Key Figures and Movements in Early Hip-Hop History

DJ Kool Herc

Invented breakbeat looping at Bronx parties; the 'father of hip-hop.'

Grandmaster Flash

Invented cue-mixing with headphones; refined DJ techniques.

Grandwizard Theodore

Invented scratching.

Sylvia Robinson

Founded Sugar Hill Records; produced 'Rapper's Delight.'

Russell Simmons

Def Jam founder and early manager of Run DMC and LL Cool J.

Rick Rubin

Def Jam producer; brought rock influence into hip-hop sound.

Afrika Bambaataa

Founded Zulu Nation; brought electro-funk to hip-hop.

Busy Bee

Early hypeman MC, comedic style.

Kool Moe Dee

One of the first technical battle rappers; dissed Busy Bee.

Tricia Rose

Wrote Black Noise; argued hip-hop is technologically complex and political.

Imani Perry

Wrote Prophets of the Hood; analyzed signifying and lyrical structures in rap.

3 major movements in early hip-hop history

Bronx party scene → Studio crossover → Radicalization.

Cause of the Bronx collapse

Cross-Bronx Expressway, white flight, economic disinvestment, heroin epidemic.

Significance of the Bronx gang truce

Shifted violence toward unity; led to growth of block parties and hip-hop.

Role of the Cross-Bronx Expressway in hip-hop history

Destroyed communities, led to economic and social collapse in the Bronx.

Importance of Sylvia Robinson to hip-hop's business history

She commercialized hip-hop with Sugarhill Gang; opened the door for labels.

Why early DJs used two turntables

To extend the 'break' — the most danceable part of a record — and loop it live.

Sampling

Reusing parts of recorded music to make new music; seen as cultural memory and sonic resistance.

Controversy of sampling

Critics saw it as lazy or unoriginal; artists saw it as innovation and cultural reactivation.

Signifying in hip-hop

A way of saying one thing and meaning another; coded language, humor, metaphor, resistance.

Imani Perry's 5 types of rap song structures

Narrative, Exhortation, Description, Battle, Allegory.

Tricia Rose's argument about sound in hip-hop

That production choices are deeply political and culturally rooted.

Studio era change in hip-hop

Songs got structured (hooks, choruses), more 'musical,' with drum machines and sampling.

Role of Def Jam in hip-hop's history

It brought hip-hop into the rock crossover zone and commercial mainstream.

Native Tongues collective

Afrocentric, jazzy, fun, experimental; groups like De La Soul, Tribe, Queen Latifah.

Five Percenters

A splinter from the Nation of Islam; taught spiritual knowledge through numbers/letters and slang.

Emergence of ******* rap on the West Coast

Response to L.A.'s police brutality, crack epidemic, and militarization of Black neighborhoods.

Book documenting L.A.'s militarized urban design

City of Quartz by Mike Davis.

Public Enemy's 'Fight the Power'

A general protest anthem against systemic racism and oppression.

Spike Lee's use of 'Fight the Power'

As the theme song in Do the Right Thing to show racial tension and activism.

Message of NWA's 'Straight Outta Compton'

Exposing life in the hood and police brutality; angry, raw, confrontational.

'F*** the Police' by NWA controversy

Explicit protest against police; FBI even sent a warning letter.

Influence of Schoolly D's 'P.S.K.'

Pioneered ******* rap themes; inspired Ice-T and others.

Ice-T's style building on Schoolly D

Turned gritty crime stories into L.A. realism with '6 in the Mornin.'

Realism vs provocation in ******* rap

Some songs depict hard truth; others provoke for attention or shock.

Revolutionary aspect of Rakim as an MC

Cool, complex metaphors and internal rhymes; changed lyrical standards forever.

3 layers of meaning in sampling

Sound reference, cultural reference, and intertextuality (who else used it).

Why early hip-hop had to be recorded in studios

To reach wider audiences and get radio play; live setups were hard to capture commercially.

Hip-hop as an act of resistance

It reclaimed neglected spaces and technology to speak truth in a hostile society.