The History of Rap Music

In many years before the rap music exploded In America music industry, West African musicians used to tell stories with just accompaniment of a drum beats.  During the same period, the folk artist from the Caribbean islands used to tell stories in the form of rhyme. They used to talk as a beat of drum accompanies the talk. Finally it is from the singing of the poets from Africa and the Caribbean that laid the foundations for the modern decent American rap music. Rapping involved speaking rhyming lyrics that were always accompanied by beat. In those days, rapping was considered to be the sophisticated form of poetry (Strasburger). The rhymes by the rappers used to address some specific subject that included violence issues, social-political affairs, and sexuality.

The history of rapping became popular in the 1970s in the United States as a result of a kind of street art. This was as a result of the African American teenagers who were much interested in the rapping.  The rapping them became the story in 1979 when Sugarhill gang released a rap song breakaway hit, rappers delight, which made many of the producers to take note of the incoming hot genre of music. After the emergence of the Sugarhill, the opportunity by the producers was identified and therefore numerous rap acts were developed. This included the run-DCM and NWA. Afterward, the rap audience was expectant and swelled. It was not just African American who were involved in the act but also the white rappers were among the top rappers in the midst of 1980s (Solomon). Some of the white rap bands that were ranked amongst the top charts included the beastie boys and also there were some female rap bands recorded at the top such as salt-n-Pepa who were reaching the top chart in the music industry.

In the mid of the 1990s, the rap music graduated from the old-school-style that was characterized by the use of simple lyrics to an advanced new-school-style that was characterized by the use of more complex lyrics. In this period the rappers who led the season included the Notorious B.I.G, Snoop Dogga, and the Tupac were on the top chart during this period. Did Eminem was recorded as the rapper who was on the top chart all the time. He was also one of the leading rappers during this time. The rap has remained its taste up to the present day artist in the rap industry. It has been believed that rapper’s delight by the sugarhill gang was the first rap album in the rapping industry, but it was overtaken by the king Tim album from the fatback band (Kitwana).  Afterwards, the rapper by the name will smith become the first rapper to own shows in television, and the industry grew to today’s genre.

To illustrate how the rapping evolved and how it came about, refers back to the early 1960s and 1970s where the rapping songs become more common. It originated merely from the announcements that were made using microphones during celebrations such as parties. These were later developed to more complicated rhyming patterns that were later developed due to chanting and speaking according to the rhyme. In the early days when chanting and speaking was used to develop the hip-hop and the rap music, the community perception of the music saw it as if it was a just pleasure of poetry. The rapper in the later days developed the chanting and speaking into lyrics and complicated ones to change the perception and the notion of the people towards the rap music (Keyes). Many of the visual aids have been used to challenge the perception and the nature of how people perceive different things worldwide.

Visual aid and lyrics

For a quality delivery of everything that you aim to present, the visual aid that you create with the audience plays an equally important role in the presentation. Rappers intended to use some of the visual aids to solve and change the perception of the people towards the rap music. This was first initiated by the will smith who was the first rapper ton project his videos on the screens. These films created a positive move towards the development of the rap song. The rhyme and the relevant scheme accelerated the world toward having interests with the hip-hop music. The dance that was projected in the screens was accompanied with the sweet lyrics that made many people change their attitude to loving moods towards the rapping industry.  The young generation that was targeted with these rap music was the first ones to appreciate the advantage of films that created more interests in the rap industry (Jesse). This was the major key thing that was used in the development of interests of people towards the rap music.

The consignment of the lyrics and the dancing style in the films geared many people to watch and love the hip-hop and rapping music. This contributed to the change of the perceptions that the world takes the raping music with.

Also, the other very crucial visual aid form is the slides used containing the written rap song for the public. Sometime when the rap song is out to the public, they need to know the exact wording that is used to develop the song. In the cases of the slides that contain the song in a written form, the audience can easily follow and read from to exactly know what the song is all about. In the early days when speaking and chanting was used, most of the audience never had the exact nature and flow of what the song is all about. They used to follow the lyrics and end up dancing the rhyme rather (Flynn). This majorly has changed the way people and the world see things to have an idea of the rapping music and what it entails.

The public and the members, in general, are in a position to grasp the main idea that is being conveyed by a particular song. This is the case with the many young populations who have sung and cram all the verses of the recent form of hip hops by finding the sources that have the written form of the songs. They have used the visual aid to cram and be in the position of memorizing the great sweet hip hops changing the taste of the rapping industry. It is through these small achievements that have significantly changed the music industry and the world in general. As a result of the research that was made in the early 2000s, the rappers who were talking of the sexuality and gangsters were inspected to know whether the people are doing what they are mentioning in their songs. During the investigations, the only one rapper was gotten with a case of involving in the non-worthy practices that resulted in the suspension of the rapper from the industry (Dovchin). They thought that the musicians were involved in what they sang, but it was found later that they were just singing and not involved in the practices that they talked of unworthy.

Instead, they used the visual films to show and prove that there were just singing to have the nice lyrics in the early days. The films conveyed a lot of meaning to what they considered as the best practice that they used to develop the industry.

There are some of the lyrics that were used to address the current affairs of the world and have changed the minds of the people to perceive and see things in the other dimensions. In America, the hip hops on the social, political affairs that can lead to the crisis have been used to express the need for peace, and therefore the problem has been solved through a mere song with sweet lyrics that are more delicate to the young generation (Strasburger). The potential youth who have interests in the rap music has been influenced, and as a result, the effect of wars and political differences within the state has been solved.

Addressing of the issues like marriage and love have been explored by many of the rappers and therefore it has been addressed and the way people used to perceive it has significantly changed. This is as a result of the many videos and films that have been played, and therefore many of the people have changed the perception that they see things with (Jesse). This has significantly led to the establishment of many relationships that have resulted in major advantages to the developing world.

Works cited

Dovchin, Sender. “Dissatisfaction and Dissent in the Transmodal Performances of Hip-hop Artists in Mongolia.” The Sociolinguistics of Hip-hop as Critical Conscience.“ Palgrave Macmillan, Cham (2018): 191-211.

Flynn, Mark A. ”Objectification in popular music lyrics.“ An examination of gender and genre differences (2016): 164-176.

Jesse, Alexandra, and Dominic W. Massaro. ”Seeing a singer helps comprehension of the song’s lyrics.“ Psychonomic bulletin & review (2010): 323-328.

Keyes, Cheryl L. ”Empowering self, making choices, creating spaces: Black female identity via rap music performance.“ Journal of American Folklore

(2000): 255-269.

Kitwana, Bakari. ”The challenge of rap music from cultural movement to political power.“ The Hip-Hop Studies Reader (2004): 341-50.

Solomon, Thomas. ”Living underground is tough’: authenticity and locality in the hip-hop community in Istanbul, Turkey.“ Popular Music (2005): 1-20.

Strasburger, Victor C., and Robert L. Hendren. ”Rock music and music videos.“ Pediatric annals (1995): 97-99.