|
Rap music is a combination of rhymed lyrics
spoken over rhythm tracks and pieces of recorded music and
sounds called samples, taken from older records. It was developed
by black urban disc jockeys in the mid-1970s, who began manipulating
the records they were playing in dance clubs to make scratching
rhythms and other sounds, creating a musical collage. A rapper
would speak over the music, in street-language rhymes that
boasted of sexual or verbal prowess. Break dancing, including
acrobatics such as headspins and flips, would often accompany
the rapper and DJ. Rap grew popular in the early 1980s, and
reached mainstream audiences in 1986, with million-selling
hits by the Beastie Boys (a white group) and Run-D.M.C. Rap
has developed into a significant musical and fashion force
for white and black listeners around the United States, and
dance remains a big part of the show for performers such as
Hammer. Music styles now encompass hard rock, collages of
record samples, and variations on older songs. Besides boasting
the lyrics deal with killers and drug dealers (gangster rap
of Ice-T and Ice Cube), political issues (Public Enemy and
KRS-One), and stories of black life.
 |
 |
|
- 
