Songs Of The Year

Hip hop is a relatively new music genre compared to rock, pop, country, and disco. Let’s learn more about the history and origins of hip hop music. The lack of instruments didn’t stop hip hop’s earliest musicians. All you needed to make a hip hop track was a turntable, a classic record, and a sampler.
Checkers aren’t always an easy pattern to wear outside of prep school and 221b Baker Street, but this year’s hip-hop artists are breathing life into the preppy print. The pattern appeared in 11% of the music videos analyzed, often on flannel overshirts and jackets. Kpoint’s “Ma 6t a craqué” featuring Ninho, and DaBaby’s “Find My Way” are two videos in which both rappers appear in red and black checkered overshirts, à la Kurt Cobain. In Kodak Black’s “Calling My Spirit,” the women featured in the video sport black-and-white checkered jumpsuits. Scram Jones is not only a world-renown club DJ/turntablist but a platinum producer who is famous for his creative mixes every Saturday 6-8pm EST. First hour of the show he is playing nothing but the newest hip hop music from all over the country with special guests/co-hosts.

It featured articles on what is like to be a part of the hip hop community, promoted up-coming albums, bringing awareness to the projects that the artist was involved in, and also included posters of trending celebrities within the world of Hip Hop. The magazine was published monthly and mainly concerning rap, Hip Hop and R&B music. Word Up magazine was highly popular, it was even mentioned in the popular song by The Notorious B.I.G – Juicy "it was all a dream, use to read WordUp magazine". However, in his book In Search Of Africa, Manthia Diawara states that hip hop is really a voice of people who are marginalized in modern society. Industry executives seem to bet on the idea that men won't want to listen to female rappers, so they are given fewer opportunities. It’s not just funk and soul – I tend to listen to a lot of Brazilian .
Backing samples — provided by Spoonie Gee and The Rubber Band — add to the seductive sound of this track. In the late 90s, Dr. Dre and west coast rap dominated the hip hop industry. “The Next Episode” was one of Dr. Dre’s biggest hits and solidified Snoop Dogg as a major player in the hip hop industry. Arguably the first  hip hop track to reach pop audiences, “Rapper’s Delight” was released in 1979 by The Sugar Hill Gang. The song uses Chic’s addictive hook from “Good Times” to keep the listener dancing and mesmerized throughout the song.

This hip hop song won Best Rap Performance in the 47th Grammy Awards. Like most artists, Jay-Z’s album is about his personal life and experiences. In addition, the song pertains to a message about drugs and racist police officers. The video shows the artist being pulled over for simply being African American. Although not the first hip-hop song, the Sugarhill Gang’s “Rapper’s Delight” was considered the first significant single of the genre. Within weeks of its release, it became a chart-topping phenomenon and gave its name to a new genre of pop music.
But the classic hip-hop look one recognizes today was catapulted by Run-DMC when they traded in their plaid sports jackets for everyday streetwear. Since the group is referred to as The Beatles of hip-hop, it only makes sense that the signature hip-hop look points back to them. Early hip-hop groups like Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five, and the Cold Crush Brothers, embraced the theatrical side of disco with their fashion, donning over-the-top costumes with knee-high boots for performances.

During the early 1980s as newly formed WRKS-FM (98.7 Kiss FM) became the first rap station in the United States, WBLS quickly began adding more rap songs to its playlists. The urban format by this time was redefined by an eclectic mix of R&B, rap, reggae, dance, house, and freestyle. WBLS continued as the flagship station of the urban format; however, Kiss FM surpassed them in the ratings. Urban contemporary playlists are dominated by singles by top-selling hip hop and R&B performers.
Hip hop is prevalent today all over the map, and each country seems to add its special flavor to it. Hip hop is also successfully fused with almost every conceivable music genre. The results may not always be stunning, but the experimentation and versatility of rap are still alive and well. The late 1990s and early 2000s were by far the best years of hip hop.

While it is a younger musical style, it quickly grew into a worldwide powerhouse. Below we’ve highlighted nine examples of hip hop music — you will find music from the last 40 years of hip hop evolution here. DJs originally used two vinyl turntables and a mixer to loop records and extend the length of the break inside a track. Hip hop is a musical genre from the inner cities of the United States. In the 1970s in New York City, African-Americans, Jamaicans, and Latinos combined rhythmic drum beats, DJing, and rapping to create a new and unique musical genre. In this guide, we’ll cover everything you ever wanted to know about the history, genre, and culture of hip hop music.
At a Bronx party on August 11, 1973, he introduced the technique of playing the same album on two turntables and extending the drum section . Other pioneering hip-hop deejays include Afrika Bambaataa and Grandmaster Flash. The three men are often called the “holy trinity” of early hip-hop. Drake's knack for smooth pop hooks made him a superstar, but his gift for autobiographical raps has won him approval in more traditional hip-hop circles. "Worst Behavior," from 2013's critically acclaimed Nothing Was the Same, is one of his hardest-hitting cuts, filled with frank reflections on the past and absurdist flexes in equal measure. "I'm with my whole set, tennis matches at the crib / I swear I could beat Serena when she playin' with her left," Drake says.

Shinier and groovier than many of his contemporaries, Kaytra’s production soundtracked many a Canadian summer thanks to 99.9% and Bubba. And if anyone questioned his hip-hop production chops, then they should look no further than what Kaytra did behind the boards on Kaytraminé. Nav’s first major placement came not as a rapper but as a producer on Drake’s “Back to Back.” Following that up with a slew of popular singles in 2016 earned him a roster spot on The Weeknd’s XO label along with a few features.
Gunn served as executive producer on Newark, New Jersey-based Mach-Hommy’s complete masterwork Pray for Haiti. With production from Griselda staples like Cee Gee and Denny Laflare, Mach-Hommy takes his distinct vocal precision to new realms. He’s a master of the kind of East Coast rap tropes that still lay as the bedrock of the genre writ LoxxBaby large, but with an almost algorithmic level of computational agility, grafting tendrils of references together to cut through to something spiritual. The album’s interlude “Kreyol ” is a recording of academic research on Haitian Creole. It serves as the LP’s guiding thesis, and the reason it will instantly be remembered as a classic.

I'm not a fan of all  music, and there are genres I don't like or listen to at all such as country and jazz. However, when I listen to country or jazz, I can at least understand why people like it and respect that they do. It doesn't seem to be as enjoyable of a musical experience as other genres. Oftentimes the lyrics are just downright inappropriate and unpleasant to listen to.