Hip-hop has borrowed from many earlier art forms, whether they be rock and roll, r&b, beat poetry, or even disco. However, what many people don't realize is that it has strong roots derived from past traditions such as slave music or even from the church. Slaves were for the most part unable to get ahold of instruments, thus using whatever they had in their hands to create a beat. Hip-hop is just the same, in that it is merely someone rhyming over a beat. In fact, during hip-hop's earlier years, many people used their mouths to create a beat for someone else to rap over. This was dubbed the "beatbox." Slave music is also reflected in rap's subject matter. Many people who rhyme with their friends on streetcorners simply talk about whatever is on their mind through their music, whether it be a girl, their j

You try to reach and grab and get elbowed

Before I let it go, don't rush my show

Afrika Bambaataa, many of whom consider the "godfather" of hip-hop, played a major role in the formentioned escape of youths from violence to hip-hop. He used to be the leader of one of New York's largest gangs "The Black Spades." He grew tired of the constant violence and found an outlet through music. He feels that hip-hop is a tremendous thing as when you have aspirations of making it in music, you have absolutely no time for gangs. His personal motto was to have a war with creativity, not weapons; to have a battle of different styles in order to turn sensless violence into productive energy. He was also on one of the first international hip-hop tours, helping to bring this new musical form to the global level.

In the daytime the radio's scared of me

In around 1986, a group called Public Enemy formed. Their lyrics were extremely political. These hard and harsh verses explained to their audience the corruptness and faults of America and its society at the time. For example:

The first superstar rap group came with three men (two MCs and and one DJ) calling themselves Run D-M-C. They brought the name of hip-hop to a new level. In 1983, MTV played a video of theirs. It seems like a small honor, but at that time MTV played only rock and roll videos. Thus, a rap video on this mainstream station was a major victory for hip-hop. A few years later they remixed a song called "Walk This Way" by the rock group Aerosmith. This single was huge, popular among rap and rock fans, thus bringing the two genres together, strengthening hip-hop's following and forcing MTV to create an all rap music show due to extreme demand.

Some common words found in the essay are:
Kool Herc, South Bronx, Niggas Attitude, Run D-M-C, I'm We're, Attack Black, Black Spades, Message It's, Public Enemy, Fu$% Police, don't believe, kool herc, don't believe hype, believe hype, south bronx, musical style, art forms, american culture, musical form, art form, mtv played,
Approximate Word count = 2324
Approximate Pages = 9 (250 words per page double spaced)