The History of Rap and how it has Influenced the Music Industry

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The History of Rap and how it has

Influenced the Music Industry

Nowadays if you ask someone to give a definition of ‘rap’ they would say it’s the reciting of lyrics in rhythm to a beat. But it all started with a Jamaican dj known as Kool Herc. In the early 70’s Kool herc moved from Kingston in Jamaica to the west Bronx in New York. There he began to dj in clubs. He used his Jamaican style, which involved reggae beat with the reciting of rhymes (rapping). Gradually this style of music became popular and many other rap artists emerged and it soon spread over the world. It gave people a way to freely express themselves.

Since then many other forms of rap have evolved. Emceeing, Gangster rap, Fun rap and Diss records are just some of them. Emceeing or Freestyling is when a beat is played and a rapper has to rhyme lyrics of the top of his head, making it up as he goes along. This type of rap tends to be rapped quicker than usual. Also from this you have freestyle battles, were two rappers are put head to head and have to rap about each other, try and ‘dis’ each other. Fun rap could also be called humour rap. It’s basically when a rapper rhymes about funny things and jokes about, they make you laugh like a comedy. Gangster raps about guns, violence, drugs, crime womanising and their lifestyle as a whole. These artists rap and know about these things because of where and the way they have been bought up. Most of these rappers where bought up in rough areas around New York, like the Bronx for instance, where they have been surrounded by these things, so they want to tell people about it and there experiences. I believe that if that’s what certain rap artists wish to rap about then that’s fair enough. Diss records are when an artist insults (disses) another artist. This is where the danger comes in. There can be two outcomes of a Diss record. One outcome could be that the artist that released the Diss record and the artist that was dissed both sit down and settle their differences civilly and that’s were it ends. The other outcome is much more serious. The artist that was dissed then releases a Diss record about the artist that dissed him. Usually this is basically declaring war. Eventually one thing leads to another and both artists end up getting hurt or even killed. A similar situation happened between the two legends, the Notorious B.I.G and Tupac, which shocked the whole world especially the music industry. Biggie ( Notorious B.I.G) and Tupac were the best of friends at one point, but then the Rap industry tore them apart. Both thought that the over were copying their style and lyrics and they were getting jealous of each other when one was doing better than the other. Then Tupac was shot 5 times, luckily he survived. Tupac thought that Biggie had hired someone to do it. Then Tupac releases several Diss records against Biggie. Then 3 years later of Diss record after another Tupac was again shot, this time shot dead. The whole world could not believe it. Everyone blamed Biggie, but Biggie denied any involvement with the shooting. 6 months after Biggie was then shot dead as well. To me, the Music industry, and lovers of rap this was a major loss of two extraordinarily talented Rap artists and even though both artists are dead there music is still greatly listened to around the world.

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The controversy comes in when artists raps about crime, violence, womanising and drugs. If a four-teen year old boy idolises a certain artist that raps about these things, then the artist will be influencing the way that boy behaves and reacts to certain things. So if the artist raps about how he takes drugs and treats women in a bad way, then that boy may well think that that’s what he should do. But on the other hand people could argue that the things that these artists rap about aren’t to be taken literally, and that if this kind ...

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