When did rap appear? When will the fashion for rap end: Music critics and experts answer.
The word “rap” comes from the English rap, rapping, which is usually translated as “knock, hit.” It is not difficult to draw an analogy between knocking (and tapping the rhythm) and the rhythmicity of pronouncing song lyrics. Of course, there are also theories that rap is nothing more than an abbreviation. So, it was deciphered both as “Radical American Poetry” (Radical American Poetry) and as “Rhythm and Poetry” (Rhythm and Poetry) ... and as soon as they were deciphered, but such theories arose among the non-English-speaking population, and the word never was written in capital letters, so the first definition of rap most accurately reflects its entire essence.
And thanks to The Sugarhill Gang’s track “Rapper’s Delight” (1979), the word “rapper” also appeared and became widespread. In the past, before the modern name for rap artists, they were called spinners. This name takes its roots from the English spin - to rotate - initially the rapper's work was limited to manipulating the player's disk.
But enough of the terms. What is rap and what is its essence? Well, rap is a form of dance music that is characterized by short musical phrases, simple harmonies and jagged rhythms. In its modern form, rap appeared in the 70s. The place of his birth was the American Bronx, and his ancestors were the black population of the country. But rap was brought to America by visiting Jamaicans. It was the symbiosis of African traditions and Jamaican music that led to what began to be called rap in the 70s.
The spread of rap was greatly influenced by black amateur radio, which played this type of music every now and then. In those years, African-Americans had severely limited rights compared to the white population, to the point that there were establishments only for whites. Therefore, blacks had fun as best they could, including actively rapping. But more for pleasure, not for profit.
At first, rap was heard in black clubs in New York. It was mainly disc jockeys who specialized in this music and selected the repertoire for dancing. At this time, even minimal musical skills were not required to perform it. In addition, rap is almost the only type of music in which vocals were absent; they were replaced by a special form of singing - recitative.
Later, in 1977, rap reached the streets and became breakdancing. And the passion of young people for the music of Parliament, Chic, Sly And The Family Stone and James Brown led to the merging of rap with some other styles in which these performers also worked.
Soon rap went beyond the ghetto and gradually began to conquer the minds of white Americans. And such artists as Ice Cube, Ice-T, Run DMC and Public Enemy made significant changes in the stylistic coloring of this music, which led to the use of some of its elements in all directions of rock, from techno to hard rock and from house to soul .
But rap went even further than just conquering the white population of America, it began to conquer the rest of the world, even to the point that it reached Russia. So, in the 80s, with the advent of the first discos and disc jockeys in the USSR, this musical direction began to spread. And it is to rap and its influence that we owe the song “Carnival” by Sergei Minaev, which contains some of its elements.
Among the many musical genres and trends, rap music stands out. This trend is rightfully considered popular, because its appearance had nothing to do with commerce.
The Origins of Rap
In Africa, for many centuries there has been a tradition of talking about various news and events, accompanying the speech by playing drums. Wherein important information They diluted it with various jokes, prayers, and anecdotes. Gradually, some things began to change. Rhythmic lyrics spoken to music became a way of self-expression for African Americans. Young people composed hits right on the streets, telling them about everything that was happening around them. Sometimes it turned into a kind of competition, a test of the ability not only to pronounce meaningful texts, but also to compose new ones, rhyme and create original and very interesting recordings.
Subsequently, it became so interesting and unusual that rap culture quickly spread throughout the world. Today you can listen to your favorite songs online completely free of charge! Music is available on our website. Clear navigation and convenient search will allow you to quickly find the desired song, download mp3 without registration and enjoy high-quality sound.
Free rap is a real find for connoisseurs, a unique manifestation of youth, emotional nourishment. Today, rap goes beyond music, turning into a specific culture, which is characterized by certain behavioral characteristics. Even the clothes of rappers are different from what we are used to, and talented listeners often learn the art of creating rhymes and share their lyrics with the world.
Like any type of music, rap has a huge number of styles, some of them were almost from the beginning, some of them appeared after a certain amount of time. And so now we'll look at a few main rap styles.
