Hip-Hop
Hip-hop is currently the world’s most listened musical genre. It has several
legendary figures for example: Eminem, Dr. Dre, 50 Cent, Tupac, and so on. Hip-
hop came from Bronx one of New York City’s borough. It was created by African
Americans in the early 1970s when street parties became popular. Originally it was
anti-drug and anti-violence genre. It consisted of rhythmic drum beats accompanied
by rhytmic speaking. Hip-hop is often used as a synonym for rap even though hip-
hop music does not need to include rapping.
The genre's first release was the ”Rapper’s Delight” by the Sugarhill Gang in 1979.
After a few weeks of its release it was on the top of the charts. From that point the
genre was discovered. Its first mainstream wave was the Old-school hip hop which
took place between the years 1979 and 1983. Some of its important figures were
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, Kurtis Blow and the Cold Crush Brothers.
The second mainstream wave was the New-school hip hop which was also called
the Golden age hip hop. It took place between the mid 1980s and the early 1990s.
During this period the genre became more diverse. It was highly innovating. The
ones who started this included Run-D.M.C., Whodini and LL Cool J.. However
their innovations were quickly surpassed by the Beastie Boys, Marley Marl and his
Juice Crew, Boogie Down Productions, Public Enemy and Eric B. & Rakim. These
innovations were the faster beats and rhymes, message raps, inclusiveness,
positivity, Afrocentricity and playful energy. This wave ended with the West Coast
gangsta rap becoming relaxed, this was called G-funk. While the East Coast
became more hardcore with the likes of the Wu-Tang Clan, Nas and The Notorious
B.I.G..
The next era was the bling era which was from late 1990s and the early 2000s.
During this period hip-hop found its way into other genres like R&B, neo soul and
nu metal. Some of its big figure was Jay-Z, 50 Cent, Lil Wayne or the most famous
white hip-hop artist Eminem.
While there is still some history of hip-hop I think these were the most important
ones.
I think hip-hop’s popularity comes from the fact that it is very diverse. It has wild
fast paced songs, sad slower ones, happier ones. Another thing I would mention is
its underground origins, while today it is the most popular genre it still feels like as
if a small underground artist made it.
For me the most enjoyable things in the genre is its diversity, for example, Krúbi’s
”Partyzán” is vastly different to Eminem’s ”Without Me” and not just because of
the language but because of their pace, vibe and their seriousness. Also a great
example for the variety of the genre is Krúbi’s ”Szív” which is a whopping 9
minute long and it is different throughout the whole song.
However some things that bother me in this genre are the fake gangsters who comes
from rich families and pretend they live in ghettos. Also they take themselves way
too seriously. Luckily there are not a lot of these but I think they are annoying.
In conclusion hip-hop is a very broad genre that originates from the early 1970s
Bronx and because of its variety it became very popular. Also because of this
variety I can’t really name a direct opposite of it but if I really had to say one I
would say orchestra is a really different genre.
Sources:
https://www.digitalmusicnews.com/2023/07/22/top-streaming-genres-of-2023-so-
far-and-consumption-habits/
https://www.britannica.com/art/hip-hop
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New-school_hip_hop
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hip_hop_music
