Devolution of Rap

As rap music has ventured forth as a genre, it has changed and evolved in different ways due to different reasons.Rap music is a subculture of Hip-Hop and is generally accredited to have begun in the early 1970s by Afrika Bambaataa and the Zulu Nation. Bambaataa, a DJ (Disc Jockey) in the Bronx began Hip-Hop with tagging, breakdancing and the clothing. In 1978, two deejays began scratching records and having MC’s (Masters of Ceremonies) compliment their skills as deejays. Emcees began to have showcases by rhyming at the events over the beats being scratched by the deejays. As time progressed, rap became an art form dedicated to informing people about the issues plaguing the ghettos of America. As it become commercialized, “gangsta rap” took the scene to provide more in depth commentary on drug dealing, prostitution and more. Once it became popular music, labels and companies began finding ways to exploit rap music in order to gain more profits. Rap music began in order to bring awareness to crime, prostitution, and class struggles in the ghetto. But due to commercialization it shifted away from gangsta rap and to the glamours of being rich and successful.

As with in any group, hip-hop and rap had a beginning out of necessity. Hip-Hop culture began in 1973 when Bambaataa renamed his Black Spades group the Universal Zulu Nation with the goal of the group being, ¨peace, love, unity so that people could get away from the negativity plaguing the streets¨ (Jonas). The streets that Bambaataa was referring to were the ghetto streets of the Bronx and the negativity he spoke of was the crime and struggles the poorer class had to endure. Though it was DJ Herc (also of the Bronx) who noticed the upbeat vibes in dance songs associated with the mixing and scratching of records. The scratches and breaks created a variation of dancing, referred to as breakdancing. Emcees were people who would compliment the DJ’s for their abilities to mix, break, and scratch records though as time went on, they began spoken word over the beats which eventually lead to rapping. 1979 began the mainstream push for rap music when the Sugarhill Gang released their song “Rappers Delight”, a nearly fifteen minute song, that began to start gaining radio play. A song that had no social or political commentary, but rather a song that was pure rapping was the first real rap hit.

The first socially aware rap song was “The Message” (1982) by Grandmaster Flash (Joseph Saddler) and the Furious Five which depicted the ghettos of America from his personal experiences. Flash begins rapping by stating,

“Broken glass everywhere/People pissing on the stairs, you know they just don't care/I can't take the smell, can't take the noise/Got no money to move out, I guess I got no choice/Rats in the front room, roaches in the back/Junkies in the alley with a baseball bat I tried to get away but I couldn't get far/’Cause a man with a tow truck repossessed my car” (Saddler).

With the portrayal of the ghetto Flash gave, the song became a hit (reaching 62 on the Billboard) and people were beginning to understand the message about the plights of the ghettos. The song mainly had popularity with those who were experiencing the life Flash depicted. Thus, others in different areas of the country began to take rap on as a form of music to perform themselves.

Rap music slowly left its roots and as time went on , new forms of rap music began to sprout from different areas of the country. The East Coast rap scene began to gain notoriety in 1986, a year after West Coast, and by 1987 all coasts were represented by rap artists and their own distinct styles. One of the most popular was “gangsta rap”. N.W.A’s album Straight Outta Compton which included the song “Fuck tha Police,” was an anti-police song ridiculing the LAPD. After the song, the FBI warned the N.W.A for their verbal assault of the police force. Cheryl Keyes, a UCLA professor of Ethnomusicology, quotes former FBI member Broduer when writing the quote that stated, “‘California Congressman Don Edwards, a former FBI officer himself, contacted the FBI, objecting to its letter to N.W.A calling it a form of censorship. (Broduer 1995: 55)” (Keyes 94). The FBI revoked their warning to the N.W.A and the revocation helped  rap music continue the direction it would go because the rappers continued to use their freedom of speech in their music, though it didn’t stop the ridicule by others.

Gangster rap would face more ridicule as time went on, not just from police forces, but their own labels that supported them as certain lyrics would later become censored on radios. Keyes states the beginning of “gangsta rap” as such, “The lyrics West Coasters introduced conveyed the gritty and dangerous aspects of hustling (drug dealing), gangbanging and drive by shootings and police repression. For this reason, the West Coast is credited with ushering a sub genre called ‘gangsta rap’.” (Page 90). The descriptions that the songs gave were very detailed with the inner-workings of ghettos, using harder beats to invoke the idea that the listener was around the danger. Gangster rap would begin the wars of the east versus the west coast rappers and the lyrics would continue to be ridiculed, not just by radios, police or people, but the labels that were supposed to support their artists as well.

Paris and Ice-T were forced to leave the record companies they were signed to because the lyrics they portrayed in their songs were explicit along with a police protest at Ice-T’s label because of his song “Cop Killa”. More songs on the album Ice-T was going to release were very controversial as Keyes looks into it, “Ice-T and black Marxist rapper Paris were pressured to leave their record companies...because of the criticism of their explicit lyrics....Paris’s ‘Bush Killa’, from the album Sleeping with the Enemy (1992), had appeared to describe the mock assassination of President Bush, alarming U.S national security forces.” (Keyes, 105). After the issues they faced, the artists who were leaving their labels found success with their albums. The people in the ghettos wanted rap music that was political, social, and portrayed how they felt about certain issues. They wanted songs for them so their stories and struggles could be known by others so they could perhaps get help. This would lead to more consciousness of the ghettos of America and lead to films about the ghettos.

