| Typically, Hip Hop music consists of one or | | | | Hip-hop Turntablist DJs use turntable |
| more rappers speaking or chanting semi | | | | techniques such as beat mixing and matching, |
| autobiographic tales, or coded information in | | | | scratching, and beat juggling to create a |
| an intensely rhythmic lyrical form, making | | | | base that can be rapped over. Turntablism is |
| abundant use of techniques like assonance, | | | | generally focused more on turntable technique |
| alliteration, and rhyme. Though rap may be | | | | and less on mixing. By the 1950s, early forms |
| performed a cappella, it is more common for | | | | of Rock n' Roll and Do Wop utilized spoken |
| the rapper(s) to be accompanied by a DJ or a | | | | word technique in sections of songs ("Little |
| live band providing an appropriate beat. The | | | | Darlin" written by Maurice Williams). Within |
| Popularity of Rap Music and the Hip Hop | | | | the next few decades, popular songs such as |
| culture has increased immensely over the past | | | | "Alice's Restaurant" by Arlo Guthrie and "The |
| 20 years. With its roots in the earliest | | | | Devil Went Down to Georgia" by The Charlie |
| forms of African influenced call and response | | | | Daniels Band, not to mention countless |
| vocalizing, Hip Hop and Rap utilizes the | | | | Country songs, had lyrics primarily in spoken |
| advanced technology of electronic sampling | | | | word format. In the 1970s, African American |
| and sequencing and has become a leading force | | | | musicians coupled the spoken word format with |
| in the music industry. | | | | the sounds of Funk to produce the earliest |
| | | | easily recognizable antecedents of Rap music. |
| Hip Hop and Rap music can be traced back to | | | | |
| two sources: spoken lyrics (usually rhyming) | | | | Artists such as Lou Rawls, Barry White, James |
| and a Rhythm and Blues and Funk musical base. | | | | Brown, The Brothers Johnson, and Isaac Hayes |
| The reasons for the rise of Hip Hop are found | | | | helped define the earliest sounds of this |
| in the changing urban culture within the | | | | musical style. In addition, Jamaican Djs in |
| United States during the 1970s. Perhaps most | | | | New York City began incorporating improvised |
| important was the low cost involved in | | | | rhymes over Reggae music and rhythms. By |
| getting started as the equipment was | | | | 1979, the style began to find a wider |
| relatively inexpensive, and virtually anyone | | | | audience through its first recordings, most |
| could "Rap" along with the popular beats of | | | | notably "Rapper's Delight" by the Sugar Hill |
| the day. One of the most prominent early | | | | Gang. At the close of the decade, drum |
| examples of spoken word technique (in a call | | | | machines such as the Linn Drum and slightly |
| and response format) in a popular song is the | | | | later the TR-808 appeared and helped create |
| chant "Hi-de-hi-de-hi-de-ho" from Cab | | | | the first significant electronic grooves to |
| Calloway's "Minnie the Moocher" in 1931. | | | | accompany the Rap style. The success of MTV |
| While early Hip Hop arose through the decline | | | | in the early 1980s exposed original forms of |
| of funk and disco while still employing their | | | | Rap to a worldwide audience through artists |
| musicianship, there was rise of artists who | | | | such as Grandmaster Flash, Blondie (with her |
| employed the use of the turntable as an | | | | top ten hit "Rapture," though she's not |
| instrument in itself. | | | | considered an essential Rap artist), and the |
| | | | immensely popular Run DMC. |