Underground vs. Mainstream

There are two separate and extremely important categories when it comes to the rap music industry: That is, Underground and Mainstream. These two categories contribute to the birth of rap music and its shape and form today. They coincide with one another even though they are in two different stages. One could not exist without the other.

Mainstream

Rap group YMCMB, who has been taking over the
Mainstream category

Mainstream music features the artists that the common person is familiar with. They are the ones mainly featured on the radio. Mainstream entertainers are masterminds when it comes to knowing what their audiences want to hear.  They hook up lyrics to a beat and wall-ah! A song that individuals find pleasing to the ear is produced. Mainstream artists have some obstacles however. Eventually the amazing song that was produced weeks to a few months earlier will get outdated and the listeners will demand the production of a new song. Some will be up to par with the craze of starving fans and some will struggle.

Underground

Dom Kennedy, a known "Underground" artist

Underground artists are the people that have not quite made it to the mainstream category but are closely approaching. Some underground artists have a slight dilemma while transitioning into mainstream. They are striving to be a part of the Mainstream industry but still want to retain the individuality that underground lets them possess. It was their own originality that brought them to be a part of the underground category, but once they hit mainstream, that originality will change. The mainstream industry knows what the majority of society wants to hear and in order to give them that, the underground artist will have to alter anything needed to please their new-found audiences.

Which is better?

               This is not something that can be assessed accurately because each has their own strengths that they present to the table. I feel that the underground category brings more originality while the mainstream category brings more creativity. Most people feel that people in the underground produce for the love of music; and mainstream produces for the love of money. Either way it goes each category gives the audiences what they want to hear and because of that, rap music is consistently evolving and I can finally say it is evolving in the right direction.

The Influence of Rap

Sugar Hill Gang. Grandmaster Flash. Furious Five. Run DMC. It has been a while since we have heard music from these artists, however, without them and other various artists the evolution of hip hop and rap music may not have taken off. Jay-Z. Kanye West. Lil Wayne. Drake. Soulja Boy. Nicki Minaj. These are a few of the artists that flood the music industry today. Their catchy beats and hooks keep listeners interested in what they have coming out next. Big Pun. Yelawolf. Ab Soul. Schoolboy Q. Bettie Grind. Kendrick Lamar. Some of you may not have heard of some of these artists but they have an important part in the music industry as well. These artists are part of the category that is considered“Underground”. They are upcoming artists with their own style. Some will strive on to be a part of the mainstream group and some will not.

Hip hop music is relatively new compared to other genres of music, and rap music is even fresher. Since rap music emerged, it has taken off tremendously. Individuals found it different and intriguing that instead of singing to the track, they were “talking”. The purpose of the birth of rap music was to send an informative message.

Rap and hip-hop music as we know it today actually began thousands of years ago in Africa with the “griots”, who were village story tellers who played a simple handmade instrument while they told stories of family and village events. The griot was, and still is, a major form of communication in parts of Africa. This “talking” while music is playing is rap music in its most rudimentary form.

In addition to the griot tradition, rap is rooted in the pain of Black-American experience which began with slavery. While slaves were working in the fields, they would often sing. Part of the songs they sang were "call and answer" selections. One leader would call out part of the song and the rest of the slaves would answer with the next line.

When the slaves would attend religious services, this call and response trend continued and prevailed in churches even after slavery ended. Often, the minister would make the "call" and the congregation was responsible for the "response." This call and answer trend can be found in early rap music all the way up to current rap music. The DJ would call out "Can I get a Woo Woo?" and the response would of course come back as "Woo Woo" from the people listening. Now if this is a subconscious coincidence or if it was done on purpose, the answer is unsure, but I feel everything has a specific purpose or meaning behind it.

In 1978, a year in which the American musical did not seem to be evolving in any direction, in New York City, two deejays, DJ Hollywood and DJ Kool Herc, had had enough with the aging disco scene. They began pulling records from their parent’s house and started spinning short sections of them on turntables at local parties. Soon, they began using two turntables at the same time. Historians have come to coin them as the “founding fathers of rap.” In the summer of 1979, rap broke out with “Rapper’s Delight” by the Sugar Hill Gang. This was a fourteen minute rapping frenzy with “Good Times” sampled in the background. It marked the beginning of the rap music trend.