Due to the fame rappers were acquiring by rapping their life stories, typically in the ghetto, films began to portray the scenes they spoke of in songs and interviews by filming the plights of the ghettos. Called upon by the filmmakers, rappers began helping with the films as Cheryl Keyes is inclined to show by writing,

“With the fast-growing sale of rap music to a large youth constituent, the film industry cashed in on hip-hop’s expressiveness, using numerous rap artists to add realism to its narratives… New jack films expose their audiences to urban street culture and aesthetics and the perils of ghetto life from the perspective of a young black protagonist much in the same manner as gangsta rap. Rap music is central to these films’ soundtracks because it establishes a sense of time and place, reinforces the raw texture of the ‘new jack’ aesthetic, and educates viewers about the realities of street life for the contemporary youth.” (Keyes, 118).

The rappers would make money for the soundtracks they provided to the films and with their face and name being a part of the film, the films sold more due to their presence. Their fame led to the stories of the ghetto being told using realism and other elements, such as documentaries, to show the stories of people who lived in the ghettos.

As hip-hop grew its’ fanbase and became more and more popular popular rappers began to do more to make more money, such as invest in starting their own companies, guest star in shows and more. As Keyes states about rappers in the 90s, they were being invited to more roles in music, films and more, “Rap artists were in demand in the 1990s as leads in other mediums, such as sitcoms and mainstream films, where they appeared alongside well-known Hollywood actors: LL Cool J in The Hard Way (1991) with Michael J. Fox; Queen Latifah in Living Out Loud (1998) with Holly Hunter and Danny Devito; Will Smith in the long-running sitcom “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air” and in the blockbuster flicks Men in Black (1997) with Tommy Lee Jones…” (Keyes, 118). As the artists began to join these films and shows, they gained more fame and made more money than they had been in the music industry. Most of the rappers who went off to act and found success in doing so began to rap more about what they now had, as opposed to what they grew up with. Throughout the acting generation of rappers, they began to sell-out more often in acting and their own music.

The nineties proved that rap had staying power as rap music would continue to chart, and even chart higher than a lot of the other popular non-rap artists and bands. Boehlert states about the condition of rap at the time as such,

“Rolling Stone magazine reported that ‘rap album sales shot up thirty-two percent in just twelve months, breaking the 80 million-album-a-year mark for the first time. Superstar releases by Lauryn Hill, Jay-Z, and DMX (each of which outsold records from Pearl Jam, the Smashing Pumpkins, and Dave Matthews Band) proved that rap acts can not only score big first week gains but [maintain a presence in] the Top Ten for months at a time” (Boehlert 1999:15).

Outselling the other major artists and bands was a gateway towards the artists who would later become moguls and richer than music could have made them. The staying power of rap continued on towards the new millenium, with other forms becoming introspective with their own styles and artists pursuing other endeavors away from music.

Famous rappers such as Dr. Dre and Jay-Z pursued other endeavors and became richer than they had been with money. As Alan Light states about Jay-Z,“Perhaps no one represented the cultural triumph of hip-hop better than Jay-Z. As his career progressed, he went from performing artist to label president, head of a clothing line, club owner, and market consultant—along the way breaking Elvis Presley’s Billboard magazine record for the most number one albums by a solo artist.” (Light). Jay-Z, along with Dr. Dre, have become financial moguls and inspired other rappers to realize that if they have successful careers in rap, they can also start becoming moguls like them. The rappers turned mogul had made rappers begin bragging about what they had and could become.

An example of a rapper rapping about the glamours of being rich and famous is a song known as “Get Rich” by the rapper Tyga. In his song, he raps in the hook, “Uh, getting money is a habit/ Nice cars at the crib, gotta have it/ Uh, and this your song if you a bad bitch/ One time I’ma show you how to get rich.” (Tyga). This is one example of the braggadocio style of mainstream rap that has become a mainstay as Tyga raps in generalization of money, cars and having females who adore you because you’re rich and a rapper. The rappers inspired to become rich tend to rap about the glamours of being rich, once they get rich, they tend to stop trying. In rap videos about this lifestyle, rappers usually have subtle advertising of products as a form of commercialization in order to gain more money from an outside source.

In conclusion, rap music has had its story that continues on to this day however the music that made rap popular is less known today because of the emphasis on being rich and successful. It began with the idea of telling the stories of the ghetto and to get away from the negativity of the ghettos of America, became social and political, questioning authorities and the struggles of minorities in America, to becoming rich and famous as the goal. If rap wants to go back to being known for its political and social commentary, the listeners of rap need to make the push for those rappers to become popular in the mainstream, such as Kendrick Lamar or Lupe Fiasco,  or else the current rap music will stay longer and will slowly leave its’ roots.