometimes cryptic messages, and might incorporate the artist's initials or other letters. As well as the graffiti name, some artists include the year that they completed that tag next to the name. Bomber Tox, from London, seldom writes just Tox; it is usually Tox03, Tox04, etc. In some cases, artists dedicate or create tags or graffiti in memory of a deceased friend — for example, "DIVA Peekrevs R.I.P. JTL '99." The Borf Brigade's arrested member, John Tsombikos, claimed the "BORF" tag campaign, which gained recognition for its prevalence in DC, was in memory of his deceased friend.
Initial groundwork for the current social significance of graffiti in America began around the late 1960s. Around this time, graffiti was used as a form of expression by political activists. It was considered a cheap and easy way to make a statement, with minimal risk to the artist. Gang graffiti also rose in visibility, used by gangs to mark territory. Some gangs that made use of graffiti during this era included the Savage Skulls, La Familia, and Savage Nomads.
Modern graffiti on train
Towards the end of the 1960s the modern culture began to form in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The two graffiti artists considered to be responsible for the first true bombing are "Cool Earl" and "Cornbread."[8] They gained much attention from the Philadelphia press and the community itself by leaving their tags written everywhere. Around 1970-71, the centre of graffiti innovation moved from Philadelphia to New York City. Once the initial foundation was laid (around 1966–1971), graffiti "pioneers" began inventing newer and more creative ways to write.
American roots of modern graffiti
Pioneering era (1969-1974)
Julio 204, early graffiti writer in New York City
Between the years of 1969-1974 the "pioneering era" took place. During this time graffiti underwent a change in styles and popularity. Soon after the migration to NYC, the city produced one of the first graffiti artists to gain media attention in New York, TAKI 183. TAKI 183 was a youth from Washington Heights, Manhattan who worked as a foot messenger. His tag is a mixture of his name Demetrius (Demetraki), TAKI, and his street number, 183rd. Being a foot messenger, he was constantly on the subway and began to put up his tags along his travels. This spawned a 1971 article in the New York Times titled "'Taki 183' Spawns Pen Pals".[8][6][9] Julio 204 is also credited as the first writer, but didn't get the fame that Taki received. TAKI 183 was the first artist to be recognised outside of the graffiti subculture, but wasn't the first artist. Other notable names from that time are: Stay High 149, Hondo 1, Phase 2, Stitch 1, Joe 182, Junior 161 and Cay 161. Barbara 62 and Eva 62 were also important early graffiti artists in New York, and are the first known females to write graffiti.
Also taking place during this era was the movement from outside on the city streets to the subways. Graffiti also saw its first seeds of competition around this time. The goal of most artists at this point was called "getting up" and involved having as many tags and bombs in as many places as possible. Artists began to break into subway yards in order to hit as many trains as they could with a lower risk, often creating larger elaborate pieces of art along the subway car sides. This is when the act of bombing was said to be officially established.
By 1971 tags began to take on their signature calligraphic appearance because, due to the huge number of artists, each graffiti artist needed a way to distinguish themselves. Aside from the growing complexity and creativity, tags also began to grow in size and scale – for example, many artists had begun to increase letter size and line thickness, as well as outlining their tags. This gave birth to the so-called 'masterpiece' or 'piece' in 1972. Super Kool 223 is credited as being the first to do these pieces.
The use of designs such as polka dots, crosshatches, and checkers became increasingly popular. Spray paint use increased dramatically around this time as artists began to expand their work. "Top-to-bottoms", works which span the entire height of a subway car, made their first appearance around this time as well. The overall creativity and artistic maturation of this time period did not go unnoticed by the mainstream – Hugo Martinez founded the United Graffiti Artists (UGA) in 1972. UGA consisted of many top graffiti artists of the time, and aimed to present graffiti in an art gallery setting. By 1974, graffiti artists had begun to incorporate the use of scenery and cartoon characters into their work.
Mid 1970s
After the original pioneering efforts, which culminated in 1974, the art form peaked around 1975 – 1977. By this time, most standards had been set in graffiti writing and culture. The heaviest "bombing" in U.S. history took place in this period, partially because of the economic restraints on New York City, which limited its ability to combat this art form with graffiti removal programs or transit maintenance. Also during this time, "top-to-bottoms" evolved to take up entire subway cars. Most note-worthy of this era proved to be the forming of the "throw-up", which are more complex than simple "tagging," but not as intricate as a "piece". Not long after their introduction, throw-ups lead to races to see who could do the largest amount of throw-ups in the least amount of time.
Graffiti writing was becoming very competitive and artists strove to go "all-city," or to have their names seen in all five boroughs of NYC. Eventually, the standards which had been set in the early 70s began to become stagnant. These changes in attitude lead many artists into the 1980s with a desire to expand and change.