Old School Rap
Old School Rap - This style is used by very fast rap musicians who came from New York City in the late 70s - early 80s. Old school is easily distinguished from other genres by its relatively simplistic rapping - most lines take approximately the same amount of time, and speech rhythms rarely change direction as the song's beats progress. Modulation (lowering the voice) usually hits the beat exactly, and when this does not happen, it does not last long - the sound returns to the original palette for quick consonance (coordination). The main emphasis was not on the lyrical side of the music, but simply on the “old good times" was a far cry from the socially conscious team of Grandmaster Flash, who greatly expanded the horizons of rap music. Much of the old school rap material had the fun, playful flavor of the city parties and discos where it originated. Sticking to the good slow tempo, the old school rap style obviously had excellent soil for the development of female rap, but no one was able to achieve more success than Grandmaster Flash & Furious Five or Sugarhill Gang. Some old school compositions were played in disco or funk tracks, while others were diluted with synth accompaniment (the latter type of music, with or without rap, was known as electro). The history of recorded albums in the style of Old school rap begins in 1979 with the appearance of two singles from Fatback King Tim III and Sugarhill Gang Rapper's Delight, although this movement had been developing for almost 10 years before that. Sugarhill Records quickly became a center for old school rap and dominated the recording market until Run-D.M.C. did not contribute to the development of sound technology and did not begin to develop the direction of hardcore urban. Their sound and style soon completely took over the rap space, turning the old school club orientation and funk heritage of the 70s into something old-fashioned. When compared to the complex rhythms and rhymes of contemporary modern-day rap - or even hip-hop (which came out less than 10 years after Rapper's Delight) - old school rap can seem outdated and a little sluggish. However, the best old school tracks live on as the best party music - regardless of the new era in which we live. This is surprising, taking into account the active development of musical culture.
Southern Rap
Southern Rap, like a “third wheel” between East Coast and West Coast hip-hop, emerged in the 90s in the music-rich scene of Miami, New Orleans and Atlanta. In the late 1980s, Southern rap was often associated with Miami bass music and was also known as booty rap for its driving rhythms and dominant lyrics. The main performers include Luther Campbell's 2 Live Crew, who took the theme of sex in his lyrics to the maximum limit, provoking noisy protests from censorship enthusiasts across the country. The sounds of Miami bass spread throughout the southern United States, mainly dance rhythm nations of the 90s. The scene was dominated by acts such as Tag Team, 95 South, the 69 Boyz, Quad City DJ's and Freak Nasty. All of them released a large number of hit singles (filled with much more explicit lyrics than Campbell). Atlanta belonged whole line performers in the style of heavy party rap, a more distinctive (and critically acclaimed) style that combined classic Southern soul also developed here. The intellectual team Arrested Development became the first to have huge success on the national music scene in 1992. A few years later, their success was repeated by Organized Noize, especially OutKast and Goodie Mob.
If Atlanta became the creative center of Southern rap, then New Orleans was, naturally, its commercial mecca. Master P built a profitable empire with his No Limit record label. Most of the albums recorded at No Limit studio were West Coast G-funk, Wu-Tang-style hardcore and nothing more than gangsta lyrics. The No Limit studio produced music with the productivity of a factory production line and became a regular participant in the national album charts in the late 90s. By the end of the decade, Cash Money (New Orleans) and its house producer Mannie Fresh—whose bespoke approach reworked Southern bass's sound material—had made a national breakthrough, introducing Juvenile's musical style as a legitimate competitor to existing favorites.
Underground Rap
Underground Rap falls into two categories. This is either hardcore hip-hop, which expands musical boundaries and features much more interesting lyrics than gangsta clichés, or hardcore gangsta rap, which combines all the musical and lyrical stereotypes of these genres. The two styles have in common that they pay equally little attention to the traditions and conventions of mainstream musical culture—they celebrate their status as independent. Underground rap is recorded less often in major studios than hip-hop, but often sounds the same.
