Informal public associations are a fairly new phenomenon; they appeared in the 20th century and became a reflection of the social problems of youth, an attempt to self-identify and express themselves.
Each group has different ways of expressing their worldview - free love and anarchy among hippies, approval of nationalist ideas by skinheads or propaganda of mysticism among the Goths, but music of different genres has become one of the most widespread interests of young people. Hip-hop is considered especially colorful and widespread and rap is one of its manifestations.
History
In the 1970s, residents of US black quarters often hosted discos where rhythmic dance music was played with text elements. It is believed that such a manner of execution came from immigrants from Jamaica. The style was gradually improved, overgrown with its own traditions and "chips", performers began to produce disks, and well-known record companies drew attention to the commercial success of the new genre.
In the 1990s, shots were constantly heard in black neighborhoods, and territories and areas of influence of drug dealers and pimps were divided. All these events served as the beginning of the fact that the theme and manner of performance of musicians of this direction changed dramatically, a new trend arose, and the entire subculture was rebuilt. Rappers experienced a significant evolution in their views, and as a result of this - the emergence of a new trend called gangsta - rap. His most prominent representatives were Dr. Dre and Snopp Dogg. The peculiarity of this style was the public and scandalous behavior of the musicians, they openly used drugs, provoked authorities, arranged fights and pogroms.
The defiant image of rappers quickly found a response among young people, teenagers tried to imitate them in clothing and behavior, the genre became popular in many countries of the world.
Ideology
The usual listening to their favorite songs could no longer satisfy the generation of rebels and individualists, they needed a special model of worship and imitation, which allowed them to feel different from everyone else. In many respects, this was reflected in the ideology that rappers adhere to. Subculture briefly is a special form of spending leisure time, a way to find satisfaction from life, a kind of escape from everyday life.
Around the world, there are several million people who are fond of hip hop, and specifically rap. They are united by similar musical preferences, a special view of the world, which is reflected in the texts of the performers of this genre. Rap has several features that allow you to immediately distinguish them from other subcultures:
- it promotes youth freedom and independence from opinions and evaluations instigated by the government;
- protest against globalization in all areas of public and political life, this characteristic is applicable to Russian rap;
- special rapper clothes: wide hanging pants, jeans, baseball caps, sports t-shirts, voluminous and bright jewelry - chains, earrings;
- among rappers, it is customary to cover their bodies with tattoos and inscriptions;
- rich and pathos lifestyle: expensive cars, beautiful girls and golden trinkets, along with light and hard drugs.
But the main distinguishing feature is the special performance of their songs, when a rhythmic recitative is read to music with a heavy beat.
Features of the direction
Rapper music has long been considered not only a variety of hip-hop, elements of recitative are used in other styles. This is an independent direction with its own traditions and features. Initially, rhyming chants were born on the street and were a direct improvisation of performers, competitions were held among rivals - battles, later such clashes began to occur on stage with a large crowd of people.
Rapper language is an expression of the life of a metropolis, it is diverse and has a wide morphology. She can glorify miserable shacks, a beautiful life or the unfaithfulness of a girlfriend, hard performance alternates with simple and light melodies. In general, contrast is one of the favorite tricks of rappers, this also applies to music and lifestyle. Lovers and experts usually distinguish three varieties of performance:
- fast, takes the form of a conversation between two opponents to the music that the DJ puts;
- “Street” or “life” - contains obscene language and glorifies the ideas and principles of the ghetto;
- commercial, aimed at attracting fans and making good money, usually we listen to this particular hip-hop.
The members of such a group include a DJ who makes up the mixes, the performer who reads the text, and the break dancer.
clothing
The image of rappers is very recognizable and unlike the rest. This style came to Russia in the early 90s and still remains a leader among young people. All those elements that make up rapper clothing are designed to distinguish a person from the crowd, to indicate his personality and personal social protest.
Some elements later even became the property of world fashion. For example, wide pants hanging from the hips. As for their occurrence, there is even a legend that the first black rappers living in difficult conditions of the ghetto were forced to wear the clothes of their older brothers, which did not fit them in size.
True, in recent years, the rapper style of dressing has undergone some changes, only a T-shirt has remained of the usual wide things, but famous artists prefer to buy the rest of the wardrobe from fashion designers. The idea of a “combination of incongruous” is very popular in this environment when strict jackets and trousers are worn with massive or bright sneakers.
Additional items
Another detail by which one can easily determine a person’s belonging to this group is rapper baseball caps. Bright colors, non-standard forms with shiny rhinestones, they complement and decorate the image of a typical representative of this trend.
Accessories of various kinds are of great importance, this tradition comes from the first black ghetto rappers. There, the status of a person was determined by the jewelry he had and their value. Among musicians, this custom has received a new development, many performers and their fans hang on themselves many expensive chains, a medallion, an earring with a diamond is an equally important detail. Rapper glasses are an excellent complement to a unique image, they have no practical value, and therefore, can be made of the most unusual shapes, sizes, colors and from different materials.
