Sunday, March 7, 2010!
Grooved at; 2:41 PM
What's rapping?Rapping (also known as
emceeing,
MCing, spitting (bars), or just rhyming) refers to "spoken or chanted rhyming lyrics with a strong rhythmic accompaniment (beats as we know it). Rapping is a
primary ingredient in hip hop music.Flow and beats in rapping'Flow' in rapping is defined as "the rhythms and rhymes" of a hip hop song's lyrics and how they interact. Staying on the beat is central to rap's flow.
MCs stay on-beat by stressing syllables in time to the four beats of the musical backdrop.
(we dance in counts of 8 which is twice that of music but essentially the regular beats music and dance follow are the same)Rap lyrics are made up of, “lines with four stressed beats, separated by other syllables that may vary in number and may include other stressed syllables. The strong beat of the accompaniment coincides with the stressed beats of the verse, and the rapper organizes the rhythms of the intervening syllables to provide variety and surprise.
HistoryThe old use of the word 'rap' was to describe quick speech or repartee
(conversation involving prompt and witty replies) long predates hiphop music.
The word had been used in British English since the 16th century, and specifically meaning "to say" since the 18th. It was part of the
African American dialect of English in the 1960s meaning "to converse", and very soon after that in its present usage as a term denoting the style of hip hop music. Today, the terms
"rap" and "rapping" are so closely associated with hip hop music that many use the terms interchangeably.
Rapping can be traced back to its
African roots. Centuries before hip hop music existed, the griots
(A storyteller in western Africa who perpetuates the oral tradition and history of a village or family) of West Africa were delivering stories rhythmically, over drums and sparse instrumentation.
During the mid-20th century, the musical culture of the Caribbean was constantly influenced by the concurrent changes in American music. As early as 1956,
deejays were toasting (an African tradition of "rapped out" tales of heroism) over dubbed Jamaican beats.
One of the first rappers in the beginning of the hip hop period, in the end of '70s, was also hip hop's first
DJ, Kool Herc. Herc, a Jamaican immigrant, started delivering simple raps at his
parties, inspired by the Jamaican tradition of toasting.
If you've been reading consciously, you'll realise that there's supposed to be a distinction b/w the deejay and DJ mentioned above. so read below:Deejays and disc jockeysA deejay (alternatively spelled DJ -
which makes it difficult to distinguish between the 2) is a reggae or dancehall musician who sings and toasts to an instrumental riddim (rhythm).
Deejays are not to be confused with disc jockeys from other music genres like hip-hop, where they select and play music.
In other words, DJs in hip hop culture refer to disc jockeys, the masters of the turntables with the big discs often associated with parties and dance battles.
Subject matterRappers often make reference to a certain subject matter in their raps as well. Types of raps include party raps (the standard raps often associated with hip-hop), raps centred around themes such as love, crime, sociopolitical issues, street or gangster lifestyles and religion.
rapping. 1/4 of the elements of hiphop (:
