Genre Research:Hip Hop/ R&B

History- Hip Hop

Hip Hop is a genre of music that originated in the Bronx, New York City, America primarily among African Americans and Jamaican Americans, with some Latino influences. The Hip Hop musical genre is defined by elements such as rapping, DJing, sampling, scratching and beatboxing. The roots of hip hop are found in African-American music and ultimately African music. The Griots of West Africa are a group of travelling singers and poets who are part of an oral tradition dating back hundreds of years. Their vocal style is similar to that of rappers. Within New York city, Griot like performances began to arise during the 1960s and 1970s influencing the development of a new musical genre later dubbed Hip Hop. Hip hop became very popular during the 1970s when block parties became increasingly popular in New York City, especially in the Bronx. Block parties incorporated DJs who played popular genres of music, especially funk and soul music. The DJs, realized the positive reception and began isolating the percussion breaks of popular songs. This technique was then common in Jamaican dub music and had spread to New York City via the large Jamaican immigrant community. Turntablist techniques, such as beat mixing/matching, scratching and beat juggling eventually developed along with the breaks, creating a base that could be rapped over. The Jamaican immigrants also provided an influence to the vocal style of rapping by providing a short rhyme or chant to the beats at the block parties inspired by Jamaican traditions. There has been great debates as to who actually created the term Hip Hop but is it believed that Keith Cowboy, rapper with Grandmaster Flash and The Furious Five was the creator of the term.

History--

R&BR&B is an abbreviation of the name Rhythm and blues. It is a genre of African American music that originated in the 1940s. Over the years the term Rhythm and Blues has had a shift in meanings, in the early 1950s and beyond the term was frequently applied to blues records. Then in the 1960s after this style of music contributed to the development of rock and roll, the term R&B became used to refer to music styles that developed from and incorporated electric blues, as well as gospel and soul music. By the 1970s, rhythm and blues was used as a term for soul and funk. In the 1980s, a newer style of R&B developed, becoming known as contemporary R&B. R&B replaced the term “race music” which was what this type of music was originally known as within the black community, this term was classed as offensive so was changed.

The development/ creation of R&B has been credited to the migration of African Americans to the urban industrial centres of Chicago, Detroit, New York, Los Angeles and elsewhere in the 1930s. This created a market for Jazz, blues and related genres of music which later lead to the development of a new type of music, R&B.

Pioneers of the genre-Hip Hop

Furious fiveSugar hill Gang

Run DMC

LL Cool JDJ Cool Herc DJ Hollywood

Pioneers of the Genre- R&B

Ruth Brown

Frankie Lymon

Little Richard James Brown

Sam CookeBo Diddley

Key Artists Today-Hip Hop

EminemEminem Name: Marshall Mathers

First album: Slim shady LP(1998-99) This won him a Grammy Award for best Rap album.

Latest Album: Relapse 2

Accolades: 3 Grammy Awards, Academy Award for best original song(2002), First rap artist to win an Oscar, “Loose Yourself” longest running #1 hip hop single(2002), Best selling artist of the decade and Named artist of the decade by Billboard Magazine(2009)

Break through song: “Guilty Conscience”

Appeals to: male teenagers, however showed that he could appeal to greater audiences when he released “We made you” (2009)

Key Artists Today-R&B

UsherUsher NameName: Usher Raymond IV

First AlbumFirst Album: My Way (1997)

Other albumsOther albums: Confessions(2004) sold over ten million copies in the US, also ranked best solo album of the decade.

Latest AlbumLatest Album: : Raymond v. Raymond

AccoladesAccolades: Five Grammy Awards, Ranked 2nd greatest artists of the decade behind Eminem.

Breakthrough songBreakthrough song:”You make me wanna”

Appeals toAppeals to: Melo listeners

Key Artists Today-Hip Hop

Lil WayneNameName: Dwayne Michael Carter

First Album: First Album: Get it how U Live (with group Hot Boyz) Tha Block is Hot(first solo album)

Latest Album: Latest Album: Tha Carter III

Accolades: Accolades: Eight Grammy Award nominations, Two number 1 singles on the Billboard top 100.

