Hip Hop History vol. 1: Old School 1979-1982

Hip Hop History vol. 1: Old School 1979-1982

1979 marks the year Hip Hop was first recorded and released, despite the new music style being around for a few years prior. The first few years of recorded Hip Hop saw a few album length releases but it was mostly singles that were released. By this point Hip Hop had already reached major cities such as Philadelphia and Boston, where the music was catching on like wild fire. Radio shows like Mr. Magic's (with Marley Marl) helped showcase the new music style that was dominating New York City. Previously MC’s would rhyme over breaks provided by the DJ but when Hip Hop started being released it was switched to either studio band production or electro style which left the DJ behind. There were exceptions but early on the foundation of Hip Hop was being overlooked. There are exceptions such as Grand Master Flash and Afrika Bambaataa that were able to survive that evolutionary jump from the streets to recording artists. Kurtis Blow was the first MC to have a record officially released. The first studio group in Hip Hop was the Sugarhill Gang, they were the first group to release music who were not part of the underground scene. Unfortunately, Grand Master Caz’s (Cold Crush Brothers) lyrics were stolen for the song that would eventually be the first world-wide Hip Hop hit: Rapper’s Delight.

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