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The Creation of Hip-Hop
Clive Campbell, now known as "DJ Kool Herc," and his sister Cindy threw a block party where DJ Kool Herc mixed different records and introduced "breakbeats" while scratching and rapping on top of beats. -
Sugarhill Gang
The first Rap/Hip-Hop song to ever attain mainstream success was a song created by the Sugarhill Gang called "Rapper's Delight." This song created a major break through on Hip-Hop, leading more people to listen and sing along. -
Rick Rubin
Rick Ruban was a known record producer. While he attended NYU he started his own production company out of his dorm room and called it the "Def Jam Recordings." The first initial release on the label was a song from 16-year-old LL Cool J "I Need A Beat" selling over 100,000 copies. started the record-producing industry in Hip-Hop. -
Run-DMC
Run-DMC covered a song called "Walk This Way" by Aerosmith and released it on their album "Raising Hell." Def Jam Records produced the song but it was released by "Profile Recordsl." They made history when they had artists from Aerosmith on the track and music video. "Raising Hell" became the first Hip-Hop album to go platinum and multi-platinum. -
Public Enemy and Spike Lee
“Fight The Power” was a single released on Motown Records in the summer of 1989 and later on Public Enemy’s 1990 album, "Fear Of A Black Planet." Spike Lee offered them to write and record a song for his upcoming film. They accepted and Lee employed the power of hip-hop as a tool for his activism and he whipped up the screenplay for the film in just two weeks. -
"Fight the Power" Public Enemy
Film critics Roger Ebert and Gene Siskel both praised Lee’s Do The Right Thing as the best film of 1989 and later as one of the top ten films of the decade. New listeners praised Public Enemy. "The Bomb Squad" production team produced the song. The song selling over two million units in the U.S alone. The Library of Congress even added Fear Of A Black Planet to the National Recording Registry. -
Tupac Shakur and Biggie Smalls Rivalry
There were plenty of positives to Hip-Hop until the negative side started showing. There was a big wave of violence, social injustice, and hostility between 1994 and 1997. The east-coast and west-coast scenes of hip-hop clashed. Ending in the deaths of Tupac and Biggie in a drive-by shooting. This began because the West Coast didn't feel they were getting recognition. Hip-hop was the biggest scene at the moment but not for the right reasons. This had a huge impact on how people viewed Hip-Hop. -
Eminem
Eminem was known for his raw and honest lyrics. He spoke on things regarding diversity, family, and addiction. His style of music was different from others, his speed was insanely fast, and he had multiple personas including himself "Slim Shady" and "Marshall Matthews" which let him lyricalize within these different personas and speed. Eminem put a different view on the Hip-Hop world bringing in high speeds and different personas.