Breakthrough song: Breakthrough song: “We on Fire” (with Hot Boyz)

Appeals to: Appeals to: Verbally expressive people.

Key Artists Today-R&B

Ne-YoNe-Yo

Name: Name: Shaffer Chimere Smith

First Album: First Album: In My Own Words

Latest Album: Latest Album: Year Of The Gentelman

Accolades: Accolades: Five top ten songs on the Billboard top 100, has written many chart topping for various artists.

Breakthrough songBreakthrough song: : ”So Sick”

Appeals to: Appeals to:

Demographic of Hip Hop and R&BHip Hop is mainly aimed at male teenagers and young adults around the

age of 24. Some people may suggest that Hip Hop is mainly aimed at the black community however, I think that Hip Hop is targeted at everyone. In contrast 70% of all hip-hop music is bought by white teenagers age 18-34. Hip Hop is now beginning to target the female market also with the introduction of new female artists such as Nicki Minaj. This provides a fresh new look to Hip Hop as the majority of Hip Hop artists are male, this will allow female artists to break into the Hip Hop music genre widening the demographic of Hip Hop.

The majority of artists in the R&B music genre are of black ethnicity, having very powerful and soulful voices. Examples include Usher, Trey Songz and Chris Brown. Many of the R&B singers come from singing at their local choirs. This could be why the majority of the demographic for R&B is Afro Carribean people.

Sub GenresHip HopHip Hop

•Acid rap•Alternative Hip Hop•Crunk•Freestyle Rap•Gangsta Rap•Grime•Hip Hop soul•Rap Rock•Christian Hip Hop•Country Rap•Conscious Hip Hop•Jazz Rap

R&BR&B

•Gospel music•Soul Music•Jazz•Contemporary R&B•Funk •Electric Blues

Public Perception of the GenreHip HopHip Hop

The public have many perceptions of Hip Hop and its listeners. They think that the Hip Hop musical genre is mainly associated with drugs, sex and violence. However this is a stereotype. The majority of people do not know about the many subgenres of Hip Hop which do not include much of the swearing and foul language used in mainstream Hip Hop. Moreover, many Hip Hop artists today use foul language to express deep emotions and their inner thoughts. Also most rappers today are Conscious Rappers. This means that in their lyrics they write about things that have happened to them in their lives such as violence, drug use etc. This is why some people choose to dislike Hip Hop because the artist are talking about real problems in society today and most people do not want to listen to this. Furthermore, the public think that Hip Hop listeners are thugs and cause crimes which is another stereotype.

R&BR&B

Much of the R&B music today is associated with love which appeals to many people going through the situations that the song is talking about. One artists, Usher talks about situations/problems that have happened to him in his music. This allows the listeners to empathise with him and understand what he is talking about. Also because R&B mainly focuses on love and emotions people will prefer to listen to it rather than Hip Hop.

Magazines

Cross Media- Hip Hop and R&BThe Hip Hop and R&B musical genres have also seeped into the other forms of

media. One of the other forms of media heavily associated with Hip Hop and R&B is MTV /MTV Base. These are television channels from the television franchise MTV music television.

Hip Hop has also crossed into the gaming market. Most recently the game DJ Hero was released. This bought back the turn table bringing back the main elements of old school Hip Hop. This game is heavily revolved around Hip Hop including tracks from pioneers such as Run DMC, Jay Z and DJ Jazzie Jeff.

Future PredictionsHip HopHip Hop

I think that the future for Hip Hop consists of the rise of more female Rappers. I also think that Hip Hop will begin to be intertwanged with other genres especially Pop and maybe Rock. Mixing Hip Hop with Pop will make Hip Hop more mainstream as the Pop will be reducing the amount of swearing included in the tracks, it will be like a form of restriction and a way to sensor Hip Hop and effectively decide what the public will listen to.

R&BR&B

I am not realy sure what the future hold for R&B however, i think that many new artist will be joining the R&B scene because i think that everyone is used to the majority of artists associated with R&B and a fresh new face is needed to build up the popularity of the genre.