The Basics: Exploring the Emcee

Ever since "Rapper's Delight" by the Sugarhill Gang (a song that no, was not the first hip-hop song, but was performed by Debbbie Harry's bodyguards by what became the legendary supergroup) took over the airwaves, skating rinks and barbecue outings in 1979, the whole world follows the most popular artistic element in the hip-hop culture: the emcee.

Basically speaking, there are several different ways to classify an emcee which honestly depends on your personal taste. But as for me, I arrange my emcees like this:

1. The Conscious Rapper
2. The Gangsta Rapper
3. The Battle Rapper
4. The Entertainer

Everyone who is breathing knows rapping (another name given by the media for what emcees do) comes from the art of poetry, what else is new? Indeed, much credit is due to poets, especially poets from the Black Arts Movement who not only gave the Gift of Gab to the boys in the street, but a voice for the voiceless in a more liberating way. Artists like Amiri Baraka and The Last Poets paved the way for a new band of art to come forth, and throughout this week I'll be diving into discussion about all the different types of emcees that have since immersed.

Sampling Beyond Beats

DJ Premier digging in the crates. DJ Premier is one of the greatest DJs and producers in hip-hop.

If there were no James Brown, there would be no "Fight the Power". If there were no Michael Jackson, there would be no "Hey Lover". If there were no Chaka Khan, there would be no "Through the Wire".

The hip-hop community gets that.

Sampling is a musical technique that hip-hoppers have mastered over the years of turntablism, from simple breakbeats for a party to skits from a kung-fu flick. Whatever record a DJ can find, cut and/or blend is up for grabs in hip-hop music. Beyond "Fight the Power" by Public Enemy, which had 12 sampled songs in it, the entire album Fear of a Black Planet has over 60 sampled songs! And one of Michael Jackson's greatest albums of all time Thriller was used by several hip-hop artists, including LL Cool J, Camp Lo, and Nas.

It is through sampling, as well as the rebellious nature of the cultures, that rock music connects to hiphop music. Everyone can recall the Run-DMC/Aerosmith classic collaboration "Walk This Way" in 1986. What some people may not know is that Aerosmith did that song first in 1975, and Jam Master Jay and Rick Rubin wanted to remake the song. So of course, like any good DJ should do, JMJ took the record to a whole new level, a level that the hip-hop community can't touch to this day.

Another big contribution rock music gave to hip-hop, along with disco, is the breakbeat. Breakbeats are the part of a record that consists mainly of drums, bongos, and guitar and piano solos. The name has been adopted by the hip-hop community because of the breakers, who DJ Kool Herc (a hip-hop founding father and pioneer) says best, "waits for the breaks so their inner self can go wild". The great thing hip-hop DJs do is that the breakbeats are cut, blended, and/or repeated so the mix keeps going. Perfect songs that include breakbeats include James Brown's "Funky Drummer", Incredible Bongo Band's "Apache", and Billy Squier's "The Big Beat".

The hip-hop community is well aware of how much they sample classic music. If it isn't stated in the rhymes, DJs always give subtle props to their sources, even through mixes. One prime example is the song "Classic" by Nas, KRS-One, Rakim, and Kanye West, and produced by DJ Premier. The first thing you hear is the infamous sample drop "And now for my next number, I like to return to the classic" from The Heller's Life Story. Although there are a slew of drops that give credibility to what precedes hip-hop, one group stands out to me the most as a group that uses samples as a theme to who they are (which is really what samples, breaks, etc should be used for) - Wu Tang Clan. Almost any Wu Tang Clan song has a skit from different classic kung fu movies, including Shogun Assassin, Five Deadly Venoms, and more. This group used beats that were hardcore and could get anyone hype, and almost ready to try out karate or something.

But like most of the breaks used, as well hip-hop in general, the art behind it wasn't solely intended as a way to make music sound, just as bebop was intentionally improv. Both of these styles of music were created and mastered by Black musicians as ways to rebel against the mainstream way of making "good" music, not to mention a form of "broken expression" from inequality and oppression. During the 30s people weren't trying to hear cut-up riffs and artists performing improv. But once people listened, bebop became popular in mainstream jazz and in the clubs. Now the DJs use their turntables, like jazz musicians used their horns and drums in the 30s, to express themselves through mending their "broken expression" from oppression that continues to this day.