Pop-Rap
Pop-Rap is a hybrid of hip-hop beat and rap with a powerful melodic content, which is usually part of the choral section (chorus) in the structure of a standard pop composition. Pop rap tends to be less aggressive and more lyrical than street hip-hop, although in the mid-to-late '90s, some artists mixed the style with hardcore elements in an attempt to stave off public backlash regarding the lightness and accessibility of their music. . Pop-rap style originated in the late 80s, when artists such as Run-D.M.C., L.L. Cool J and the Beastie Boys began to enter the mainstream music scene. Soon after, rappers such as Tone Loc, Young MC, DJ Jazzy Jeff and Fresh Prince recorded several singles focusing on their ability to tell good-natured life stories from the stage, which became the reason for their huge success on the charts. Many musicians followed their example, releasing a whole series of the same type of good tunes for parties. Since the possibility of general acceptance of other trends was very real, other musicians at this time began to develop a fusion of rap with R&B and dance music. They used samples to create melodies. Since the emergence of MC Hammer and Vanilla Ice in 1990, pop-rap has often been ridiculed (and sometimes even sued) for its desire to imitate well-known hits without making any significant changes to them, or at all. Such cases could not completely undermine the reputation of this style, since many musicians of the 90s continued to hold leading positions in the charts, while developing their own sound (PM Dawn, Naughty by Nature, House of Pain, Arrested Development, Coolio, Salt- N-Pepa, Sir Mix-a-Lot, etc.). Meanwhile, the vibrant G-funk owned by Dr. Dre and Puff Daddy's Hammer continued to hijack elements of '80s pop hits, which helped propel genres like gangsta and hardcore to the top of the charts. By the end of the 1990s, pop-rap was dominated by gangsta and hardcore-influenced artists who mixed rap and urban soul.
Political Rap
Trying to move forward from the party atmosphere of old-school rap, and driven by a desire to forget the disappointments associated with inner-city blues (urban blues in the 80s), several hip-hop groups decided to mix live rhythm with political doctrine to create a new rap style. Teams such as Last Poets and Gil Scott-Heron, Public Enemy, inspired by the country's political leaders in the 70s, became the best musicians among political rap groups. The leader of this trend, Chuck D, did fusion rhythms better than any rapper, continuing to blame the government (in the compositions Black Steel in the Hour of Chaos, Fight the Power). In his work, he also addressed such topics as the culture of white America (Rebel Without a Pause, Burn Hollywood Burn) and various socio-political conflicts (911 Is a Joke, Night of the Living Baseheads). Crews such as Bomb Squad, KRS-One and his group Boogie Down Productions also began to voice their opinions, using harsh attacks and reproaches towards the authorities. An example of this is the compositions “Illegal Business” and “Stop the Violence”, which supported blacks and addressed the leaders of the capitalist world.
What at first seemed like fertile ground for the development of musical culture, in fact, turned out to be very short-lived. Public Enemy went out of business after 1991, and despite a large number of fresh records from a new generation of political rappers (Poor Righteous Teachers, Paris, X-Clan, Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy), the commercial superiority and success of the new hip-hop direction - gangsta rap or G-funk - made record labels less proactive about less successful music.
Party Rap
Party Rap is a bass-heavy, noisy hip-hop whose sole purpose is to keep the beat going. Confusing, inconsistent lyrics, without the political overtones inherent in hardcore rap, plus a dash of old school rap artistry. Instead of all this, you only get music dominated by bass and drums. This trend is closely related to Miami bass music, but usually there is a single vocal “zest” in the compositions - such as Da Dip or the choir in Rump Shaker - that makes this record memorable.
Jazz-Rap
The Jazz-Rap style was an attempt to fuse together African-American music of past decades with a new dominant form of the present, which would pay tribute and inspire new life into the first element of this fusion, and also expand the horizons of the second. While the rhythms of jazz-rap were completely borrowed from hip-hop, the samples and sound texture mainly came from such genres of music as cool jazz, soul-jazz and hard bop. The style was the coolest and most famous of all hip-hop styles, and many artists demonstrated an Afro-centric political consciousness, adding historical authenticity to the style. Considering the intellectual bent of this movement, it is not surprising that jazz-rap never became a favorite of street parties, but then no one thought about it. The representatives of Jazz-rap themselves called themselves supporters of a more positive alternative to the hardcore/gangsta movement, which supplanted the leading position of rap in the early 90s. They also sought to spread hip-hop to listeners who could not accept or understand the increasingly aggressive urban music culture. Thus, jazz-rap found the bulk of its fans in student dormitories, and was also supported by a number of critics and fans of white alternative rock. Native Tongues (Afrika Bambaataa) - an uninhibited New York collective made up of African-American rap groups - has become a powerful force in the jazz-rap style, including groups such as A Tribe Called Quest, De La Soul and the Jungle Brothers . Also famous musicians, who started their work were formerly Digable Planets and Gang Starr. In the mid-to-late 90s, when alternative rap began to break down into a large number of substyles, jazz-rap did not often become an element of the new sound, however, the Roots team often inserted it into “live” instrumental hip-hop compositions.
