At first Jamaican toasting began when DJs would toast over the music they played with simple slogans to encourage the dancers. Some of these simple slogans were Work it, Work it and Move it up . As toasting became more popular so did the lengths of the toasts. One of the first big toasting stars was a Jamaican named U Roy (his real name was Ewart Beckford). Another technique which developed along side toasting was called dubs . Dubbing was when the record engineers would cut back and forth between the vocal and instrumental tracks while adjusting the bass and the treble. This technique highlighted the Jamaican toasting even more.
There are four areas which Jamaican toasting and American rap music have in common. First, both types of music relied on pre-recorded sounds. Second, both types of music relied on a strong beat by which they either rapped or toasted. American rap music relied on the strong beat of hard funk and Jamaican toasting relied on the beat from the Jamaican rhythms. Third, in both styles the rapper or toaster spoke their lines in time with the rhythm taken from the records. Fourth, the content of the raps and toasts were similar in nature. For example, as there were boast raps, insult raps, news raps, message raps, nonsense raps, and party raps there also existed toasts that were similar in nature. At this point in my unit I will introduce my students to some music of some notable Jamaican toasters such as U Roy, Duke Reid, Sir Coxsone, and Prince Buster. In addition, I will ask my students to bring in some rap records which illustrate the different types of raps mentioned above.
Steven Hager in his book states that in 1967 a young Jamaican would immigrate to the Bronx bringing with him his knowledge of the Jamaican sound system scene and Jamaican toasting style. His name was Clive Campbell. He was known as Kool Herc in the Bronx. Campbell received the nickname Hercules while he was attending Alfred E. Smith High School in 1970 by a friend. His friend called him Hercules because of his physique. Clive was into weight lifting. Clive did not like the name Hercules so he shortened it to Herc. When Herc became a graffiti writer he took the tag name Kool Herc. Kool Herc began to DJ in 1973 once he had amassed a great sound system. The Jamaican influence of having a large sound system was not lost on Herc. Herc realized that in order for large crowds to dance to his music they needed to hear the beat. Kool Herc seldom played an entire song. He knew which part of the record sent his audience into a frenzy. It was usually a 30 second break section in which the drums, bass, and rhythm guitar stripped the beat to its barest essence. Herc would buy two copies of the same record and play it over and over emphasizing the break section. Herc used two turntables to accomplish this feat. This technique became known as beats or break-beats . As in graffiti, style was important and to be imitated if it was good. What was odd about Herc s style was that he did not use headphones to locate the breaks on the other turntable as other DJs would do who would later use his style. As with the onset of Jamaican toasting , Kool Herc also used simple phrases to encourage his dancers. But as the mixing in the breaks between the two turntables required more concentration, Herc became the first DJ to create MC-Dance team. (While Kool Herc performed at a club named the Hevalo, dancers to his music became known as break dancers )
There are several other DJs that made contributions to American rap music that need to be noted of whom my students may not be aware. Most students if you ask them are aware of a technique called scratching , but are unaware of who started it. The technique called scratching was invented by a DJ called Theodor. Scratching involves the DJ spinning a record backwards and forward very fast while the needle is in the groove. A record when it is handled in this way can become a percussive instrument. With the advent of the CD, this technique may become obsolete. Another important Bronx DJ was George Saddler who was known as Grandmaster Flash. Grandmaster Flash was an expert at punch phasing . Punch phasing is when a DJ hits a particular break on one turntable while the record on the other turntable is still playing (and it does not necessarily have to be the same record as in the case of Herc s break-beat style). Punch phasing is used to accentuate the beat and rhythm for the dancing crowd. Flash also used a beat box. This was a machine that produced an electronic beat. As time went on some rap groups had members who were known as human beat boxes who produced sounds using their mouth, lips, and throats. This technique has faded in use. One group that was famous for the human beat box sound was known as the Fat Boys.
There is one other early American DJ that deserves mentioning and that is Afrika Bambaataa. Bam ran a sound system at the Bronx River Community Center. As Bob Marley was a spokesperson for reggae, Bam was an ambassador and spokesperson for the Hip Hop culture. Afrika Bambaataa was the name of a famous 19th century Zulu chief, the name means Affectionate Leader. Bam took his role as a leader in the Hip Hop culture seriously. In 1975 Bam founded an organization known as the Zulu Nation. The major function of this organization was to replace gang rumbles and drugs with rap, dance, and the Hip Hop style. There is a chapter of the Zulu Nation in New Haven. At this point in my unit I will see if it is possible to get a representative from this chapter to visit my classroom.
