HIP-HOP THE EVOLUTION

 My experience with hip-hop started back in middle school in the early 80's,I use to stay up and watch this late night show that came on cable at about 2 in the morning.I think it was called wild side? I can't remember the name, all I remember is a train with graffiti on it and the theme song was planet rock.This show would feature graffiti artist,break dancers,and d.js they was called b-boys.I immediately fell in love I changed my style of dress from members only,penny loafers ,Izod sweaters and Levi jeans to a kango,bummer,three stripe adidas suit and tennis shoes.I used to walk around the neighborhood with a gigantic boom-box,a folded card board box under one arm and the boom-box on my shoulder looking for some one to destroy.Pretty soon I was in a B-boy crew and we would hit the skating rink every Saturday to battle other B-boys.That was my introduction to hip-hop,break dancing.From there I started djing with the two turntables minus the cross Vader,I was in my Jam master J phase.After a couple of years of djing,I started rapping,when I first started dropping lyrics my style was a lot like rakim(my favorite emcee at the time.)A few years later and a lot of emcee names(such as Big red,40oz,and Eskimo)I became a producer,I used to make the tracks,press the Cd's manage my artist and all that stuff,I even produced half of a gangsta movie along the way.At the age of thirty two I took a real hard look at  my entertainment enterprise and decided that since I had not made any serious progress (in other words I was spending more than I was profiting to keep it going)that it was time to let the dream go and find another path.

Hip-Hop was officially started in 1970 by a D.J.named Cool Herc,He used to throw block parties and house parties through out new york.The b-boys would come and Break dance at the parties,and the original emcees (now a days known as rappers) was the hype-man.The Hype-man would come on stage first to introduce the d.j or the dancers,it was the hype-mans job to get the party started get the crowd "hyped up".The emcee would say simple things like "the roof,the roof,the roof is on fire,we don't need no water let the motherfucker burn,burn motherfucker,burn!"or"throw your hands in the air,and wave them like you don't care,and if you got on clean underwear everybody say oh yeahhh!"and so on.The emcee's job was to control the crowd,introduce the d.j.or the break dancers.Breaking was the first out of hip-hop to cross over,from the late 70's through out the 80's breaking spread like wildfire.Several movies was made about break dancing from beat street to breaking 1 & 2 to a few others,everybody was break dancing.By this time the emcee, or "hype-man" had started to become more important,and instead of just hyping the party up,they started writing actual songs causing the d.j to fade into the back ground.Artist like Sugar hill gang,Kurtis Blow,Grandmaster Flash,Africa Bambatta,and others started crossing over from underground mixtapes to radio and television.Hip-Hop was rising fast.While hip-hop was rising and sales was good for hip-hop artist,hip-hop couldn't escape the gold standard and truly cross over into the mainstream until Run-DMC came on the scene.Run-DMC shattered the glass ceiling that was over Hip-Hops head,and in effect brought the money to the table.RUN-DMC was the first in hip-hop to go platinum,double platinum,and triple platinum.Run-Dmc legitimized Hip-hop as a real artform,like R&B,Blues,Jazz,Country,and Rock roll,hip-hop had arrived,and now it was here to stay.The flood gates was opened hip-hop became a chameleon,from RUN-DMC,to Big Daddy Kane,Eric-B & Rakim,Dougie-fresh & Slick Rick the ruler,LL.cool.J,De-la-soul,Tribe called quest,The Beastie boys,Third Base,and Too-short hip-hop was exploding.Boogie Down Productions,Public Enemy,Queen Latifah,Salt&Pepa,so many that I can't name them all,Hip-Hop was/is dance,philosophy,knowledge,political,partying,and whatever the artist could come with.Enter GANGSTER RAP:even through schooly D was actually the first Gangster Rapper,ICE-T was the one that crossed gangster rap over to the mainstream with "COLORS".And it was big,making the way for the super group NWA when NWA came out with straight out of Compton,gangsta rap assumed its domination over hip-hop,gangsta rap sold faster than anything on the charts and became a juggernaut,unstoppable,from schooly D to Ice-t to NWA came TUPAC, Biggie,Snoop Dogg,Jay-Z,Master-P,T.I,Young jeezy,and the list goes on and on.Gangsta rap became front and center and what the customer wanted.Rap with a hardcore edge.Hip-Hop music has faded all the way to the background simply because the Demand is not there for right now.Gangsta rap has ruled for almost 18 years.With signs of another change in hip-hop,on the horizon,what that change is I don't know but hip-hop has once again begin to change.I hope for the better,I mean I love gangsta rap but every rapper doesn't have to be gangsta,mix it up a little bit,try something new and fresh.What I'm really trying to say is that HIP-HOP is more than rap,its a lifestyle,a mindset,there are so many aspects to Hip-Hop that I just can't explain it to you,Hip-Hop is a journey,a opportunity,a passion,Its core elements are grafitti,breaking,d.jing,emceeing,but its so much more to it than that,its entrepeunurial,its creative,I could go own trying to explain but I'll just say that Hip-Hop is Deeper than rap,it's not just about hardcore rap,and dance music,its way more complex than that.