How It All Got Started, Way Back When

                In the mid-70's, disco was very popular and was gaining momentum across America. However, on the gritty streets of the "Boogie Down" Bronx, a new musical art form was coming into existence. They called it hip-hop and it consisted of four core elements: the Graffiti artist, the B-boy, the M.C, and the Dj. Graffiti art or "bombing", as it was commonly known, came from people spray painting all over street signs, buildings, and trains. B-boy-ing or break dancing, as it was known in the mainstream, is a style of dance that was generated from the bassline in songs, which would later be adapted into "break" beats that extended the bassline throughout the song. The M.C. (Master of Ceremonies) would control the microphone during parties and would rhyme about a variety of things, but mostly about the Dj. The Dj was the central figure in hip-hop and all the other element revolved around what records he or she was playing. the Dj was responsible for making "break" beats for the b-boys and b-girls to dance to, and scratching (moving the record back and forth quickly) and cutting (stopping the record and quickly letting go) while the M.C. performed. These four elements were all created in the streets of poor, urban areas mostly populated by Black and Latino people. This was a far cry from disco music which was created for wealthy people in the suburbs.
               However, with 1979's hit song, "Rapper's Delight", the Sugarhill Gang was able to meld these two genres of music and bring together two distinctly different groups of people. This party anthem allowed people from all different ethnicities, cultures and economic statuses to unite with a new wave of music. A few years later, disco was completely dead with the rise of "rap" music. Then, in 1982, Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five released "The Message". Revolutionary for its time, "The Message" painted a visual of the streets that people unfamiliar with the projects, could gain a broader understanding of. The M.C, Melle Mel rhymes in it "Broken glass everywhere, people pissin' on the stairs, you know they just don't care." The lyrical content delivered in this song was far superior to the party happy lyrics in songs like "Rapper's Delight". Not long after these songs came out, did record executives try to exploit this music. Soon, rap artists were signing to major labels for thousands of dollars and merchandising of hip hop began to take effect. Movies like "Beat Street" and "Breakin'" tell tales set in the landscapes of rap and hip-hop. The popularity and revenue that this movement generated would have been unheard of in the late 70's. The fact that an art form created by poor, urban youths could grow this large and destroy disco, which had a huge white fanbase, truly shows that a "David and Goliath" story can happen. Even thirty years later, disco is still dead and rap/hip-hop is still on the rise.

Songs to sway you: Old-School Edition

Eric B. & Rakim- Eric B. Is President
Boogie Down Productions- The Bridge Is Over 
MC Shan- The Bridge