How Middle Eastern Music Has Influenced Western Hip Hop

How has Middle Eastern music influenced Western hip hop? In this blog post, we explore the history and origins of this musical fusion.

The Birth of Hip Hop

The exact origins of hip hop are often debated and contested, but most agree that the genre began in the 1970s in the Bronx, New York. Hip hop is a direct descendant of African-American music, including blues, jazz, soul, and funk. But the music that most influenced the early pioneers of hip hop was Middle Eastern.

DJ Kool Herc

DJ Kool Herc is a Jamaican-American rapper and record producer who is considered to be one of the founding fathers of hip hop. Born Clive Campbell in 1955, Kool Herc began his DJ career in the early 1970s, playing music at block parties and clubs in the Bronx, New York. His signature style of mixing two copies of the same record on two turntables helped to create the breakbeat, a key element of hip hop. Kool Herc’s influence can be heard in the work of later hip hop artists such as Grandmaster Flash, Afrika Bambaataa, and Public Enemy.

Grandmaster Flash

Middle Eastern music has had a profound influence on Western hip hop, and nowhere is this more evident than in the work of Grandmaster Flash.

Born Joseph Saddler in Barbados in 1958, Flash moved to the Bronx, New York with his family when he was just a child. It was here that he discovered his love of music and began his DJ career.

Flash quickly rose to prominence in the New York hip hop scene, thanks to his innovative mixing style and elaborate light shows. He is credited with inventing several key DJing techniques, including cutting, scratching, and backspinning.

Flash’s biggest influence on hip hop came through his work with the Furious Five, a group of MCs who are widely considered to be among the pioneers of rap music. Together, they created some of the most influential hip hop tracks of all time, including “The Message” and “White Lines (Don’t Do It)”.

Grandmaster Flash is a true pioneer of hip hop music. His inventive style and groundbreaking tracks have influenced generations of rappers and DJs.

The Influence of Middle Eastern Music on Hip Hop

Middle Eastern music has had a significant influence on Western hip hop. This is evident in the use of Arabic instruments and scales in many popular hip hop tracks. The influence of Middle Eastern music on hip hop can be traced back to the early days of the genre, when artists such as Afrika Bambaataa and Grandmaster Flash incorporated Middle Eastern sounds into their music.

Arabic Scales

The Arabic scale, or maqam, is one of the most important musical scale systems in the world. It’s used extensively in Middle Eastern music, and has also had a significant influence on Western music, especially on hip hop.

The Arabic scale is based on a set of limited intervals, which gives it a very distinctive sound. This sound has been adopted by many hip hop artists, who have incorporated it into their own music. This incorporation has often been done in a very literal way, with artists using actual Arabic scales and instruments in their tracks. However, it has also been used in a more subtle way, with artists employing the distinctive sound of the Arabic scale in their own compositions.

Whatever the approach, there’s no doubt that the Arabic scale has had a significant impact on hip hop. It’s just one example of how Middle Eastern music is influencing Western popular culture.

Arabic Rhythms

The music of the Arab world is as varied as its many regions and cultures, but there are certain commonalities that bind it together. Arabic music is built on the maqam system, a melodic mode that uses quarter-tones (in between the western half and whole steps) to create unusual, beautiful scales. These scales are often used in improvisation, and are an important part of Arabic music theory. Rhythmically, Arabic music often uses complex measures (such as 13/8), and often features clapping or stomping to keep time.

All of these elements can be heard in hip hop music, which has been heavily influenced by the sounds of the Arab world. In particular, artists like Snoop Dogg, Drake, and A Tribe Called Quest have all borrowed extensively from Arabic rhythms and melodic concepts in their music. So next time you’re jamming out to your favorite hip hop song, remember: there’s a good chance it wouldn’t exist without the sounds of the Middle East!

