.....
Many have tried to define it but seem to always limit it's limitless non
existant boundaries....
Can one define the universe or thought or karma??? I
think not.
If you are to think of a raw but tastefull gubo...think .
But let's take it back...a little way back to the early early
seventies.........U.S.A...
When and where there were little hole
in the wall spots like ....and ...which up and
coming original and influential (B'boys) dance fanatics made their forums
for floor freakery.
When partying had no M.C.s nor title for it's genre to
be.
Inspired by their older sibblings house party antics....radio jocks of
their era and the incredible dancers of the late 30's and after party freaks
and the super party fanatics were coming into their own.
By the mid
seventies the next stage were spots like the where D.J.
John Brown did his thing as well as ...and later all
located in the western hem isphere of the
There was a different atmoshere that existed here.
Whereas the mobile but
still influential D.J.s(such as Pete D.J. Jones, The Smith Brothers,
Plummer, Grandmaster Flowers, Maboya, Ripp and Cliff ) played more
commercial radio familiar music the D.J.s here played popular in demand
tunes as well as whatever they thought was the music to take the crowd to
the next level.
This is what made the big difference.
There was never a soul
format involved.
It was about rocking what your knack told you had the power
to move a crowd.
They were tunes not often heard on the radio...yet classic
as any classic could get and quite often quite long in their minutes. The
Isleys ....James Browns ........Miamis ...Traffics as well as the
classic version of Chicagos a must to boogie down to......
Enter the Stage D.J. Kool Herc via and his then sidekick the late
Gregory Disco Wiz via the good ol' Bee Ex.
When they came upon the
scene...it all changed. being of descent....already had a
feeling of the party from his experience as a youth in and co
existing around the D.J. scene.Gregory worked in a record shop where he
would often turn on to tunes and or just play them when they rocked
together.
Outside of Hercstypical rec room party....in the tradition of
...and Gregs Bose system...they took to the
stage...rocking at a that was then called ...which would
eventually transform into which became a spot that showcased
Hercs sound and his System and Crew (Coke La Rock, Timmy Tim, Mike Mike and
Rock Machine Clark Kent) The Herculords.
Adapting a state of the art sound system and a knack for selecting
outrageously party people addictive beats....
Herc came into his own and
became the big thing in the .
Applying what he knew from his experience
as a youth...echo chamber and microphone......his sound was the sound
resounding throughout the boroughs.
One can say that the biggest breaking
point was when he began to take two copies of the same record and continue
the break in it's beat adding yet another facet to his particular style and
sound of get down.
This indeed proved to be the point where everything
changed.
With an incredible and incomparible sound system as well as a
unique sound, slick microphone phrasing and rare beats that seemed to never
end....
Kool Herc set the trend...example and the act for others to
follow..thus minus an official title what became Known as was
unofficially born as those who would come to be know as the catylsts and
forefathers of it followed in his footsteps as innovat ors and primary
keepers of it's flames such as Smokey and Dutchmaster.
With the emergence of D.J.s such as Grand Master Flash, Grand Wizzard
Theodore, Afrika Bambaata....and the repetitive speak of the M.C. Microphone
Master Of Ceremonies.... molded itself into the massive market that
it has become in this present day.
The chant...etc....of an M.C. known as Lovebug Starski....and many peoples
unfamiliarity with this particular style of music....the name was eventually
attached to the style and stage that was initially set by Kool Herc.
Many
forget to mention that as it was in many of the early M.C.s were
inspired by the style of the radio jocks of their era....Like..Frankie
Crocker...Jerry Bledsoe...Hank Spann, Bobby Jay, Gregory and of course Gary
Bird...Who's songs such as can be labled as
"rap before the case of rap".
This is quite eveident in the vocal tonalities
of Lovebug...Mele Mel and Keith Cowboy who are recognized as the primary
M.C.s who brought a style of ongoing flow and repitition into the scene.
Don't get it confused..
has always been what those in it made it and
tossed into it's arena...which one can see as a giant kettle with a somewhat
basic recipie that has no definitive in respect to it's overall taste.
Take
classic music and thow a Funky Rap flow over it and it "becomes" .
Yet was never limited to Rap ...which didn.t really exist before the
atmosphere that Rap catered to did.
It's the music and the forum.....that
creates it......an atmosphere where "anything" goes if you can convince your
crowd of it.
I'm not one to say that this is the rule..but I'll stake claim
that this is somewhat of the formula.
Rap is definitely...but Hip
Hop isn't always Rap .
It's soul is imbedded in it's non constriction and non
catorgorization of music to groove to.....as it's heart is all of the
components that give it it's multi-faceted flavor.....
Maybe it's the other way around..... either way....it was never a matter of
so called Pop...rock...soul..jazz, or black.
Just a matter of being
bad......meaning good...and when one takes a step back...you will realize
that with it's limits having no limits... it is an existence that any an all
can connect with as well as a statement that has a power to connect us all
not only musically but in the physical as it continues to be a force in
globally connecting all races creeds and cultures .
As it is restructured
and reinterpreted multi lingually the world over, it's saga continues to
continue.
Hmmm...not bad at all....considering its origins and how it was
never planned to be this way.
Thus.....for what it's worth...it's a quite
incredible phenomenal occurance.....that many attempt to underplay..but
proof exclaims cannot be ignored.
Propop ?!?!?
Propop :: The Souls of Hip Hop