Hardcore rap
While the term can refer to several types of music, Hardcore Rap is characterized by confrontation and aggression, as in lyrical sense, is a heavy, double beat, noisy samples and sound recording, and in any other combinations. Hardcore rap is a hard, street, intense and often threatening style (although the latter epithet is not always the case, there is also room for humor and bright colors). The style of Gangsta rap is most closely related to hardcore rap, but not the entire essence of hardcore rap lies in themes belonging to gangsta, although one cannot help but note a large number of coincidences, especially among hardcore rappers of the 90s. Hardcore rap first appeared on the East Coast in the late 80s, when musicians began to move away from club rhythms. The music and lyrics became more reflective of the often harsh environments of the cities in which they were typically created and performed. Before the specific formula for gangsta rap was invented, musicians such as Boogie Down Productions (New York) and Ice-T were (Los Angeles) created detailed descriptions of daily street life in their work. Plus, Public Enemy's chaotic sound combinations set new standards in the recording industry, and N.W.A. marked the gloom of the ghetto and gangsta lifestyle with the appearance of an energetic masculinity. In the early 90s, hardcore rap became synonymous with West Coast gangsta rap. This continued until the appearance in 1993. Wu-Tang Clan, whose loose, minimalist beats, catchy trumpets and synth samples have become widely imitated. The edgy, street sounds of hardcore rap helped it become the most popular style combining elements of hip-hop in the last half of the 90s. Its basis today is a partial combination of club tunes, the obsession with money/sex/violence inherent in the gangsta movement and random social commentary on what is happening. Albums by such musicians as the famous B.I.G., DMX and Jay-Z became platinum in sales. And Master P's brand, at the core of gangsta-oriented Southern hardcore, also became a lucrative commercial force, even if it didn't produce fusion hits at the same level.
Gangsta Rap
Gangsta Rap began its development in the late 80s. This trend originates in hardcore rap. The gangsta rap style featured a hard, noisy sound. Lyrically, it was as sharp as rappers' crude tales of urban unrest. Sometimes the texts were accurate representations of reality, and sometimes they were just comics filled with exaggeration. In any case, this trend became the most commercially successful in the history of hip-hop from the late 80s to the early 90s. During its development, gangsta rap became the source of considerable controversy, as some conservative organizations tried to ban the distribution of albums by these musicians. Even as activist groups forced several teams out of leading record labels, they continued to create obscene music.
East Coast Rap
At the very beginning of the hip-hop era, all rap belonged to the East Coast Rap movement. All of the popular early rap artists had their roots in the New York City area - "old school" legends such as DJ Kool Herc, Grandmaster Flash, Afrika Bambaataa, the Sugarhill Gang, Kurtis Blow and Run-D.M.C. As the rap style developed and progressed, it became more diverse and multifaceted during the 80s, so music centers began to appear throughout the country. However, East Coast rap remained dominant throughout the 1980s. While East Coast rap's sound was not entirely homogeneous, the style gravitated toward more aggressive beats and sample combinations throughout the mid-to-late '80s, and many rappers prided themselves on their technical proficiency in lyrical content. In other words, with a few exceptions, East Coast rap became a musical style designed more for the intense listener than for the dance floor, which helped transform the genre into a respected art form that was more thoughtful and complex. Typical of this East Coast golden era were artists such as Eric B. & Rakim, Boogie Down Productions, and Slick Rick, all of whom featured an old-school lyrical direction as well as the heavy sounds of EPMD and Public Enemy. Based on the East Coast, the positive team of Central African musicians “Native Tongues”, assembled by Afrika Bambaataa, began their work. Bands such as De La Soul, A Tribe Called Quest, the Jungle Brothers and most other New York acts were the main influence on hip-hop in the late 80s, as they could easily be distinguished by their musical eclecticism rather than by geographical location. In 1989, N.W.A. released the album Straight Outta Compton, which was a testament to the West Coast tightening up its sound and continuing to work with edgy, street themes, and coupled with West Coast rap's ability to maintain the sound's core function as party music, - helped make this movement the dominant force in hip-hop in the 90s. The further rise of Southern rap showed that East Coast rap could no longer remain dominant, but the 90s were marked by success in this region. In addition to Bad Boy, Puff Daddy's massively lucrative record label, the East Coast has produced a number of disparate but popular artists, including the lyrical virtuoso Nas, the electronic Fugees and Roots, and Wu-Tang Clan team, which was greatly influenced by hardcore.
