Social and Cultural Context of Hip Hop
The hip hop genres are not solely defined by their musical stylings, but also have prominent social and cultural implications. As all emerging genres of music, hip hop evolved out of past genres of the twentieth century such as jazz, blues, soul music, funk, and more. Themes that carried through all of these genres, such as the expression of African American identity and the desire for love and freedom, as previously mentioned, were the foundation of hip hop.
The social and historical background of these times contributed significantly to the messages expressed in hip hop and rap, just like all genres of music. Following the end of WWII, many African Americans moved areas of major urban industrialization in hopes of a more opportunistic future. Many cities that underwent urban industrialization also experienced “White Flight”, where the Caucasian families left the city centers to isolate themselves in homogenous communities in the surrounded suburbs. To combat this, cities built main highways in the middle of those minority communities to make it easier for white communities to get into the city and forcing the marginalized communities into farther, more isolated areas such as Harlem, the Bronx, South L.A., and many more. In the 1960s, industries in these areas were on the decline, many people were laid off and jobless. During this time rappers found a way to use music to stand up and assert power As these isolated minority communities steadily declined and became victim to police brutality, racial hierarchy, and socioeconomic forces criminalizing black youth, many of these issues influenced the beginning of gangster rap. Hip hop artists used producing music and creating musical communities as a vehicle to carve out a space where they could openly criticize the hardships and injustices they were experiencing in their day to day lives.
Early Technology and Sampling
Sampling is a technique used in hip hop music that takes one part, or a sample, of a recorded music or sound and uses it to create a new piece of music. Hip hop and disco developed at the tail end of the funk era, so most samples in early hip hop come from soul and/or funk music. Prior to the late 1980’s, the act of sampling had to be performed by back spinning. The music was typically performed with the technology of two turntables and a mixer, and all of the recordings had to be on records. In order to repeat or loops a sample, the turntablist had to physically spin the record backwards or to another part on the record. Creating hip hop music required this large and intense technology, and the most successful artists were those that mastered complex techniques of playing, altering, breaking, scratching, back spinning, and more on the turntables.