Style features
The desire to share common views, to share a passion with like-minded people are the main factors due to which there is a union in youth subcultures. Rappers use lyrics to convey their opinions to others and to approve a personal manifest.
Initially, this culture developed as an opposition to the main power, and therefore the meaning of phrases is often of a slogan, agitation character. Unlike other areas where music and words are equal, in rap you have to look for a good combination of test and rhythm. It is not so easy to achieve melody, it takes a lot of experimentation and training to become a master of recitative.
It is no less difficult to know and understand the rapper language, lyrics I have specific words, turns and allegories, understandable only in this environment. The ability to recognize a special cipher is a kind of pass to a special group, proof of belonging to a subculture.
With the spread of rap throughout the world, each country gradually develops its own special forms of communication in youth groups. If in the USA rapper slang incorporated elements of the language and culture of African-Americans, then, for example, in France it is closely connected with the folklore past of this people, and in Russia it has a more imitative character, in addition it contains a lot of borrowings from the English language, sometimes pronounced in Russian fashion.
First performers
It’s hard to imagine many prestigious musical ratings without famous rappers on the first lines of the tabloids. A subculture, the description of which may take more than one day, developed under the influence of strong and charismatic leaders of this movement. The real legend was Tupac Shakur, who was shot dead on the threshold of his house or "50 cent", who survived several armed attacks.
Even when this direction was not finalized and officially recognized, the main role in hip-hop was played by DJs. In the 70s, DJ Cool Hurk practiced the alternation of rhythmic tracks and break dancers, and Gradmaster Flash recreated the idea of dual vinyl record players, so it was possible to combine different tracks.
In the following years, many groups and artists appeared, each of which made a certain contribution to the development of hip-hop culture, a performance style, a special rapper slang, was formed. The very first Beastie Boys became the first white singers in this direction, and Run DMC not only shot a video, but also entered into an Adidas advertising contract.
Movement development
Leading media companies soon realized how profitable this direction is, and therefore they began to invest more energy and money in promoting new artists. Thanks to the media, the lyrics and the lifestyle of the musicians were constantly heard, and young people actively accepted the values that this subculture reflected. Rappers are increasingly performing aggressive, having a strictly social theme of composition, this style will be called gangsta - rap.
According to the singers themselves, with the help of their lyrics they wanted to convey to the audience the truth about what is happening on the streets, what kind of struggle there is for life. The NWA team was one of the first to promote this style, it was there that Tupak Shakur, Dr. Dre and Eazy E. began their careers. The theme of violence, weapons and drugs became the main one in their tracks, which caused dissatisfaction of the authorities and popularity among ordinary people.
For the second decade, Dr. Dre, Eminem, Snoop Dogg and Jay-Z have remained the most recognized and revered rappers, famous for millions of incomes.
The development of the movement in Russia
In our country, this musical style appeared in the late 80s and early 90s, when such associations were no longer viewed as a manifestation of the capitalist system and many youth movements went underground. What special significance did this subculture have in Russian society? Rappers appeared along with break dance and graffiti, the few citizens who had the right to travel abroad brought records and videos with recordings of American artists. For many, this music has become a breath of fresh air, part of such a desired freedom.
One of the first experiments in this area is considered to be a concert by DJ Alexander Astrov and the rock band Rush Hour, where a program called “Rap” was recorded. Although the first performers, many recognize Bogdan Titomir and the group “Bachelor Party”. From the very beginning, Russian rappers adopted the Western model of this subculture, tried to imitate the ideology of blacks and the problems of the ghetto. Against the background of the real social composition of the country, such copying was sometimes very comical and implausible.
Features of hip-hop in our country
From the very beginning, Russian rappers were only a commercial project, the ideology of hip-hop was embodied only on stage, and not in real life. But such music cannot exist without struggle and confrontation, so gradually the performers found new ideas for conflict situations. A lot of rap came from Russian rock, which has a much longer history in our country.
In Russia, rap and its elements are taken directly from the American environment, many motifs, ideas and lyrics are directly copied from the works of Western artists.
Russian rappers
The pioneers of hip-hop are the groups Bad Balance, Chef and Micah, who became popular in the 90s, it was then that fan clubs and fans of this style appeared in all regions. By 2000, the hip-hop market had finally formed in our country, this trend became extremely popular and profitable, which led to the emergence of a new wave of performers: Casta, Ellipsis, Legal Business, etc.
In recent years, in Russia there has been a tendency to the emergence of its own rapper ideology and worldview. Adherents of the idea of creating a national genre are not as popular as media singers, but they have made a great contribution to the development of the hip-hop industry in our country: Oxxxymiron, Dolphin, ST and some others.
