How Hip Hop Music Scores Have Evolved

In this blog post, we explore how the soundscape of hip hop has changed since its inception in the 1970s.

The Early Days

When hip hop music first came on the scene in the early 1970s, it didn’t really have its own sound. The earliest hip hop tunes were simply existing pop, R&B, and soul tracks with a heavy backbeat. This backbeat was created by using two turntables and a drum machine. This new sound caught on quickly, and soon there were hip hop tracks being created specifically for dancing.

DJ Kool Herc

DJ Kool Herc is considered one of the fathers of hip hop for his development of the breakbeat in the early 1970s. His style of mixing and scratching records, along with his extensive use of percussion, laid the foundation for what would become known as hip hop music.

The Sugarhill Gang

The Sugarhill Gang was an American hip hop group, formed in Englewood, New Jersey, in 1979. The group is best known for its hit single “Rapper’s Delight”, the first rap single to become a Top 40 hit on the Billboard Hot 100.

The members of the group were Michael “Wonder Mike” Wright, Henry “Big Bank Hank” Jackson, and Guy “Master Gee” O’Brien. All three members were born and raised in Englewood. They started out as a disco band called Positive Force in the 1970s before changing their name to the Sugarhill Gang.

The Sugarhill Gang recorded “Rapper’s Delight” under the name of Joey Robinson Jr., which was producer Sylvia Robinson’s son. The song was written by Bernard Edwards and Nile Rodgers of the disco band Chic, and it borrows heavily from their song “Good Times”. The song was originally released on the Sugarhill Records label on September 16, 1979. It debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 chart on October 20, 1979, at number 36, and peaked at number four on December 15, 1979. It remained in the Top 40 for 21 weeks and sold over eight million copies worldwide, making it one of the best-selling singles of all time.

The Sugarhill Gang never had another hit as big as “Rapper’s Delight”, but they did release several other well-received singles throughout their career. They disbanded in 1985 but reunited in 1999 and have been performing together ever since.

The ‘Golden Age’

Hip hop music has changed a lot since it first became popular in the 1970s. For one thing, the music is now more complex and the lyrics are more sophisticated. But one of the most interesting changes has been in the way that hip hop music is scored.

Run DMC

Run DMC was an American hip hop music group from Hollis, Queens, New York, founded in 1981 by Joseph “Run” Simmons, Darryl “DMC” McDaniels, and Jam Master Jay. They are widely acknowledged as one of the most influential groups in the history of hip hop music and culture and the first to achieve mainstream success and credibility within the hip hop community. Hip hop historian Bill Adler credits Run DMC with “breaking hip-hop into mainsteam music,” while critic Stephen Thomas Erlewine calls them “the group that laid the groundwork for all subsequent hip-hop.”

Public Enemy

Public Enemy is an American hip hop group from Long Island, New York, consisting of Chuck D, Flavor Flav, Professor Griff, Khari Wynn, DJ Lord, and the S1W group. Formed in 1982, they are widely considered to be one of the most influential and revolutionary groups in the history of hip hop music. Their debut album ‘Yo! Bum Rush the Show’ (1987) was met with critical acclaim and their second album ‘It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back’ (1988) is regarded as one of the most important and influential albums in hip hop history. In 1989 they released ‘Fear of a Black Planet’ which further pushed the boundaries of what could be accomplished in hip hop music.

The ‘Gangsta Rap’ Era

Gangsta rap is a subgenre of hip hop that emerged in the mid-1980s. It is characterized by aggressive, often violent lyrics and themes that glorify drug use, crime, and inner-city life.

N.W.A

In the late 1980s, a new style of rap music was emerging from the West Coast. It was raw, aggressive, and often laced with profanity and depictions of gang life. This new style became known as “gangsta rap.” One of the most popular and controversial groups to emerge from this scene was N.W.A.

N.W.A’s debut album, Straight Outta Compton, was released in 1988. The album was an instant hit, but it was also highly controversial due to its graphic lyrics about sex, drugs, and violence. Despite the controversy, the album went on to become one of the highest-selling rap albums of all time.

In the years since Straight Outta Compton was released, hip hop music has evolved significantly. Today, there are many different subgenres of hip hop, each with its own unique sound and lyrical style. However, gangs still play a role in some areas of the hip hop community, and gangsta rap continues to be popular among many listeners.

Tupac and Biggie

In the early 1990s, two artists emerged who would come to dominate the Hip Hop music scene for the rest of the decade. Tupac Shakur and Christopher Wallace, also known as Biggie Smalls or The Notorious B.I.G., would change the sound and style of Hip Hop music forever.