At this point in my unit I would like to break away from talking about rap music and talk about break dancing which evolved around rap. Break dancing was a style of dancing that grew up around rap music during rap s early stages of development in the United States. Break dancing stretched the human body to its limit. It was a very dangerous form of dancing which I am glad to say has faded in its popularity due to the number of injuries incurred. Very few, if any students break dance today. Once I describe some of the common break dance moves it will be quite evident why this type of dancing declined.
One popular move in break dancing was known as the Floor Lock . In this move dancers would support themselves on one hand while spinning their bodies around while kicking out their legs. Another popular move was the Handglide or Flow . In this particular move the dancers would spin their bodies while balancing them on one elbow. The Backspin and the Windmill moves were beak moves that used the shoulder as a pivot. The Headspin move as its name indicates, required the dancer to spin using his head as the pivot point. Then there was the lofting move in which the dancers would dive in the air and land on their hands. Probably one of the most dangerous break moves was the Suicide move. In this move the dancer falls forward with their hands to the side doing a complete flip landing flat on their back. If the dancer survived this move they would freeze into a posture indicating the completion of their routine. As with other aspects of the Hip Hop subculture, originality and style were of the upmost importance in break dancing . It seemed that the more original the moves were in break dancing the more hazardous they were to the dancer s health.
According to Dick Hebdige in his book, Cut N Mix, break dancing would be replaced in the Hip Hop culture by dance moves known as the electric boogie moves. Most of these moves would call for dancers to snap and twitch muscles in time to the music. Some of the most popular moves of this style of dance were the Tick, the Mannequin or Robot, the King Tut, the Wave, the Pop, the Float, and the Moonwalk which was made famous by the great Michael Jackson. In fact, many of Michael s dance moves were this style of dancing. Our students may still be familiar with some of these electric boogie moves and with a little encouragement they might be willing to demonstrate some of them. Michael in his recent famous interview with Oprah Winfrey gave credit to the Moonwalk and several of his moves to dancers he observed in clubs and on the streets. These moves had originated from dancers into the Hip Hop culture.
The electric boogie moves according to Hebdige were replaced in 1982 by a type of dancing known as free style in which dancers would improvise their own moves. As I was researching my unit I asked several middle and high school students what new dance was popular now and their response was free style . They said, Mr. Rhodes, we just do whatever we feel like doing. This may be the case, but if one observes a middle school or high school dance one can not but help to notice that some of the dance moves seem very similar in nature. I believe that this can be explained by the fact that even though style and originality have always been important factors in the Hip Hop culture so has imitation.
When one examines the dress of the Hip Hop culture it is quite evident that one major factor affecting the dress of this subculture has been their dances. Whether the dancer was doing break moves, electric boogie moves, or free style moves loose fitting clothing was a prerequisite in order to do these moves. Also, comfortable shoes would be needed, and sneakers seem to have filled this need. One only needs to look at what are students love to wear to see the validity in the statements concerning dress made above. A question may arise about why young male students wear their pants hanging down by their hips. This style did not result from the dance styles of the Hip Hop culture but from a more dubious source, one that many of these young male students are completely unaware of. This style originated in the prisons. Unfortunately, there is a high percentage of young minorities that are incarcerated at some point in their life. Once behind these locked doors prison officials usually remove inmates belts for obvious reasons. As a consequence, inmates would walk around with their pants around their hips. Once these young inmates were released and returned to their old neighborhoods, they brought with them this style of wearing their pants around their hips. This style became popular with young males without their realizing they were emulating a style that had originated in prison. I by no means am implying that if these young males had known the origin of this style that this style would not have become so popular. If one talks to any one who has been incarcerated they will substantiate the fact that this style has been in prisons for many years.
At this point in my unit I would like to examine the rap music industry today. Even though rap is proportionally more popular among blacks, its primary audience is white and lives in the suburbs according to David Samuels in his article in the November 11, 1991 issue of The New Republic. The article was titled The Rap on Rap: the Black Music that Isn t Either . Samuels attempts to substantiate this fact by revealing that the number one selling record in 1991 according to Billboard Magazine was Niggaz4life, a celebration of gang rape and other violence by the group N.W.A. (Niggers With Attitude). Billboard Magazine in the summer of 1991 started to use Soundscam , a much more accurate method of counting record sells by scanning the bar codes of records sold at the cash register instead of relying on big-city record stores to determine the most popular record. Samuels went on to state that the more rappers were packaged as violent black criminals the bigger the white audience became. I do not think any one can account for the popularity of rap to a white audience no more than one could account for the popularity of the black entertainment in the speakeasies to the white audiences of the late 1920s and 1930s. Other than the attraction which exists for something that is taboo or forbidden by one s social group.
