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Rose explains that hip hop was spawned by many different social and political factors, but

postindustrial oppression is what started rap in the late 170s. She criticizes the way that some

critics see at hip hop as simply a post modern practice, or how others see it as simply an

incarnation of pre-modern oral traditions, because she believes that these explanations do not do

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justice to its intricacies and complexities. Hip hop culture, a category which includes rap, graffiti

and breakdancing, expanded in the 170s due to urban life in 170s New York, technological

advances, economic advances, and advances in communication. All of this is in addition to Afro-

Caribbean and Afro-American music and oral and visual dance forms combine to form hip-hop

culture. Rose exemplifies how the above social situations shaped hip hop by exploring Andre

Craddock-Williss theory that the blues, jazz, R&B and rap are expressions that emerge in relation

to significant historical conditions and the relationship between black Americans and the larger

political and social character of America. ()

In the 170s, federal funding began to disappear and corporations took over whatever land

they could, the result of which was a widening gap between the economic classes--which translates

into a gap between races as well. This trend of unequal wealth distribution left many families in

desperate search of affordable housing, and according to Gil Scott, in the early 80s 5% of black

families and 0% of Hispanic families (40 % of Puerto Rican families) lived at or below the

poverty line. Social conditions forced many poor minorities in New York to move from the city to

parts of the South Bronx--which has been dubbed the home of hip-hop culture.

Hip hop culture, according to Rose, is composed of many crews, or groups of local artists

that perform together and support one another. Rose explains how these crews function in this

culture Identity in hip hop is deeply rooted in the specific, the local experience, and ones

attachment to and status in a local group. (4) The world of hip hop is depicted as a place to strive

for prestige and status and claim turf for your crew.

Graffiti, breakdancing and rap all incorporate themes of flow, layering, and ruptures in line.

Graffiti was practiced by artists who used many colors and created pieces that usually incorporated

images from television, comic books and cartoons. (4) Advances in spray paint technology

allowed for more large-scale pieces with very elaborate designs. Trains were the canvases of

choice for graffiti artists for their visibility and ability to pass through diverse neighborhoods. Not

only did this make graffiti dependent on skill, but also dependent on working under pressure of

creating your piece in the middle of the night in a train yard without getting caught. Crews worked

together to come up with ideas for larger pieces, share advice and help one another. Female graffiti

writers continued the themes of flow, layering and rupture, but used brighter colors and images that

were associated with femininity. However, they were discouraged from participating in this scene

by male counterparts who labeled them as sexually promiscuous.

Breakdancing centers itself around the theme of rupture in the hip hop world. The disco

music of the 70s utilized continuity of beats and smooth transitions, but breakdancers began to

structure their dances by the breaks in the beat between songs. Soon thereafter, music began to

incorporate these ruptures and breaks in beats, and breakdancing evolved into a competitive,

acrobatic and pantomimic dance with outrageous physical contortions, spins and backflips wedded

to a fluid syncopated circling body rock. (47) Like graffiti artists, these breakdancers performed

in crews, some of which included women. Some crews were entirely made of women, but like

sexism encountered in graffiti crews, women who participated in breakdancing were considered

masculine. Some of this sentiment comes from male breakdancers being uncomfortable with

women exhibiting the skillful and dangerous moves involved in performing. This style of dance

combines moves of current culture with those found in Afrodiaspora dances. There are many

similar moves and combinations with Afro-Brazilian dance, and also borrows moves from martial

arts. Some specific moves center around African-American experiences like the running man,

and lockitup, moves mimicking running from the police and hijacking a car, respectively.

Rose explains that rap music was a collage of sounds and beats which greatly contrasted

discos steady beat. Like in graffiti and breakdance, raps crews would battle for territory.

Popularity at performances, through club gigs, and in the circulation of recorded live performances

would establish a territory for that DJ. DJs perfected scratching, scratching the turntable needle

back and forth against the record, and backspinning, rapidly rewinding the record to reply a

phrase or hook, often over and over again to build anticipation. I notice the latter technique in

house and techno music more than anything else these days.

These DJ techniques took emphasis away from dancing and put it on watching the DJ, so

rappers were added to redirect audience attention. A common style of rap at this time was a kind of

toasting, from the roots of oral storytelling--this was a type of egotistical bragging. Rap is mostly

centered around the oral performance, but it is also focused on technology the the image of the

microphone, the object that gives their voice power and amplification. In the late 80s rap spread to

the West coast and took on a new style which focused on experiences of living in Los Angeles.

