MUSC 2019 Lecture Notes - Lecture 21: The Sugarhill Gang, Hip Hop, Rick Rubin
Lecture 21 - Hip Hop
April 18, 2018
1:40 PM
Hip hop was a way for people in communities to claim a part of the community
• People in impoverished areas such as the intercity claimed space by playing loud music,
performing graffiti, etc.
• People without power could feel powerful from hip hop
• Hip hop was still very underground - not played on MTV, not on radio
Run DMC
• First hip hop group to get regular plays on MTV
• RAP = vocal style
• Hip Hop = incorporates the culture, dress, vocal style
• First rap/hip hop artist
o Moved hip hop from underground to TV outlets
o Rap and hip hop was used interchangeably
• By doing what Motown did (appealed to both black and white audiences), they incorporated
elements from hard rock and heavy metal and successfully crossed over
• Song: "King of rock"
o Drumbeat that sounds like a real drum
o Elements of hard rock and heavy metal
o Guitar
o Drum beat
• Riff is a program that was made to sound like a real drum
o Same lyrical content like Sugar Hill Gang
• Pumping one up but over and over again on a riff (boasting)
• Collaboration with Aerosmith solidified the cross over (in the music video of King of Rock)
o The music video depicted of the two groups being suspicious of each other - the rock vs. hip
hop culture, before a literal wall was broken down and the two groups became friends
o Allowed hip hop to get its foot into the door of big venues
PMRC
• Parents music resource committee
• Had political movements trying to get rid of rock and hip hop
o They claimed that hip hop made people want to shoot each other
• Most hip hop at the time was celebratory music, party music, in spite of their living
conditions at the time
After the rise of Run DMC, success of The Beastie Boys increases. Rick Rubin helped popularize hip hop.
The Beastie Boys
• A band of white artists
• Their album, License to Kill - #1 on charts
• Like in rock 'n roll, in the 50s, white artists who did the same as black artists were the first to get
to the top of the charts
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