Late 1970s and early 1980s
The late 1970s and early 1980s brought a new wave of creativity to the scene.As the influence of graffiti grew, beyond the Bronx, a graffiti movement begun by encouragement by Friendly Freddie. Fab Five Freddy (Fred Brathwaite) is another popular graffiti figure of this time, often credited with helping to spread the influence of graffiti and rap music beyond its early foundations in the Bronx. It was also, however, the last wave of true bombing before the Transit Authority made graffiti eradication a priority. The MTA (Metro Transit Authority) began to repair yard fences, and remove graffiti consistently, battling the surge of graffiti artists. With the MTA combating the artists by removing their work it often led many artists to quit in frustration, as their work was constantly being removed. It was also around this time that the established art world started becoming receptive to the graffiti culture for the first time since Hugo Martinez’s Razor Gallery in the early 1970s.
In 1979, graffiti artist Lee Quinones, and Fab Five Freddy were given a gallery opening in Rome by art dealer Claudio Bruni. Slowly, European art dealers became more interested in the new art form. For many outside of New York, it was the first time ever being exposed to the art form. During the 1980s the cultural aspect of graffiti was said to be deteriorating almost to the point of extinction. The rapid decline in writing was due to several factors. The streets became more dangerous due to the burgeoning crack epidemic, legislation was underway to make penalties for graffiti artists more severe, and restrictions on paint sale and display made racking (stealing) materials difficult. Above all, the MTA greatly increased their anti-graffiti budget. Many favored painting sites became heavily guarded, yards were patrolled, newer and better fences were erected, and buffing of pieces was strong, heavy, and consistent. As a result of subways being harder to paint, more writers went into the streets, which is now, along with commuter trains and box cars, the most prevalent form of writing.
Many graffiti artists, however, chose to see the new problems as a challenge rather than a reason to quit. A downside to these challenges was that the artists became very territorial of good writing spots, and strength and unity in numbers became increasingly important. This was probably the most violent era in graffiti history – Artists who chose to go out alone were often beaten and robbed of their supplies. Some of the mentionable graffiti artists from this era were Blade, Dondi, Seen and Skeme. This was stated to be the end for the casual NYC subway graffiti artists, and the years to follow would be populated by only what some consider the most "die hard" artists. People often found that making graffiti around their local areas was an easy way to get caught so they traveled to different areas.
Die Hard era (1985-1989)
The years between 1985 and 1989 became known as the "die hard" era. A last shot for the graffiti artists of this time was in the form of subway cars destined for the scrap yard. With the increased security, the culture had taken a step back. The previous elaborate "burners" on the outside of cars were now marred with simplistic marker tags which often soaked through the paint.
By mid-1986 the MTA and the CTA were winning their "war on graffiti," and the population of active graffiti artists diminished. As the population of artists lowered so did the violence associated with graffiti crews and "bombing." Roof tops also were being the new billboards for some 80's writers. Some notable graffiti artists of this era were Cope2, Zephyr, Zev, Sane, Smith, and T-Kid.
Clean Train Movement era
The current era in graffiti is characterized by a majority of graffiti artists moving from subway or train cars to "street galleries." The Clean Train Movement started in May, 1989, when New York attempted to remove all of the subway cars found with graffiti on them out of the transit system. Because of this, many graffiti artists had to resort to new ways to express themselves. Much controversy arose among the streets debating whether graffiti should be considered an actual form of art.[10]
During this period many graffiti artists had taken to displaying their works in galleries and owning their own studios. This practice started in the early 1980s with artists such as Jean-Michel Basquiat, who started out tagging locations with his signature SAMO (Same Old Shit), and Keith Haring, who was also able to take his art into studio spaces.
In some cases, graffiti artists had achieved such elaborate graffiti (especially those done in memory of a deceased person) on storefront gates that shopkeepers have hesitated to cover them up. In the Bronx after the death of rapper Big Pun, several murals dedicated to his life appeared virtually overnight;[11] similar outpourings occurred after the deaths of The Notorious B.I.G., Tupac Shakur, Big L, and Jam Master Jay.[12][13] Princess Diana and Mother Teresa were also memorialised this way in New York City.
With the popularity and legitimization of graffiti has come a level of commercialization. In 2001, computer giant IBM launched an advertising campaign which involved people in various states spray painting on sidewalks a peace symbol, a heart, and a penguin (Linux mascot), to represent "Peace, Love, and Linux." However due to illegalities some of the "street artists" were arrested and charged with vandalism.[14]
Along with the commercial growth has come the rise of video games also depicting graffiti, usually in a positive aspect – for example, the game Jet Grind Radio tells the story of a group of teens fighting the oppression of a totalitarian police force that attempts to limit the graffiti artists' freedom of speech. Following the original roots of modern graffiti as a political force came another game title Marc Ecko's Getting Up: Contents Under Pressure which features a similar story line of fighting against a corrupt city and its oppression of free speech.
Mark Ecko, an urban clothing designer, has been an advocate of graffiti as an art form during this period, stating that "Graffiti is without question the most powerful art movement in recent history and has been a driving inspiration throughout my career."
Global evolution of modern graffiti
South America
There is a significant graffiti tradition in South America most especially in Brazil. Within Brazil, Sao Paulo is generally considered to be the current centre of inspiration for many graffiti artists worldwide.
