The Evolution of Hip-Hop

By Tevin Cunningham, Class of 2014

Hip-Hop has gone through so many changes through out the years. Hip-Hop has gone through its celebrations and it’s tragedies. Through it all Hip-Hop keeps on growing and evolving. Hip-Hop is not only music but also culture and a lifestyle.

Hip-Hop began in the streets of New York City during the 1970s. It started off really underground, not many people were into it. It was favored mostly by African Americans and Latinos. Rappers started off as DJs who were also know as MCs. They would play music and speak between songs to get the crowd excited. Speaking between songs became more stylized and thus rapping was born. By 1979 hip-hop became a commercially recorded music genre.

Some big hip-hop names that helped develop and recreate hip-hop are Grandmaster Flash, Run-DMC, Public Enemy, Jay-Z, Tupac, Biggie, Tribe Called Quest, Nas, LL Cool J, Sean Combs, Common and Lupe Fiasco. What makes hip-hop so great is that it can be flipped twisted and recreated in many different ways. Hip-Hop can have a hint of rock, jazz, pop, techno, country and still have a hip-hop sound. Hip-Hop culture is very creative; it’s not just music anymore. Hip-Hop is seen in television, video games, art and clothing.

Hip-Hop’s current state has its positives and negatives. Some people think hip-hop is dead and others think it is growing even stronger. Hip-Hop has its positive rappers who are poets that speak about serious problems in the world and how we must grow as people and then there are the other rappers who only speak about money girls and getting drunk or high as possible. Hip-Hop is being tested as a music genre and as a whole culture.