The Basic Origins of Hip Hop 101
For Generation Next!
By Mr. O the Hip Hop Teacher


The 6 elements of Hip Hop

Emceeing = M.C which means “Master of Ceremony”, “Mic Controller” and “Move the Crowd”.
Deejaying: The DJ plays musical discs such as Vinyl or Wax 12 inch records or CD’s and Mp3’s and mixes or blends the break beats (which are the parts of recordings without any vocals).
Breaking or Break Dancing:: B-Boys and B-Girls dance to break beats. Famous break dancers are Kid Freeze, Crazy Legs (Rock Steady Crew) and Mr. Wiggles.
Graffiti - Many young people would “tag” the subway trains, apartment buildings and street walls etc.. At times it was like an informal competition for graffiti artists. Many artists would get known for their tags/art. The excitement was the fact that it was illegal and they would have to try to avoid the police and other authorities while they spray painted public or private property.
Beatboxing: The art of making musical sounds with your mouth that actually sound like instruments. Top beatboxers Doug E Fresh, Biz Markie and the Fat Boys.
Knowledge of Self: in hip hop you should know your history and culture.



The Early DJ Pioneers


In 1973 DJ Kool Herc would DJ in his Bronx New York apartment with the window open. Neighborhood people would hear it and dance outside. Then he brought it to the residential center in the projects and people would party there until the word spread to the point where they had to take it out to the parks. Many times they would use electric power from a street light for their equipment. Afterwards it would go to discotheques or nightclubs. DJ Kool Herc was the first DJ to mix with only the break parts of the song. He inspired DJ’s like Afrika Bambaataa who unified the Bronx gangs and helped stop a lot of gang violence.He started the Zulu Nation. The Ansaar Community with religious leader Dr. Malachi York and the Nation of Gods and Earths also had a large influence on the culture. Kool Herc also inspired GrandMaster Flash, GrandMaster Caz, DJ Theodore, Red Alert, Marley Marl, Chuck Chillout, Kid Capri, DJ Cool Clyde, Lightning Lance, DJ Sisco, Charlie Chase, Brucie B and most DJ’s afterward. DJ’s would mix and blend songs from all genres but the most sampled artist would be the
Godfather of Soul James Brown. One of the early radio stations that played hip hop in NYC after 12:00 Midnight was WHBI/WNWK with radio personalities like the World Famous Supreme Team, DNA Hank Love, Special K and Teddy Ted (the Awesome 2), Champagne, The Red Bandit, Half Pint and more. An early cable TV show was the “Ron Alexander Show” for up and coming artist and VJ Ralph McDaniels and the Vic Kid use to play videos on “Video Music Box”.

The legend (which the offer testifies to) goes that because instruments and band class was taking out of schools, many youth would start innovating, creating and experiments with new sounds by human beatboxing, MCing and taking turntables, mixers, amplifiers and speakers and 12 inch records aka vinyl and scratching, mixing and creating the soulful and funky organic streets sounds which evolved into Hip-Hop.

Famous Hip Hop Night Clubs

Some clubs include, the Disco Fever, Harlem World, Broadway International, The Roxy’s, CCP (Paterson NJ)







The Origin of Emceeing and Some of the Original Rappers

In the beginning, the MC or Rapper would announce where they would be playing/DJing next and they would shout out the members of their crew and people in the audience. There was a device called an echo chamber that would create echoing sound effects which sounded real cool when the MC would speak. The MC’s would start to develop different lyrical devices and stories that would encourage crowd participation and call and response. This evolved into what today is called rap in the genre of hip hop. You also had human beatboxers and break dancers which would add excitement to the parties. The first rap record on major radio was “Rappers Delight” by the Sugarhill Gang on Sugarhill Records (Englewood NJ), but before that there were several records by Bobby Robinsons “Enjoy Records” in Harlem NY. Mr. Robinson was the owner of a famous Harlem record store. There was also a record called “King Tim the 3rd”,

Some of the early MC’s are Kool Moe Dee, LA Sunshine and Special K of the group The Treacherous Three. T-La Rock, Silverfox, The Soul Sonic Force, Melle Mel of Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, Grandmaster Caz of the Coldcrush Brothers, Doug E Fresh who was a human beat box as well as MC, The Crash Crew, MC Lyte, Sharock of the Funky Four, The Fantastic Five, The Fearless Four, Bizzy Bee, The Supreme Team, Kurtis Blow, The Force MC’s, Master Don and the Death Committee, the Funky Four and much more.
Some of the early femcees or female rappers were Sharock, Pebberly Poo, Paula Perry, MC Lyte, Roxanne Shontae, The Real Roxanne, Queen Latifah, Monie Love, Heather B, Salt and Peppa and Finesse and Sinquest.

There are so many legendary pioneers that they are too numerous to mention in this text. Some say rap is what you do and hip hop is what you live and that would be the 6 elements. Hip Hop is a culture. It is the way you feel, think, move, dance, eat, express etc… There is a competitive vibe in hip hop as well as an overall unity making it very complex but cool. If you consider a rapper or hip hop, you should know the origins of it. This is just a basic introduction. Make sure you research more.











Questions

What is the founder of Hip Hop’s name?_________________
How did hip hop start?________________________________
Why did it start?_____________________________________
Name two Hip Hop rap pioneers.__________ _____________
M.C means__________________________________________
What does DJ stand for?______________________________
Name two early hip hop clubs__________________________
What was the first rap record on major radio?
Name a human beat box?_____________________________
What is the Zulu Nation?
Name two female rappers.___________________________
What is a break beat?_______________________________
Name two pioneer MC’s_____________________________
How many elements of hip hop are there?_____________
Name them________ ________ ________ ___________ _____________

Kamal, the Hip Hop Teacher aka Mr. O
YouTube.com (thehiphopteacher Mr. O) Thehiphopteacher.com