Foreign Rap
Foreign Rap is hip-hop with rap inserts in any language except English and Spanish. Basically, the foreign rap movement has European roots. This music is reminiscent of Euro dance, as well as American hip-hop. This style is not as rigid as American or British hip-hop, it takes the path of least resistance, using familiar techniques, rather than looking for completely new possibilities. A famous exception to this rule was jazz-rap, which, like European hip-hop, was significantly influenced by English acid house and acid jazz. Later, all these developments were collected in European hip-hop.
DownBeats
In hip-hop terminology, downbeats are a relaxing, rather slow rhythmic pattern with soft, warm bass. This term appeared in connection with the publication in the press of reviews of Mo Wax's instrumental hip-hop. In general, all non-drum and bass breakbeat production can be classified in this category. In January 1998, the French band AIR released their debut album, Moon Safari, which is an excellent example of this category.
Dirty Rap
Dirty Rap (“Dirty rap”) is hip-hop dedicated exclusively to the topic of sex. The founding fathers of this genre were the musicians from the 2 Live Crew, which was one of the leaders in the field of heavy Miami bass. Therefore, it is this bass style that underlies dirty rap. Most dirty rap songs were simply meant to party and get the crowd going, but they rarely contained anything interesting in terms of music or lyricism.
Comedy Rap
Comedy Rap is hip-hop, which is intended to be entertaining and fun. Quite often, this rap rhymes with funny content, but the music itself - (especially in the case of Biz Markie, according to some sources the coolest rapper in the style of comedy rap today) can be intelligent and funny at the same time. Comedy rap had its heyday in the 80s, when hip-hop was lighter compared to the 90s (gangsta rap was the darkest musical style back then). There were a few rap parodies at this time, such as Chunky A by Arsenio Hall, but most comedy rap was a combination of real hip-hop and street humor.
British Rap
Although British Rap is very rarely heard outside the UK and Europe, the style has its own traditions and stylistics. Although there is not much American hip-hop heritage to be found, many British rappers grew up in the rich Caribbean ragga traditions and then introduced local vernaculars into hip-hop styles. British rap began in the late 80s, using the sound combinations of Public Enemy as a springboard. Soon, many British rappers began to mix elements of acid-house into their music, resulting in a musical style that was in a heavier category than its American counterpart. Although there were faded copies taken from American rappers, the best English hip-hop musicians were divided into three camps. There were bands like Prodigy who mixed hip-hop and rave. There were teams like Leftfield that worked in hip club style. There were also performers such as Massive Attack, who slowed down the hip-hop rhythm, adding acid-jazz, which in total gave trip-hop. Even as these three acts continued to conquer new territories, the music scene was dominated by British rappers who simply copied Americans.
Alternative Rap
Alternative Rap refers to hip-hop acts that refuse to follow any traditional rap stereotypes such as gangsta, funk, bass, hardcore and party rap. Instead, they mix different genres, adding equal parts funk and pop/rock, as well as jazz, soul, reggae and even folk. Although Arrested Development and the Fugees managed to achieve success and make themselves known, most alternative rap groups remain primarily musicians for alternative rock fans, and not for hip-hop or pop audiences.
Hip-Hop
In the mid-70s, as a way of self-expression for the low-income working class, new, absolutely revolutionary music first sounded on the streets of the black neighborhoods of New York. Most distinctive feature a new generation of music appeared with a broken beat - created by Dj's (DJs) using turntables and electronic equipment, and the presence of vocals, which was very rare for vinyl-electronic music at that time. In rap music terminology, Hip-Hop is usually referred to as the culture - painting on walls, breakdancing and spinning vinyl in addition to rap rhymes - surrounding the music. As a musical style, however, hip-hop refers to the type of music that is created taking all of these attributes into account. Since the trend has been circulating on the music scene for a long time to have a history of its development, hip-hop teams began to look back at the work of such old-school masters as MCs Kurtis Blow and Whodini, as well as DJs Grandmaster Flash and Afrika Bambaataa. In fact, the last surge in popularity (Zulu Nation) occurred in the late 80s around two of the most famous hip-hop artists - De La Soul and A Tribe Called Quest. In the 90s, when there was a real breakthrough in rap music, dozens of hip-hop musicians began to return to the roots of the old school (“old school”), including such underground rappers as Mos Def and Pharoahe Monch.