Arabic Instruments

The oud, buzuq, tabl baladi and other Arabic instruments have been integrated in hip hop since the early days of the genre. In particular, the African-American community in the Bronx was exposed to the music of North Africa and the Middle East through radio and television programs from as early as the 1950s. Arabic music began to enter American popular culture in the 1960s, when American rock bands like The Doors and Grateful Dead began experimenting with Arabic scales and rhythms. By the 1970s, Arabic music was being performed in nightclubs across America.

Middle Eastern music has had a significant impact on hip hop since its inception. Early hip hop artists such as DJ Kool Herc, Afrika Bambaataa and Grandmaster Flash were influenced by Arab musicians such as Mahmoud Fadl and Anwar Sadat. In the 1980s, Egyptian singer Khalid Abd al-Hakim popularized “rapping” in Arabic with his album Fatwa issued in 1983. This was followed by Yemeni singer Ali Hassan Kuban’s release of Rap Yemen in 1986.

Since then, many Arab rappers have emerged, including Morocco’s Mr Crazy, Tunisia’s El General, Lebanon’s Rayess Bek and Libya’s AkhtAR. In recent years, Arab rappers have been collaborating with American hip hop artists such as Snoop Dogg (on the song “100”), Busta Rhymes (on “Arab Money”), Pitbull (“We Are One (Ole Ola)”) and Lil Wayne (“I Am Not a Human Being II”).

How Middle Eastern Music Has Influenced Western Hip Hop

Arabic Scales

In music, an Arabic scale is any harmonic minor scale used in Arabic music. The term Arabic scale refers to the fact that this family of scales has been used extensively in Arabic music..

The Arabic scales are:

-Arazi (also called Hijaz)
– Sikah
– Jiharkah (also called Nawa Athar)
– Rast
– Saba
– Faransih (also called Isophonic Lydian)
– Suzidil (also called Mixolydian b6)
– Hijazkar

Arabic Rhythms

The biggest influence that Arabic music has had on hip hop is the use of Arabic instruments and rhythms. The most prominent of these instruments is the oud, a pear-shaped string instrument that is believed to be the predecessor of the modern guitar. Other popular instruments used in Arabic music include the ney, a type of flute, and the darbuka, a type of drum.

Arabic music is known for its intricate rhythms, which are often based on different combinations of quarter notes, eighth notes, and sixteenth notes. These rhythms can be very difficult to reproduce using Western instruments, but they can be approximated using drums and other percussion instruments. Hip hop producers often use samples of Arabic music to add an exotic flair to their beats.

In addition to instrumentation and rhythm, Arabic music also uses a lot of melismatic singing, where a single syllable is sung over multiple notes. This style of singing has been adopted by many hip hop artists, most notably by rappers like Nas and Busta Rhymes.

Arabic Instruments

Instruments commonly used in traditional Arabic music include the oud, a stringed instrument thought to date back to ancient Egypt; the rebab, a bowed instrument; the qanun, a type of zither; and various percussion instruments such as the darbuka and riqq. These instruments have been used in Arabic music for centuries, and their sound is instantly recognizable.

In recent years, however, Arabic instruments have begun to make their way into Western hip hop. Producers and rappers have sampled traditional Arabic music or incorporated Arabic instruments into their tracks, giving rise to a new subgenre of hip hop known as “Arab hop.” While Arab hop is still relatively niche, it has begun to gain traction in the mainstream hip hop world, with big names like Drake and Kendrick Lamar incorporating Arab sounds into their music.

So how did Arabic music make its way into Western hip hop? It’s likely that the popularity of Arabian Nights-themed parties in the ’90s played a role. These parties were often frequented by black and Latino youth, who were exposed to Arabic music and culture for the first time. Additionally, the September 11th attacks led to increased interest in Arab culture among Americans, which may also have contributed to the popularity of Arab sounds in hip hop.

Whatever the reason for its popularity, there’s no doubt that Arab music has had a major influence on Western hip hop. And as Arab hop continues to evolve and grow, we can only expect to hear more tracks with an Arabian flavor in the years to come.