Another huge force in the early rap movement was Afrika Bambaataa and his Zulu Nation. Afrika was a deejay who would spin records at parks and parties. He incorporated an element of cultural awareness in his spinning that was new to the scene. Afrika was a former gang member who saw music as a way to bring ghetto youth together.

In 1982, Grandmaster Flash recorded "The Message," which was the first rap song to paint a realistic, dismal and graphic picture of life in the slums of America. Up until now, most rap music contained upbeat, perky and fun messages. This was a landmark recording which paved the way for social and political commentary in rap music which still continues on today.

Rap music received another major boost in 1986 with the music video “Walk this Way” which brought Run DMC and the rock band Aerosmith together in a major musical crossover event. Rock music fans saw this video and started opening themselves up to rap music which tapped into a whole new market. MTV continued to help rap music’s recognition in 1988 with the new MTV show “Yo! MTV Raps!” This show received the highest ratings in the history of MTV and started its own spin off weekly show with Dr. Dre and Ed Lover. As rap music received more and more exposure through music videos, its popularity continued to skyrocket.

Through the years, the faces and messages of rap music continued to evolve. Gangsta rap was born out of the east coast, west coast rivalry, which also led to tragedy. Sampling was a trend used by many rappers in the nineties which also spurred some copyright controversy. Since its inception, rap music remains a highly influential, popular and sometimes controversial form of music entertainment.

References

Rap music. (2006). Retrieved November 1, 2012 from http://www.uic.edu/orgs/kbc/hiphop/rap.htm

Withers, J. (2004). Rap attack. Retrieved November 1, 2012 from               http://www.angelfire.com/journal2/brokensilence/rapattack.html

eHow Contributor. ehow. Retrieved November 1, 2012 from               http://www.ehow.com/facts_5623342_influence-rap-music-society.html

Negative and Positive

               With every positive entity, there is always negative backlash that comes along with it. Rap music was made to send inspirational messages through a catchy beat. During its early stages, rap music was conveying the right messages that it was originally meant to do, however, over time that changed. It became easier to produce any kind of music that one wanted to, so more individuals and groups made music. The great thing about rap music being expanded to anyone that felt they had a talent was that amazing artists were being discovered; but that was also the downfall. Since it was not hard to produce music, songs were made that were not up to par with the rest of the great music that was out.

Gangsta Rap

Rap group N.W.A.

               As rap music progressed, a new form of rap music was taking place. This music category held the name, gangsta rap.  The group that would truly revolutionize gangsta rap was N.W.A. (Niggaz With Attitude) whose debut album, Straight Outta Compton, was released in 1988. The release of Straight Outta Compton marks a critical turning point in the history of rap hip hop, which was a booming global phenomenon in 1988 but still hadn't strayed far from its roots as party music. Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five had established hip hop's potential for social commentary with their epic single "The Message" in 1983, but Straight Outta Compton offered something far less measured and polite than one usually associates with the word "commentary." The album's first three tracks alone— "Straight Outta Compton," "**** Tha Police" and "Gangsta Gangsta"—may have contained more explicit language and vulgar subject matter than every previous hip hop record combined, and it contained nothing like a moral "message." It may not have been the first recorded example of Gangsta rap—Schooly D and Ice-T mined similar territory somewhat earlier—but Straight Outta Compton is the album that introduced it to the mainstream.

Restoration

Rap music began to take a tumble in the wrong direction as far as good music was concerned. There were too many negative connotations to rap music that it was becoming toxic to the youth that listened. A lot of artists took notice of this and strived to change the bad reputation rap music possessed. This destructive status of rap music made it hard for great and affirmative artists to break through. Only recently has rap music begun to progress effectively. Some artists are taking their music extremely seriously and it is showing in the work they are producing. Their great work is influencing the underground and the mainstream categories. If this continues to happen then we will see a new evolution in rap music.