DJing
, Turntablism refers to the extended boundaries and techniques of normal DJing innovated by hip hop. One of the few first hip hop DJ's was Kool DJ Herc, who created hip hop through the isolation of "breaks" (the parts of albums that focused solely on the beat). In addition to developing Herc's techniques, DJs Grandmaster Flowers, Grandmaster Flash, Grand Wizard Theodore, and Grandmaster Caz made further innovations with the introduction of scratching.
Traditionally, a DJ will use two turntables simultaneously. These are connected to a DJ mixer, an amplifier, speakers, and various other pieces of electronic music equipment. The DJ will then perform various tricks between the two albums currently in rotation using the above listed methods. The result is a unique sound created by the seemingly combined sound of two separate songs into one song. Although there is considerable overlap between the two roles, a DJ is not the same as a producer of a music track.[
In the early years of hip hop, the DJs were the stars, but their limelight[citation needed] has been taken by MCs since 1978, thanks largely to Melle Mel of Grandmaster Flash's crew, the Furious Five. However, a number of DJs have gained stardom nonetheless in recent years. Famous DJs include Grandmaster Flash, Afrika Bambaataa, Mr. Magic, DJ Jazzy Jeff, DJ Scratch from EPMD, DJ Premier from Gang Starr, DJ Scott La Rock from Boogie Down Productions, DJ Pete Rock of Pete Rock & CL Smooth, DJ Muggs from Cypress Hill, Jam Master Jay from Run-DMC, Eric B., DJ Screw from the Screwed Up Click and the inventor of the Chopped & Screwed style of mixing music, Funkmaster Flex, Tony Touch, DJ Clue, and DJ Q-Bert. The underground movement of turntablism has also emerged to focus on the skills of the DJ.
Mixtape DJs have also emerged creating mixtapes with different artists and getting exclusive songs and putting them on one disc, such as DJ White Owl, DJ Skee, DJ Drama and DJ Whoo Kid, DJ Scholar.
MCing
Rapper Busta Rhymes performs in Las Vegas for a BET party.
Rapping (also known as emceeing, MCing, spitting (bars),or just rhyming[53]) refers to "spoken or chanted rhyming lyrics with a strong rhythmic accompaniment".[54] It can be broken down into different components, such as “content”, “flow” (rhythm and rhyme), and “delivery”.Rapping is distinct from spoken word poetry in that is it performed in time to the beat of the music.The use of the word "rap" to describe quick and slangy speech or repartee long predates the musical form.
Graffiti
An aerosol paint can, a common tool used in modern graffiti
In America around the late 1960s, graffiti was used as a form of expression by political activists, and also by gangs such as the Savage Skulls, La Familia, and Savage Nomads to mark territory. Towards the end of the 1960s, the signatures—tags—of Philadelphia graffiti writers Top Cat,Cool Earl and Cornbread started to appear. Around 1970–71, the center of graffiti innovation moved to New York City where writers following in the wake of TAKI 183 and Tracy 168 would add their street number to their nickname, "bomb" a train with their work, and let the subway take it—and their fame, if it was impressive, or simply pervasive, enough—"all city". Bubble lettering held sway initially among writers from the Bronx, though the elaborate Brooklyn style Tracy 168 dubbed "wildstyle" would come to define the art. The early trendsetters were joined in the 70s by artists like Dondi, Futura 2000, Daze, Blade, Lee, Zephyr, Rammellzee, Crash, Kel, NOC 167 and Lady Pink.
The relationship between graffiti and hip hop culture arises both from early graffiti artists practicing other aspects of hip hop,and its being practiced in areas where other elements of hip hop were evolving as art forms. Graffiti is recognized as a visual expression of rap music, just as breaking is viewed as a physical expression. The book Subway Art (New York: Henry Holt & Co, 1984) and the TV program Style Wars (first shown on the PBS channel in 1984) were among the first ways the mainstream public were introduced to hip hop graffiti.
Breaking, an early form of hip hop dance, often involves battles, showing off technical skills as well as displaying tongue-in-cheek bravado
According to the influential graffiti artist Mare, documentation has been discovered tracing the origins of Breaking back to 19th century into 20th century Russia.[64] Breaking, also called B-boying or breakdancing, is a dynamic style of dance which developed as part of the hip hop culture. In the early 1930s a man named Earl Tucker invented a type of dancing called Snakehips, a dance involving one moving their hips in a fashion intended to look like the person had no skeleton. In an article written by Kennedy Center Earl Tucker earned the nickname “Human Boa Constrictor”.[65][66] Breaking began to take form in the South Bronx alongside the other elements of hip hop. The "B" in B-boy stands for break, as in break-boy (or girl). The term "B-boy" originated from the dancers at DJ Kool Herc's parties, who saved their best dance moves for the break section of the song, getting in front of the audience to dance in a distinctive, frenetic style. A popular move is called the Headspin a move in which a person holds their entire body weight on their head. And using only the head to propel the whole body around in circles. According to the documentary film The Freshest Kids: A History of the B-Boy, DJ Kool Herc describes the "B" in B-boy as short for breaking which at the time was slang for "going off", also one of the original names for the dance. However, early on the dance was known as the "boing" (the sound a spring makes). In 1980s b-boys wore Adidas tracksuits and take-out their pants pocket which means they breaking to make money on the street and to represent the foundation of oldskool hip hop. Breaking was briefly documented for release to a world wide audience for the first time in Style Wars, and was later given a little more focus in the fictional film Beat Street. Early acts include the Rock Steady Crew and New York City Breakers.
B-boying is one of the major elements of hip hop culture, commonly associated with, but distinct from, "popping", "locking", "hitting", "ticking", "boogaloo", and other funk styles that evolved independently during the late 1960s in California.[67] It was common during the 1980s to see a group of people with a radio on a basketball court or sidewalk performing a B-boy show for a large audience.
Beatbox, popularized by Doug E. Fresh,[68] 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.[69] The term beatboxing is derived from the mimicry of the first generation of drum machines, then known as beatboxes. As it is a way of creating hip hop music, it can be categorized under the production element of hip hop, though it does sometimes include a type of rapping intersected with the human-created beat.
The art was quite popular in the 1980s with artists like the Darren "Buffy, the Human Beat Box" Robinson of the Fat Boys and Biz Markie displaying their skills in beatboxing. It declined in popularity along with bboying in the late '80s, but has undergone a resurgence since the late '90s, marked by the release of "Make the Music 2000." by Rahzel of The Roots.
