Old-school hip-hop is noted for its relatively simple
rapping techniques, compared to later
hip-hop. with simple
rhythms Much of the subject matter of old-school hip-hop centers around partying and having a good time. Busy Bee Starski's defeat by the more complex raps of Kool Moe Dee meant that "no longer was an MC just a crowd-pleasing comedian with a slick tongue; he was a commentator and a storyteller".
Sci-fi/
Afrofuturism was another theme introduced into hip-hop. The release of
Planet Rock in 1982 was a game-changer, like "a light being switched on." The combination of electronic percussive propulsion and
Afrika Bambaataa's rap sounded like "an orchestra being rocketed into outer space." "
Light Years Away", by
Warp 9 (1983), produced and written by
Lotti Golden and Richard Scher, explored social commentary from a sci-fi perspective. A "cornerstone of early 80's beatbox afrofuturism", "Light Years Away" is characterized as "a brilliantly spare and sparse piece of
electro hip-hop traversing inner and outer space."
Freestyle rap during hip-hop's old-school era was defined differently than today. Kool Moe Dee refers to this earlier definition in his book ''
There's a God on the Mic'': "There are two types of freestyle. There's an old-school freestyle that's basically rhymes that you've written that may not have anything to do with any subject or that goes all over the place. Then there's freestyle where you come off the top of the head". This is in contrast to the more
recent definition which usually defines freestyle rap as "improvisational rap like a
jazz solo". In old-school hip-hop, Kool Moe Dee says that improvisational rapping was instead called "coming off the top of the head". Old-school hip-hop often sampled
disco and
funk tracks, such as "
Good Times" by
Chic, when performed live in the 1970s. Recorded hip-hop (such as Sugarhill Gang's "
Rapper's Delight") would use a live band to do covers of the famous breaks from the 1970s
block parties. However, after "
Planet Rock",
electro-funk (the electronic
Roland TR-808 drum machine recreation of the original 1970s
breakbeat sound from the now infamous block parties) became the staple production technique between 1982 and 1986 (the invention of the sampler later in the 80s and
Eric B. & Rakim's "
Eric B. Is President" brought the original 1970s breakbeat sound back to hip-hop, referred to today as the "
boom bap" sound). The use of extended percussion breaks led to the development of mixing and scratching techniques. Scratching pioneered by
Grand Wizard Theodore in 1975, and the technique was further developed by other prominent DJs, such as Grandmaster Flash. One example is "
Adventures on the Wheels of Steel", which was composed entirely by Flash on the
turntables. During the period years of 1984–1987, beatbox was a common thing to rap with someone making a beat with their mouth. Doug E. Fresh and The Human Beat Box made this popular. Doug E. Fresh was with "The Get Fresh Crew", and The Human Beatbox was with "The Fat Boys".
Quincy Jones was an influential figure in hip-hop as a record producer for
Mercury Records, and eventually became its vice president, which made him popular in hip-hop culture. He went on to publish
Vibe magazine, which became a cornerstone in hip-hop history.
Five Elements of Hip Hop Hip Hop is a culture that is made up of five elements. One is MCing, this is when you can talk or rap on the microphone and make an impact on the audience. The second element is DJing. This is one of the ways that hip hop started out by a Disc Jockey playing beats from earlier artist. The DJ would stop in the song where the beat was broken down, which was called breakbeats. The third element is Break dancing and this is where the person gets to express their dancing through songs. This is made popular by The Bronx group "The Rock Steady Crew." Some consider break dancing a part of b-boying and b-girling. Next we have graffiti, which is expressed through a form of writing, and it is a way that the letters come together with style. The last one is knowledge, and it goes with the mental side of Hip Hop. This includes the knowledge of self, culture, and style. ==History==