Tupac was the first of the two to release a album, with his 1991 debut ‘2Pacalypse Now’. Featuring a mix of politically charged and personal tracks, the album was a critical and commercial success. However, it was his second album ‘Strictly 4 My N.I.G.G.A.Z.’ that cemented his place in Hip Hop history. The album featured production from some of the biggest names in rap at the time, including Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg, and contained some of Tupac’s most iconic tracks like ‘Keep Ya Head Up’ and ‘I Get Around’.

Biggie’s 1994 debut album ‘Ready to Die’ introduced the world to one of Hip Hop’s most iconic characters. The album tells the story of Biggie’s life growing up in Brooklyn’s notorious Bedford-Stuyvesant neighbourhood, and includes some of his most famous tracks like ‘Juicy’ and ‘Big Poppa’. With its mix of Trap music and East Coast Hip Hop, ‘Ready to Die’ set the template for many future rap albums.

The two artists would go on to have hugely successful careers, but their lives were cut tragically short by gun violence; Tupac was killed in 1996 and Biggie in 1997. Their deaths marked the end of an era in Hip Hop music, one that would never be replicated again.

The ‘New School’

In the late 1980s, a new style of hip hop music emerged that was marked by a heavier use of samples and more elaborate arrangements. This new style was called the New School, and it would go on to dominate hip hop music for the next decade. Let’s take a look at how the New School changed hip hop music.

Jay-Z

Hip-hop wasn’t always taken seriously as an art form. In fact, when the genre first gained traction in the 1970s, many people wrote it off as a passing fad. How could something so new and different stand the test of time? Surely it would go the way of disco music, another popular phenomenon of the era that seemed destined to fade away into obscurity.

But hip-hop didn’t disappear—it only grew more popular. In the 1980s, artists like Jay-Z emerged on the scene and began to change the way people thought about hip-hop music. Jay-Z’s albums included complex rhyme schemes and deft wordplay, proving that hip-hop could be much more than just a passing fad. He helped to legitimize hip-hop as an art form, and his influence can still be felt in today’s music.

Eminem

Eminem is one of the most successful rappers of all time. He has sold over 300 million records and has won multiple Grammys. His music has been praised for its lyrical prowess and for its ability to tell stories.

However, Eminem’s music has also been controversial. His lyrics have been accused of being hateful and misogynistic. Some have even said that his music is a bad influence on young people.

Despite the controversy, there is no denying that Eminem is a talented musician. He has pushed the boundaries of what is possible in hip hop music and has created some of the most memorable songs of the past 20 years.

The Modern Era

It wasn’t until the late 1970s that hip hop music began to be taken seriously as an art form. Before that, it was viewed as a passing fad or a passing phase. However, in the past few decades, hip hop music has come to be appreciated as a legitimate form of music with its own unique sounds, styles, and culture.

Kendrick Lamar

Kendrick Lamar Duckworth (born June 17, 1987) is an American rapper and songwriter. He is regarded as one of the most skillful and successful rappers of his generation. Born and raised in Compton, California, Lamar embarked on his musical career as a teenager under the stage name K-Dot, releasing a mixtape that garnered local attention and led to his signing with indie record label Top Dawg Entertainment (TDE). He began to gain major recognition in 2010, after his first retail release, Overly Dedicated. The following year, he independently released his first studio album, Section.80, which included his debut single, “HiiiPoWeR”. By that time, he had amassed a large Internet following and collaborated with several hip hop artists, including The Game, Snoop Dogg, Busta Rhymes and Lil Wayne.

Lamar released his major-label debut album, good kid, m.A.A.d city in October 2012 to critical acclaim. The record contained the top 40 singles “Swimming Pools (Drank)”, “Bitch, Don’t Kill My Vibe”, and “Poetic Justice”. It debuted at number two on the US Billboard 200 chart and was later certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). Preceded by the singles “The Recipe” and “Swimming Pools (Drank)”, Lamar’s second album To Pimp a Butterfly was released on March 15, 2015 to universal acclaim from critics; it debuted atop the Billboard 200 chart and sold 324 thousand copies in its first week , thus becoming Lamar’s first number-one album on the chart. Its singles “i”, “King Kunta” , received widespread radio play and commercial success; both peaked within the top 40 of multiple Billboard charts upon release

Chance the Rapper

With the release of his third mixtape, Coloring Book, in 2016, Chance the Rapper became the first artist to win a Grammy Award based entirely on streaming-only music. His breakthrough came with the 2013 mixtape Acid Rap, which was downloaded more than one million times and led to festival appearances, including Lollapalooza. His follow-up, 2016’s Coloring Book, won three Grammys, including Best Rap Album.