Hip-Hop/Urban
Hip-Hop and Urban music emerged in the late 70s, and their development stories were often intertwined. The Urban Soul movement emerged from the soft models of Philly Soul and entertaining disco. Urban also borrowed a lot (if not more) from the popular pop style, as well as from classic soul. Thus, thanks to layers of synths, professional music production and a ballad orientation, Urban Soul rarely resembled real soul. It sounded more like pop, which was one of the reasons for its dominance in the African-American music scene. musical genre 80s. Some musicians, such as Michael Jackson and Prince, revitalized the genre by breaking with tradition, but most Urban musicians continued to follow it - some better (Luther Vandross), some worse. By the end of the decade, the Urban style began to use Hip-Hop innovations as an experiment. Hip-Hop is an umbrella term for rap and the culture it spawned. Initially, rap was extremely simple, vocalists read it under scratch and a drum beat, but as it developed, this direction became more complex. Hardcore rappers such as Run-D.M.C. and Boogie Down Productions, preferred to use minimal beats and focus on the lyricism of the compositions, sometimes adding hard-rock guitar parts. They provided the springboard for the emergence of Public Enemy, whose edgy, political rhythms and hard-hitting beats became groundbreaking in the late '80s and early '90s. By this time, Urban had absorbed elements of Hip-Hop, expressed in the form of New Jack Swing - a direction of Urban soul music with rap rhythms. Moreover, rappers such as MC Hammer, Young MC and Vanilla Ice took the liberty of softening the rough edges of Hip-Hop to be able to release their first successful pop-rap singles. Some rap groups such as have responded to this with gangsta rap. Team N.W.A. used the PE sound, but placed the main emphasis on cartoonish scenes of violence, sex, lawlessness, but after the group split, musicians Ice Cube, Eazy-E and Dr. Dre started solo careers, and gangsta rap began to develop in an interesting direction. Under Dre's leadership, gangsta adopted the booming beats and heavy bass of Funkadelic. Sonically, it was much less confrontational with Public Enemy's music, so the sound soon transitioned into the Urban style of the likes of Mary J. Blige. A few years later, rappers like Puff Daddy completely erased the boundaries between Hip-Hop and Urban soul - the two directions are impossible to distinguish.
Break Beat
Breakbeat (“broken” beat) was stylistically finally formed in 1994. The place of his birth is considered to be Great Britain, and the main cities where this style initially became most widespread are London and Bristol. Most likely, the rapid growth in the popularity of breakbeat was caused by the fact that by that time people were already somewhat tired of the rather boring house beat. Also, the popularity was greatly influenced by the fact that breakbeat often uses funk grooves, and the very noticeable influence of hip-hop will not be noticed only by the deaf. The main criterion for defining a breakbeat is clean, virtually unprocessed drums and percussion (except perhaps compression) and a standard 4/4 rhythm. Solo songs most often hit the second and fourth beats. There may also be several additional fills in the rhythm. In simple terms, the rhythmic basis of breakbeat is based on shifting the beat (syncopation) of some drums or an entire piece of rhythm. Most often, syncopation occurs on the third beat. Historically, this method was first used by James Brown's drummers. It should be noted that breakbeat is only a general classification of all music that uses the rhythm structure described above (with the possible exception of hip-hop, which appeared earlier).
