Jan. 11, 2005
Hip Hop's Birthday
30 Years After the First "Breaks"

In addition to Blues and Jazz, the roots of Hip Hop have longed been tied to Reggae and Jamaican dance halls. Kingston-born Kool Herc aka "The Father of Hip Hop" (shown right) moved to New York in the late 60s and brought with him two turntables and a microphone to play house parties in the Bronx. One night (November 12, 1974) to get his crowd hopping he played short instrumental pieces of records, called "breaks" over and over again. This was the birth of Hip Hop, so the legend goes. A movement in NYC was then kickstarted. Street side and gymnasium DJ and sound system battles gave rise to early progenitors Grandmaster Flash, DJ Jazzy Jay and Afrika Bambaataa, who is widely credited with coining the term "Hip Hop."

Thirty years have passed and Hip Hop is at the foundation of our popular culture. From Billboard and Total Request Live to anthems for all-American sports teams, its beats are everywhere as is the "look" and fashion adorned by every mallrat adolescent in Iowa. "Hip-hop is now a worldwide religion," says Chuck D of Public Enemy in Newsday. "People all over the world understand its language, its culture. Each country has its own brand, its own style."

On the way to its billion-dollar industry, many Hip Hop purists believe the message was lost. They say that where once Hip Hop was born of the streets and a celebration of life, greedy record companies corrupted it with sub par artists playing to the lowest common denominator. Certainly a listen through the latest Jadakiss album will have you considering their point.

Some purists even dismiss the Rap movement, which came about in the 80s, ten years after DJ Herc's Bronx parties. In particular the gruesome urban poetry that Gangsta Rap brought to life. This negativity and blood lust lyrics spurred more violence they said. However those lyrics and the force and immediacy of acts like Public Enemy, NWA and Ice-T brought massive critical acclaim to the new music form. It was to these tracks that many suburban white kids were first exposed to Hip Hop.

From then on "Rap" and "Hip Hop" as terms have been forever linked. The rise of the Hip Hop culture, along with its fashion, slang and scandals are synched up with anyone under the age of 30 right now. For them, Hip Hop has been the background music for their life. It was also the next thing to outrage parents. Just as Elvis, Beatles and later the hippie movement shocked the parents of Baby Boomers, Rap and Hip Hop blaring from their own kid's sound systems was their karmic reward. Revenge of the Grandparents.

That may be the problem of the purists, the "whitening" and popularization of an art form borne of the streets. Record companies and radio programmers will continue to tell us what to accept as Hip Hop. Just as in the 80s you could ask what qualified as Heavy Metal. Was it any guy with long hair? Did Nelson and Poison count? The same could be asked of Hip Hop in the 90s and 00s. Usher and Ashanti are mostly R&B but they qualify as Hip Hop today.

As with most things that stop being cool once widespread acceptance is attained, you either look for something else or accept it and be selective in what you listen to.

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