Soon after, hybrids of rap appeared, including bilingual raps, gangsta raps, protest raps and New

Age/Soul rap fusion. (5) However, just like graffiti and breakdancing, women found it hard to

break into this scene. The technology needed to produce and record were usually owned by men

and women either didnt feel that they would be allowed to use the equipment, or would feel

uncomfortable spending time with a man to be able to use his equipment.

This book was published in 14, and I especially think that the section of women in rap is

outdated. Rose talks about how there were few successful women producers and rappers, but I

feel that this has changed dramatically. For example, Missy Elliott is a very successful female

rapper and producer. She has been behind several successful songs of the past few years, and

there are many more women today in hip hop that have taken control of their music, images and

careers in general.

In the next chapter, Rose goes more into depth about the social and cultural backgrounds of

rap, as well as the role that technology has played in its development. She reminds us that rap

comes from black cultural traditions, postindustrial change in urban life, and technology. (6) We

first explore the use of rhythm and repetition, noting that rhythm is to African music as melody is

to classical music. Raps layered rhythms come from African music where the drums and the voice

are the most important facets of a song. Rose also notes that breaks in pitch and time are also

features of African-American music, which could answer the question in class a few weeks ago

about why Missy Elliotts songs have short sections (or, breaks) that are different than the rest of

the music in of some of her songs.

The use of repetition is frequently used as a means by which a sense of continuity, security,

and identification are maintained. (68) Rose entertains a theory from James A. Snead that

suggests that European culture tries to disguise repetition in their songs and call it progress,

whereas black culture makes no secret of it and sees it as equilibrium and balance. This

repetition and breaks in beat highlights rupture, one of the themes of hip hop culture. Rose warns

that these types of facets of rap music are not the results of industrial forces because they have

always existed in African music.

Rose tells us that samplers are the quintessential rap production tool. (7) Their original

use was to create a short cut to limit the expense of hiring studio musicians, and before raps

beginnings, great lengths were taken to assure that the sample could not be recognized. Rap has

changed the use of this practice to highlight the sample and use it as a point of reference. Bill

Stephney, co-owner of S.O.U.L. Records, explains that rap producers dislike the fake sound of

digital drums and have no success recording live drums to their satisfaction, so the only way to get

the sounds they like is to lift them off of old records. Producer Daddy-O explains that samples

arent used because they are lazy, they are used as learning tools to better understand music and its

construction. Another way in which recording technology is used in opposition to its original

function is by working in the red. This means that the sound boards indicators are in the red to

indicate distortion and low-frequency resonance, something usually avoided by sound engineers,

but desired by rap producers who see the heavy, growling sound as something to aim for on their

records.

Sampling is a huge part of rap, but it has also become a huge part of R&B. By using the

samples of older R&B songs, rappers are bringing the R&B songs into the forefront, constantly

reminding audiences of previous black music that may have been forgotten. However, when the

record sales of rap songs with samples hit the million range, the use of these samples has began

being pursued for legal action. After all, when samples were first used, no one seemed to care

about the fact that they were using copyrighted material. However, when the financial

possibilities arose, music corporations began pursuing what they could and enforcing stricter rules

for sampling. Rose explains that many black artists did not own the publishing rights to their

songs, so even if their record company brought legal action against an artist using their copyrighted

material, the original artist would receive little to none of the money made in the lawsuit or through

royalties.

Rap is often criticized for not being creative, not being real music, and for stealing from other

songs. Rose uses a reference to a J.D. Considine article in Musician magazine in which he says

that if you pay attention closely , even a seemingly simple rap record...reveals unexpected

complexity if you know where to look. (81) Another rebuttal to the claim that rap is full of

untrained, untalented people comes from Hank Shocklee, who feels that lack of training does not in

any way equal lack of creativity. He maintains that his lack of training, lack of being forced to look

at the way notes are supposed to be combined, allows him greater creative freedom--much more

than trained musicians who feel obligated to compose along certain rules.

Rose makes sure that we do not fall victim to understanding rap as simply an extension of

oral storytelling. She stresses that rap is just as much influenced by oral traditions as it is the

technology of today. We have already learned that identity is a major facet of rap, and in todays

rap, authorship is a crucial part of the lyrics and there are often references to the rapper within the

lyrics so that the song is easily identified as belonging to that rapper. Because of a lot of the

references to ones self in rap, when others perform a rap song, they are often obligated to change

the references to the original author, and Rose suggests that this is a way that power is taken away

from the author and they are conquered by whoever is performing their music. Rap can also not be

considered as simply oral storytelling because part of the process of writing such complex,

language-heavy songs is to write them down first and then memorize them. Oral traditions did not

rely on written accounts because of their lack of complexity, hence their smaller part in rap music.

Advances in technology are just as important a part of rap as its roots in oral storytelling.

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