The first rap record to make it big was Rapper s Delight released by the Sugar Hill Gang on Syliva and Joey Robinson s Sugar Hill label. Mr. David in his article said that Rapper s Delight (a nonsense rap), White Lines (a rap with an anti-drug theme), and The Message (about ghetto life in the black neighborhood) were designed to sell records to whites and had a less favorable reaction in the streets where rap was created according to Russell Simmons, president of Def Jam Records. Simmons recalls an incident when Junebug, a famous DJ of the time, was playing The Message and Ronnie DJ put a pistol to his head and said, Take that record off and break it or I ll blow your f -g head off. The whole club stopped until he broke the record and put it in the garbage. This attitude may have been true for certain rappers but I have my doubts if this attitude was a true reflection of how a majority of African-Americans felt who liked rap music. I base my assumption on the fact that when I used to frequent clubs, two of the most requested records were Rapper s Delight and The Message . (These clubs were predominately attended by blacks.)
Run-D.M.C. was the first black rap group to break through to a mass white audience with their albums, Run-D.M.C and King of Rock. These albums led the way that rap would travel into the musical mainstream. Even though Run-D.M.C. dressed as if they came right off the street corner, this was not the case. Run and D.M.C came from middle class families, they were never deprived of anything and they never ran with a gang. One could never tell this by their dress or from the raps they made. Run-D.M.C. records were produced under the Def Jam label which had as one of its founders a Jewish punk rocker named Rick Rubin. Russell Simmons, Run s brother, was to later take control of the Def Jam label in 1989, however this can not take away from the fact that this so-called militant rap group was at one time being produced by a white person. What is even more startling is that one of the most militant rap groups, Public Enemy, was also produced by Rick Rubin. Just as Run-D.M.C. came from middle-class families so did Public Enemy. Members of Public Enemy grew up in suburban Long Island towns with successful middle-class professional parents.
One can not deny that whites were starting to have an effect on the rap music that had originally begun in the black neighborhood. But this is to be expected any time an art form starts to gain popularity with mainstream white America. The same thing can happen with an art form that is popular with mainstream white America that all of a sudden becomes popular in a minority community. Students need to be aware of this fact and come to grips with this. Samuel David seems to be implying that with the influence of whites on the rap music scene that it is only a matter of time before rap starts to lose its popularity in the black community and that rap is on its way out. I strongly disagree with Mr. David on this point. I believe that rap music can withstand the influence of other (ethnic/social) groups and still remain popular and flourish. My following discussion of the role women are playing in the rap industry seems to substantiate my point of view.
Before concluding my unit, the role women are playing in the rap industry must be discussed. As rap music evolved and became popular, women tended to be the targets of male rap lyrics and generally were not portrayed in a favorable light. Rap music producers also seemed to be hesitant to produce female rap artists. David Thigpin in his article, Not for Men Only; Women Rappers are Breaking the Mold with a Message of their Own , offers two reasons for this reluctance. One being, rap producers were apprehensive about signing female rappers because they feared tampering with their proven formula of success of producing macho male rappers. The other being, rap producers did not feel that female voices could supply the requisite loudness and abrasiveness that they felt was a major feature of rap music.
Nothing can bring about change quicker than a financial success, especially in the music industry whose main motivating factor seems to be profit. A New York City female rap trio by the name of Salt N Pepa would provide the rap music industry with the incentive to produce more female rappers with the success of its debut album, Hot, Cool, & Vicious, which sold over a million copies. Besides the fact that people like what they heard, Russell Simmons who was quoted in Thigpen s article offers another explanation. Simmons stated, There are more women buying rap records who would like to relate to women artists and there are more guys who want to hear a women s point of view.
With advent of female rappers also came new rap messages which transcended the boasting that was so common with male rappers. For example, Salt N Pepper rapped over soul-tinged R&B melodies with teasing, street-savvy raps about maturity, independence from men, and sexual responsibility. Another female rapper, Monie Love, tried not to be too serious with her rap messages. While Queen Latifah raps were about women being optimistic and having pride in themselves and tended to counter male rappers lyrics which tended to express a poor opinion of women. However, there are some female rappers like BWP (Bytches with Problems) who voice a vengeful brand of radical black feminism. BWP s raps dealt with such issues as date rape, male egos, and police brutality. BWP showed that they could be just as boastful as male rappers with their lyrics on the record In We Want Money when they stated, Marry you? Don t make me laugh! Don t you know, all I want is half! Another female rapper who deserves mentioning because of her forceful attack on misogyny is Yo-Yo with her record You Can t Play with My Yo-Yo . David Thigpen concluded his article on female rappers by stating that female rappers beside offering a different attitude, have shown that rap can be far more significant and flexible than its critics have admitted. This also illustrates, contrary to what David Samuels holds to be true, that rap music can endure the influence of groups other than its creators and still survive and flourish.