Hip-Hop

When someone hears "The Black Arts Movement" they initially think of african american litterature and poetry. However, they are overlooking the fact that The Black Arts Movement ultimatly created hip-hop. The reason why hip-hop became so beloved by african americans is because they could relate to the verses and rhymes that the rappers were rapping. Hip-hop wasn't focused on anything glamorous hip-hop of The Black Arts Movement was focused on everyday kinds of african americans and everyday problems that they faced. Whether the songs be about families, police, drugs, etc. there was always something for everyone. Hip-hop songs of the Black Arts Movement had been based off of anger felt, exclusively by African Americans. They used music as a way to let out their anger and to express themselves in a nonviolent way. However, what most people fail to realize is that hip-hop songs are in fact a form of poetry. Amiri Baraka was part of the begining of hip-hop, except he had no idea all he was doing was rhyming words and beating the African Drums. When he would perform the crowd felt as if he was speaking for them and that is the true meaning of hip-hop.

Amiri Baraka was a major influence in The Black Arts Movement, he was a political activist and an icon for aspiring poets during The Black Arts Movement. Amriri Baraka has published over 40 poems, dramas, and books throughout his lifetime, however the most were published during his years of contributing to the black arts movement. He was such an influential person during the black arts movement that multiple documentary's have been made about him. He also starred in numerous old films, the last film being M.K. Asante, Jr's award-winning documentary The Black Candle". . . . We want "poems that kill." Assassin poems, Poems that shoot guns. Poems that wrestle cops into alleys and take their weapons leaving them dead with tongues pulled out and sent to Ireland. . . . Let there be no love poems written until love can exist freely and cleanly."(213-14) This statement by Amiri Baraka is essentially the essence of hip-hop and the underlying anger that helped build it.

Hip-hops official birthday is November 12, 1974 although when I say hip-hop I also mean rap because both are used and created synonymously. "Rap" is derived from a 60's slang term meaning conversation. The definition of rap music is speaking up rhythmically in rhymes with style and is generally along with beats. A type of music making that goes hand in hand with rap and hi-hop is scratching. Scratching is used by pretty much all disc jockeys (DJ's) to create his music and to perform.Old School hip-hop which began in '74 and ended in '84 set the basis for all other forms of hip-hop to come. Old school hip-hop consisted of simple ryhythms, also during the era of old school rap battle rap and freestyle rap were born. Battle rapping is done between two or more rappers. The way it works is one rapper challenges another raper and whoever is better at spitting out their rhymes and beats wins. Freestyle was used during Battle rap Kool Moe Dee says "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." Old school hip-hop artists would sample disco and use the samples to freestyle rap with on a very regular basis.

By: Mia Medico