Ragga
Ragga style refers to reggae, which uses background instrumental music (or other various musical instruments) in digital format. This style is predominantly associated with the dance floor, and since not all dancehall reggae is electronic (and therefore neither is ragga), the two styles have a lot in common. Ragga is short for raggamuffin, a term originally used to refer to teenagers from the Kingston ghetto. In music this word has taken root in relation to musical style new generation of the mid-to-late 80s. Due to the relatively low cost of creating synthesizer rhythms, the ragga style began to be preferred by many Jamaican musicians and composers. This allowed them to release thousands of singles a year and come up with more interesting new rhythms instead of just borrowing the sound of their old rock songs. This also led to the explosive success of rhythm albums, where many musicians recorded their own lyrics and melodies on the same rhythm track. Although many associate the ragga style with DJ prowess, some artists often express an interest in romantic and Rastafarian sentiments - and the two vocal styles are often mixed together. The first ragga recording was by Wayne Smith with his single Under Me Sleng Teng (1985), written by King Jammy. This single is built on a rhythm that was discovered in presets on Casio keyboards. The momentum was immediate, as countless imitators mushroomed, and Jammy himself became, for a time, Jamaica's most influential musician and producer.
You can find out how to download music from VK on the website musicsig.ru
We incur the wrath of the gods by compiling the top popularity of Russian rappers based on social networks.
How do you know which rapper is cooler? By the ability to weave rhymes or by a killer flow? Or maybe by the number of bullet holes in the body or Grammy on the shelf? Or take touring or iTunes sales? Perhaps everyone here will have their own measures of coolness, fame and popularity. But measuring how much a rapper is loved by his fans is not so difficult - it’s 2016, and relatively objective numbers of popularity are right in plain sight - on musicians’ social networks.
With the help of our friend from the public Imho Analytics, we tried to compile a popularity rating of Russian rappers based on social networks. Why social networks? Because they have long become as commonplace as an aluminum pan in the kitchen or a smartphone in your pocket. Even the neighbors’ grandmothers have accounts in Odnoklassniki, and only DMX still doesn’t know how to use a computer. And even despite the possibility of cheating, numbers from social networks are more stable and generalized data than, for example, music sales figures or the density of the touring schedule.
What did we think?
We calculated the average number of subscribers of musicians on the social networks Twitter, Instagram and VKontakte, because... many listeners follow their favorite musicians on several social networks at once, and we didn’t want to inflate the numbers due to duplicate information.
Now let's go.
As you can see, the final ten turned out to be quite varied - here you have the veteran Karandash, and youngsters like Basota, and punk connoisseurs Anacondaz. Unexpectedly, Lupercal closes the top, which has been in the news all this year, and in the fall took part in revolutionizing the game by releasing the release “House of a Thousand Drafts.” Somewhere nearby there should have been Pharaoh, who was also widely known last year, but the Dead Dynasty association has a common VK account, so it did not pass the competition mechanics.
Here we have an even more diverse ten. Rounding out her parody projects is Bread and Big Russian Boss, sweet-voiced Tati coexists with labelmate and hero of the year Scryptonite, and Kravets and Joniboy dilute the patriotism of Misha Mavashi and Harry Topor with romance.
Strong rap fighters concentrated in the middle of the list - confidently and without surprises. ST starts the top ten, and closes it with Slim, who is almost neck and neck with his Centr colleague Ptah - 125 thousand subscribers versus 128. In the middle of the list is the name-dropping master Yanix, Smokey Mo, Rem Digga, The Chemodan Clan, MC Doni, Tony Raut and hit rock 25/17.
Perhaps the most controversial and interesting ten, about which the editorial office argued the most. Is it possible to include Dolphin in this list for old times sake? How close are Dorn or Jah Khalib and Bianca to rap? Also pay attention to the 14th position - Ukrainian rapper Yarmak has a strong and large community of fans.
If the artists of the Gazgolder label are evenly distributed according to the rating, then the representatives of Black Star were aiming for the top ten. There are four of them here at once - Mot, Christina Si, L "One and Timati. Plus Dzhigan, who left the ranks of the Black Star mafia. At the same time, the first place with an impressive margin from Basta was taken by Timati, and Oksimiron, who flashed literally everywhere, only closes the top ten.
What do you need to know before you start swearing in the comments?
1. The data is taken for the end of December and the first days of January of this year. Over the past time, the artists managed to gain a thousand or two additional subscribers, but due to the holidays, activity was not the highest and these numbers did not affect the final results.
2. For groups like Casta, Caspian Gruz, TGK and others, the overall indicators and individual subscribers in the musicians’ accounts were calculated.