Brazil "boasts a unique and particularly rich graffiti scene...[earning] it an international reputation as the place to go for artistic inspiration." Graffiti "flourishes in every conceivable space in Brazil's cities." Artistic parallels "are often drawn between the energy of Sao Paulo today and 1970s New York." The "sprawling metropolis," of Sao Paulo has "become the new shrine to graffiti;" Manco alludes to "poverty and unemployment...[and] the epic struggles and conditions of the country's marginalised peoples," and to "Brazil's chronic poverty," as the main engines that "have fuelled a vibrant graffiti culture." In world terms, Brazil has "one of the most uneven distributions of income. Laws and taxes change frequently." Such factors, Manco argues, contribute to a very fluid society, riven with those economic divisions and social tensions that underpin and feed the "folkloric vandalism and an urban sport for the disenfranchised," that is South American graffiti art.
Breakdance
Breakdance, breaking, b-boying or b-girling is a street dance style that evolved as part of the hip hop movement among African American and Puerto Rican youths in the South Bronx of New York City during the early 1970s. It is normally danced to funk or hip hop music, often remixed to prolong the breaks, and is arguably the best known of all hip hop dance styles.
Origins: From street to dance
Breaking became popular in the Western world when street corner DJ's (in legend it is DJ Kool Herc who was first) would take the breakdown sections (or "breaks") of dance records and string them together without any elements of the song per se. This provided a raw rhythmic base for improvising and further mixing, and it allowed dancers to display their skills during the break.
One of the major breakdance street culture pushes was Michael Jackson's Robot dance, first performed on television in 1974. The performance received a large following with many later breakdance pioneers further popularizing breakdance in the late 1970s.
Popular speculations of the early 1980s suggest that breakdancing, in its organized fashion seen today, began as a method for rival gangs of the ghetto to mediate and settle territorial disputes. In a turn-based showcase of dance routines, the winning side was determined by the dancer(s) who could outperform the other by displaying a set of more complicated and innovative moves.
It later was through the highly energetic performances of the late funk legend James Brown and the rapid growth of dance teams, like the Rock Steady Crew of New York City, that the competitive ritual of gang warfare evolved into a pop-culture phenomenon receiving massive media attention. Parties, disco clubs, talent shows, and other public events became typical locations for breakdancers, including gang members for whom dancing served as a positive diversion from the threats of city life.
Though its intense popularity eventually faded in the 1980s, it has today grown into a well-known and accepted dance style, portrayed in commercials, movies, and the media, and often available at common dance studios. Some large annual breakdance competitions can be seen today, such as Battle of the Year or the heavily sponsored Red Bull BC One.
Breakdancing is generally unstructured and highly improvisational, allowing the incorporation of many different elements. A basic routine might include toprock, a transition into downrock, a display of power moves, and finally a climactic freeze or suicide.
Toprock refers to any string of steps performed from a standing position, relying upon a mixture of coordination, flexibility, style, and most importantly, rhythm. It is usually the first and foremost opening display of style, and it serves as a warm-up for transitions into more acrobatic maneuvers. In contrast, downrock includes all footwork performed on the floor as in the 6-step. Downrock is normally performed with the hands and feet on the floor. In downrock, the breakdancer displays his or her proficiency with foot speed and control by performing footwork combinations. These combinations usually transition into more athletic moves known as power moves.
Power moves refer to moves that require momentum and physical power to execute. In power moves, the breakdancer relies more on upper body strength to dance, using his or her hands to do moves. Power moves include windmill, swipe, and flare. Because power moves are physically demanding, breakdancers use them as a display of upper body strength and stamina. Many moves are borrowed from gymnastics, such as the flare, and martial arts, with impressive acrobatics such as the butterfly kick.
Freezes halt all motion in a stylish pose. The more difficult freezes require the breakdancer to suspend himself or herself off the ground using upper body strength, in poses such as the handstand or pike. Whereas freezing refers to a single pose, locking[3] entails sharp transitions between a series of freezes.
Suicides are another type of end to a routine. Breakers will make it appear that they have lost control and fall onto their backs, stomachs, etc. The more painful the suicide appears, the more impressive it is, but breakdancers execute them in a way to minimize pain. In contrast to freezes, suicides draw attention to the motion of falling or losing control, while freezes draw attention to the final position.
"Battles" refer to any level of competition in which breakdancers in an open space (typically a circle or even on stage) participate in quick-paced, turn-based routines, whether improvised or planned. Participants vary in number, ranging from head-to-head duels to battles of opposing breakdance crews, or teams. Winners are determined by the side exhibiting the most proficient and varied combinations of moves. "Cyphers," on the other hand, are open-forum, mock exhibitions where competition is less emphasized.
In pop culture
Since its inception, breakdancing has provided a youth culture constructive alternative to violent urban street gangs. Today, breakdancing culture is a remarkable discipline somewhere in-between those of dancers and athletes. Since acceptance and involvement centers on dance skills, breakdancing culture is usually free of the common race, gender and age boundaries of a subculture and has been accepted worldwide.