How the West was won... again.

In the beginning of West Coast hip-hop music, you had the thuggish sounds of N.W.A., Snoop Dogg, and Death Row. But there was always the conscious side of the West Coast, like Del the Funky Homosapien, Pharcyde, and Wordsmith. With the West booming with plenty artists like Blu, Pac Div, and New Boyz (who isn’t trying to jerk in the club?), people must wonder if there is a new movement coming out of Cali.

It’s no secret that the West always brings some new flavor to hip-hop. Way back when -- even though breaking did start in New York -- b-boys from California brought popping and locking into mainstream culture. While rapping about partying and conditions in the ghetto on the East, the West took it to another level with its tough street demeanor, and yet still kept it conscious. Now the whole auto-tune movement is calming down (hopefully), and while rappers continue to spit about being vicious on the mic and overcoming adversity, the West takes rap to another level yet again, just living and getting by.

Over the past five years, there has been a slow build-up of artists coming out of the Bay Area and L.A. bringing a cool but conscious style of hip hop music, and top hip-hop blogs like Okayplayer, illRoots, and 2dopeboyz are feeling. They don’t necessarily sound like a Death Row movement, although they contain an edginess that disturbs the conservative type. Nor do they come totally conscious like the Pharcyde, although they do bring lines that make you think.

Basically, they are in a style of their own. The production, led by Trackademicks, is phenomenal. It is very electronic, reminiscent of the 80s hip hop scene, as well as soulful. One group out of the West that, in my opinion, owns this style is J*DaVey. Vocalist Miss Jack Davey is Erykah Badu with a mohawk; her voice smothers a beat about as much as the CD it lays in. Producer Brook D’Leaurean provides smooth, fast, and electrical tunes all at once.

A few mixes to enjoy include:

L.A.U.S.D. – Various Artists
U-N-I – A Love Supreme
Trackademicks – The (re)mixtape Vol. 2


Photo Credit: Pac Div's MySpace

Hip-Hop 101: An Introduction...

This isn’t something that started when Grand Wizard Theodore started scratching records on his turntable. Nor did it begin when Melle Mel and the rest of the Furious Five spit “The Message” over Grandmaster Flash’s beat. It didn't start when Crazy Legs and the Rock Steady Crew were breakdancing in the movie "Flashdance." And it sure as hell didn’t start when TAKI 183 bombed all of New York City with his graffiti tags.

Hip-hop is far beyond all that.

Most people like to see hip-hop as an art, including some so-called hip-hop artists like Ludacris, Jay-Z (who also sees hip-hop as pure entertainment - but that’s another story) and 50 Cent. It’s easy to call hip-hop an art form when the gifts that most of these cats possess - like MCing, DJing, breaking and tagging - reap the benefit of different forms of art. When you hear productions by people like DJ Premier, Dr. Dre and the late J Dilla, it's undeniable that the songs are the modern-day version of beautiful in the same way beauty is found in one of Beethoven’s pieces. We know that Rakim is as lyrically gifted as a million poets put together. But it's impossible to understand these things UNLESS we remember why these artists do what they do and where they got the skills to do these things.

We all know the saying “nothing is new under the sun.” This is the easiest and quickest way to explain the origins of hiphop. People can easily connect MCing to poetry, but hip-hop artists in specific get their spunk from the Amiri Baraka and the poets from the Black Arts Movement. This movement glorified the empowerment of the Black community by resorting back to African roots and explicitly voicing opinions on racism during that time era.

DJing, although a lot of the techniques behind it came from accidents and experimentation, originated through extending the best parts of a song. All of the cutting, blending, sampling, scratching and so on came as ways to express oneself without physically saying a word.

Breaking was never anything new, and originated from various forms of dance. Many of these forms have African and Latin origins (i.e. capoeira, mambo, etc.), but some breakers go so far as to include things like karate into their moves.

And unless you never paid attention in history class, graffiti's origins from hieroglyphics is obvious.

This is just a basic outline that shows hip-hop is not just an artistic outlet for the oppressed and for minority groups. Its roots show that as long as you brush up on your history, you can see that even hip-hop's origins were outlets for the oppressed. So to further define hip-hop as a lifestyle and a culture I must say that hip-hop is that voice of the poor that says “despite our condition we’re still having fun and we’re proud of who we are.”