3. The sum of subscribers and individual data on social networks were rounded separately, so when summing up the data, the final picture may vary upward or downward by a thousand, but this does not in any way affect the final places.
It gained mass popularity in the nineties of the last century and has since become firmly entrenched in the world of show business.
On this moment rap is used in many others, and the compositions annually take first place in the top lists of radio stations and music channels.
Description
Rap is the performance of verbal recitative to rhythmic music. The rapper reads the lyrics to the beat, which can also be accompanied by electronic music. The subject of the texts is absolutely any, as is the main message. There are several types of rhyming. The most complex are the so-called “square rhymes” (that is, double rhymes). A stream with a powerful emotional message is called a "punchline". It is often used during battles - verbal competitions between two rappers. The style of recitative is called “flow” (from the English flow - to lay).
Various styles
The rap artist is also called "MC" (from the English MC - master of ceremony). Rap is not only a genre in its own right, it can also be part of a song in other styles. Rapcore is a mixture of fast aggressive recitative accompanied by heavy music using guitars. One of the most prominent representatives of this genre is the French hardcore band Rise of the North Star.
The birth of rap culture
Rap songs appeared back in the seventies of the last century in poor areas of New York, inhabited by black people from Africa. Presumably, the fashion for quickly reading rhymed text was brought from Jamaica. The first rappers were DJs and read out their lyrics during discos. Gradually, rap migrated to the streets.
Black poets demonstrated their skills to passers-by and did not even think about commerce, but made music for their own pleasure.
The first rap battles also began to be held. Two people took turns reading out peculiar pamphlets with the aim of insulting their opponent or otherwise showing their superiority over him. Ten years later, the first paid songs began to appear on records. Rap began to conquer Europe. Until the mid-nineties, it continued to be positioned as a genre for bandits and gangsters. However, they began to pay great attention to the rap scene. In the late nineties, there was a famous confrontation between the East and West Coasts. Musical battles took place between the leading performers of the two camps - Tupac Shakur and Notorious B.I.G.. As a result, both were shot dead in a street showdown. The events of those days seriously influenced the entire rap culture as a whole.
Since then, the question of the so-called “truthiness” (from the English word true) of rap artists has often been raised.
Russian rap
In Russia, they first learned about rap after the collapse of the Soviet Union. The first songs were recorded on pirated tapes, or less often on disks. Since at that time there was almost complete absence of copyright control in the post-Soviet space, it was extremely unprofitable for foreign performers to sell their albums. However, after a short period of time, domestic performers also appeared. Russian rap, of course, succumbed to the enormous influence of foreign rap, so the pioneers of this genre often simply copied famous artists like Dr. Dre or Eminem. But some features of the specifically Russian style were also noticeable.
Representatives of Russian emigration in Germany and Great Britain occupied a serious place on the hip-hop scene. Under the auspices of the German rapper Kul Savash, they released rap songs on the Optik Russia label. The main style was battle rap. Groups such as “Shock” and “First Class” gained enormous popularity in the post-Soviet space and set the direction for the development of the genre for several years.
New time
However, over time, more and more performers appeared.
For the reason that rap music itself is simple, and its creation does not require serious skills, this genre is the most widespread in a quantitative sense. Essentially, all you need to create is a microphone and a computer. The ease of mixing has encouraged young people to become increasingly involved in rap culture. In addition to classical themes, songs to the beat have also become a means of conveying their political or social protest. Thus, the hardcore rap genre was formed. It is often used by performers with radical political views. Typically, concerts of such groups are not advertised, and only representatives of a specific subculture are allowed to attend.
Rap culture
Russian and foreign rap is also unique and usually differs in behavior, clothing style and social self-identification. The clothes used are spacious, bright clothes, most often semi-sportswear. A special feature in the rapper's wardrobe are sneakers and baseball caps. Also, the clothing style is characterized by an abundance of various attributes such as watches, bracelets, chains, bandanas and other things.
Although this mainly concerns young people in Western countries. The post-Soviet space was hardly affected by such trends.
Rap culture is also closely related to other elements of hip-hop. For example, a hobby for skateboarding or cycling. Events are often held in which young people compete in the skill of riding a bicycle or skateboard, and then in the ability to eliminate their opponents with rhymes. In Russia, the most famous show of this type is “Snickers Urbania”. So rap is not only music, but also a lifestyle.
