Hip Hop Music
Transcript: Criteria For Hip Hop Break - Dancing Acrobatic dance form Sharp and short dance moves Flowing and wave like motion Difficult balancing techniques Often done on street corners and subway stations Rapping / MC'ing Tells a story Can rhyme but doesn’t have to Fast spoken music Describes the criminal lifestyle The song Road To The Riches by Kool G Rap and DJ Polo connects to society because it talks about the rapper’s life and money. It connects to society because during that time, he grew up in a rural area so it was hard for him to gain money. He raps about how he didn’t give up on getting money to support his family, which led him to getting a lot of money. People back then in the 1980s struggled with gaining money, Kool G Rap was rapping about how when he never gave up his dream of becoming famous and performing in concerts and earning ,money from doing so. “ Now the tables turned, my lifestyle switches. My name is Kool G Rap and I’m on the road to the riches.” This line in the song is when he tells that his life has changed because of his hard work. Hip Hop is a popular style of music. It has 5 elements, Disc Jockeys, Rapping / Emceeing, Graffitti, Break - Dancing, and Beat - boxing. Song 2: Title: Road To The Riches Artist: Kool G Rap & DJ Polo Decade: 1980s I chose the song, Road To The Riches by Kool G Rap and DJ Polo because it meets most of the elements of hip hop. In this song, the rapper talks about how he worked hard and became rich. It tells about his story which is one of the elements in the hip hop criteria. Instead of using real instruments, they mostly used electronic beats. The only instrument that they used was the drums. In the music video for this song, some teenagers are seen breakdancing to the music. Also, the rapper was wearing gangster like clothing in the music video. Although there was no graffiti involved in the music video, this song still meets most of the criteria in hip hop. What is Hip Hop? Disc Jockeys Mixed Music Records, turntables, etc Electronic Music Song 1: Title: I Have A Dream Too Artist: Dead Prez Decade: 2000s I chose the song, I Have A Dream Too by Dead Prez as my first song because it meets the Hip Hop criteria. It connects to Hip Hop because there is a rapper who tells a story about discrimination. Also, the artist uses harsh words that emphasizes the message of the song. There are sound effects that were added which made the song sound more aggressive. In the song, the rapper sometimes beat boxes to give a gangster feel to the song. The clothes they were wearing in their song cover are very heavy like, which means that they wear chains, baggy pants and big jerseys. Although they did not have a music video produced for the song, when they sing live, there are breakdancers who dance to the song. One of the songs that meet the Hip Hop criteria is I Have A Dream Too by Dead Prez. Whenever I hear this song, it makes me feel unhappy because, I think about how innocent the boy and how he was shot when he didn’t even do anything wrong. It also makes me feel upset that people judge others by their skin colour, I think that the police should’ve made sure that the boy wasn’t a thief before killing him, it isn’t fair that he was killed with no reason. I also feel kind of happy at the same time when I listen to this song because the artist was standing up to the police. He told the world about his opinions by expressing them in a song. When I hear this song I also feel aggressive because of the heavy sound effects that they put into the song and the harsh language that they used. Graffiti Found in alleys, abandoned buildings, cement walls, train lines, on trains and under bridges Mostly visible in Hip Hop music videos This song is connected to society because it tells a story about discrimination. In 2004, A boy with dark skin was mistaken as a burglar and was shot to death. People thought he was a burglar because he had dark skin and was wearing a black hoodie that hid his face which made him look suspicious. Dark skinned people were thought to be dangerous because of the way they are portrayed as gangsters in movies during the decade of 2000s. “There was an incident where a police had shot a black man in the back and then went and plant a gun next to him and say that the guy draw a gun on him which they find out after the investigation that the guy didn't have no gun the police had shot him in cold blood” this verse in the song was talking about how the police thought that the boy was holding a gun even when he wasn’t. The police thought this because the boy was black. Beatboxing Technique of vocal percussion Creates beats and rhythms When I listen to the song Road To The Riches by Kool G Rap and DJ Polo I feel motivated and inspired. I feel motivated and inspired because this song tells a story about how the artist became rich and famous, he worked hard and his accomplishments led him to success. After listening to this song I feel really inspired to not give up on my