a lot of people are still confused about the difference between hip hop and rap. even me and J1's videos did not put a finger directly on the issue. here's a more objective view on the differences between the two: -hip hop is the name of the original culture and musical genre
-hip hop birthed and/or adapted 5 "elements": (in chronological order) writing (known to the mainstream world as graffiti), DJing, BBoying/girling, MCing, beatboxing...
-"hip hop" as a term was coined around 1976 by Cowboy from the then Furious Four
-the musical aspect of hip hop began to gain momentum in the late 70's when acts like Afrika Bambaataa, Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, The Cold Crush Brothers, The Funky Four Plus One, etc., began to gain popularity locally.
-the MCs in hip hop, who started, literally, as Masters of Ceremony, developed a technique they called "rapping" which was slang at the time for talking...
-though the term they used for their technique was "rapping," they still were considered MCs because rapping was only a part of their repertoire.
-in 1978 or 1979, Grandmaster Caz of the Cold Crush Brothers was talking to a young, aspiring MC. the kid wanted to check Caz's rhyme book and Caz decided just to give it to him.
-by mid to late 79, this kid took up the emcee name of Big Bank Hank and Sugarhill Records heard and signed him and 2 others...
-Hank and his friends became the second act to rap on record, however, just as King Tim III before them, they did it without a DJ. this was the beginning of commercial rap and the separation of hip hop and rap.
-the differences that separate the two are as follows:
- commercial rap neglects and/or ignores the other aspects of hip hop both as a music and a culture
- commercial rap is done for money. hip hop is done for the love of the culture and art...
- corporate trend setters dictate what commercial rap sounds like and the culture around it looks like. hip hop is dictated by the people who are involved in it.
this all does not go to say hip hop cannot be on the radio and artists can't make money. i am not the typical "underground or nothing" type of cat but i can weed out a fraud pretty well. there are plenty of mainstream artists that i like a lot. it is the corporate/commercial rap that i am against, not mainstream.
