Hip hop

Hip hop is a cultural movement that began amongst urban , African American & Puerto Rican youth in New York and has since spread around the world. The four main elements of hip-hop are MCing, DJing, graffiti art, and breakdancing. Some consider beatboxing the fifth element of hip hop; others might add political activism, hip hop fashion, hip hop slang or other elements as important facets of hip hop. The term has since come to be a synonym for hip hop music and rap to mainstream audiences. They are not, however, interchangeable - rapping (MCing) is the vocal expression of lyrics in sync to a rhythm beneath it; along with DJing, rapping is a part of hip hop music.

Hip hop music

Main article: Hip hop music

U-Roy, one of the earliest Jamaican dub musicians

DJ Kool Herc

Graffiti art

Main article: Graffiti art

Graffiti art

DJing

Main article: DJing

Breakdancing

Main article: Breakdancing

Breakdancing, also known as b-boying is a form of acrobatic dance that is part of hip hop culture. Breakdancing is one of the four elements of hip hop.

MCing

Main article: MCing

Beatboxing

Main article: Beatboxing

Beatboxing, considered by many to be the 'fifth element,' is the vocal percussion of hip hop culture. It is primarily concerned with the art of creating beats, rhythms, and melodies using the human mouth.

Beatboxing is hip hop's vocal percussion whose early pioneers include Doug E Fresh, Biz Markie, and Buffy from the Fat Boys. The term 'beatboxing' is derived from the mimicry of the first generation of drum machines, then known as beatboxes.

The art form enjoyed a strong presence in the 80s. In many ways, beatboxing fell off the radar along with breakdancing in the late 80s, and almost slipped even deeper than the underground. Bboxing has been enjoying a resurgence which began in the late 90s, marked by the release of Rahzel's "Make the Music 2000." The internet has greatly aided the rebirth of modern beatboxing--on a global level never seen before--with thousands of beatboxers from over a dozen countries interacting on UK's Humanbeatbox.com.

The art form has radically evolved extending its reach to include physical theater routines, and has integrated itself into hip hop (and other forms) of theater.

Music Production

The record producer is an often overlooked component of hip hop, sometimes confused with the DJ position. This is a misconception because not all DJs make beats, and not all producers can DJ. Although hip hop's original music consisted solely of the DJ's recycled breakbeats and other vinyl record pieces, the advent of the drum machine allowed hip hop musicians to develop partially original scores. Drum set sounds could be played either over the music from vinyl records or by themselves. The importance of quality drum sequences became the most important focus of hip hop musicians because these rhythms (beats) were the most danceable part. Consequently, drum machines were equipped to produce strong kick sounds with powerful (sine) bass behind them. This helped emulate the very well-engineered drum solos on old funk, soul and rock albums from the late 1960s and early to mid 1970s. Drum machines had a limited array of predetermined sounds, including hi-hats, snares, toms, and kick drums.

The introduction of the digital sampler changed the way hip hop was produced. A sampler can digitally record and save small sound clips from any output device, such as a turntable. Producers were able to sample their own drum sounds from the records they grew up listening to. Perhaps more importantly, they could sample horns, upright basses, guitars and pianos to play along with their drums. Hip hop had finally gathered its complete band.

What many fail to recognize is the distinct importance of the gritty, choppy sound of hip hop. The music seldom sounds like other organic forms. Even hip hop crews that have their own band often use samples and the gritty, choppy texture of machines to create their beats in the studio as featured on their album. (When performing live, they usually recreate this sound with a full band).

Beats are almost always in 4/4 time signature and almost always have a constant pattern of music throughout.

At its rhythmic core, hip hop swings. Instead of a straight 4/4 count (pop music; rock 'n' roll; etc.), hip hop is based on a triplet feel somewhat similar to the "swing" emphasis found in jazz beats. Hip hop takes this concept a step further, however. Whereas jazz swing implies three eighth notes (a triplet) per beat, hip hop implies six sixteenth notes (a "double triplet") per beat. Like the triplet emphasis in swing, hip hop's double triplet "bubble" is subtle, rarely written as it sounds (4/4 basic; the drummer adds the hip hop interpretation) and is often played in an almost "late" or laid back way.

Here's a basic hip hop drum set example --one bar that would be repeated indefinitely. Note that no single instrument plays all of the implied double triplets. This is usually the case. In this example, the bass drum plays part of the double triplet subdivision. The bass drum pattern is most often the part that provides the hip hop feel.

 Count       1       2       3       4
 Implied     *** *** *** *** *** *** *** ***

 Hi Hat      x-- x-- x-- x-- x-- x-- x-- x--
 Snare       --- --- x-- --- --- --- x-- ---
 Bass Drum   x-- --x --- --x x-- x-- --- --x

This style was innovated predominantly in soul and funk music, where beats and thematic music were repeated for the duration of tracks. In the 1960s and 1970s, James Brown, The Godfather of Soul, talked, sung and screamed much as MCs do today. This musical style provides the perfect platform for MCs to rhyme. Hip hop music generally caters to the MC for this reason, amplifying the importance of lyrical and delivering prowess.

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