History of Hip Hop (Unit 1,2,3 Glossary)

John Lindsay

Mayor of New York City from 1966-1973. He oversaw the first major wave of anti-graffiti city ordinances.

Ed Koch

Mayor of New York City from 1978-1989. The campaign against graffiti was one of his major initiatives. In the film Style Wars, he took credit for several anti-graffiti measures, including the use of guard dogs in train yards.

Keith Haring

American painter who built an artistic career influenced by graffiti in the 1980's. Even as he acquired a following in New York galleries and museums, he continued to create chalk drawings in the subways, which he considered "his laboratory." His visual style features cartoonish figures with solid outlines, often in black and white. He died in 1990 at the age of 31 of complications from AIDS.

Jean-Michel Basquiat

American painter who worked as a graffiti artist before integrating elements of graffiti into his paintings on canvas. He was one of the most iconic and well-known visual artists of his era, and the most successful artist to bring a graffiti sensibility to the downtown New York art scene. His visual style is characterized by vivid colors and spontaneous brushstrokes. He died in 1988 at the age of 27 of a heroin overdose. His painting, Untitled (1982), was bought in 2017 for the price of $110.5 million, which is still the most ever paid for a painting by an American artist.

The Nation of Islam

An American organization founded in 1930 that promulgated an ideology of black nationalism and separatism. They encouraged African-Americans to reject European culture, including Christianity and English names. Many members adopted Arabic names and made the pilgrimage to Mecca to meet with Muslims from across the world. Malcolm X, Elijah Muhammad, and Muhammad Ali were prominent members of group. In the 1980's, the leader of the Nation of Islam, Louis Farrakhan preached self-sufficiency and racial pride for African-American communities.

Capoeira

An Brazilian martial art form that combines elements of dance, simulated combat, and music. Although it is unlikely that early breakers in New York were familiar with capoeira, the physical vocabulary of breaking is reminiscent of it, possibly due to their common roots in African traditions.

MC Shan

An MC associated with the Juice Crew. His song "The Bridge" initiated the feud with Boogie Down Productions known as the Bridge Wars. His vocal delivery is characterized by a high pitch and a slow delivery.

Roxanne Shanté

An MC associated with the Juice Crew. When she was 14, she recorded the song "Roxanne's Revenge" with producer Marley Marl as a diss track directed at UTFO. She also jumped into the Bridge Wars, answering Boogie Down Productions' "The Bridge is Over" with a track called "Have a Nice Day."

Schoolly D

An MC from Philadelphia whose song "P.S.K. What Does it Mean?" is often considered the first example of gangsta rap. The name of the song is a reference to the Park Street Killers, a local gang, and makes reference to violence, crime, and drug use.

Ice Cube

An MC from Southern California whose gritty lyrical portraits of ghetto life and aggressive vocal delivery defined the sound of West Coast gangsta rap. He was a member of NWA and went on to record solo albums like AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted, Kill at Will, and Death Certificate. After his work with NWA, he went on to work with the Bomb Squad and absorbed some of Chuck D's political views.

KRS-One

An MC from the South Bronx associated with Boogie Down Productions. He is often considered to be one of the first MCs whose style was defined by political awareness.

Angela Davis

An academic and civil rights activist who was associated with militant black organizations like the Black Panthers in the 1970's. With the rise of gangsta rap, Davis became a powerful critic of the genre's depictions of misogyny and violence. In 1991, she sat down with Ice Cube to debate the genre's social significance and political responsibility.

FUTURA

An early graffiti artist who made the transition from the subways to the galleries of New York City in the late 1970's and early 1980's. His full-car piece, Break Car, was one of the most significant examples of the artistic power and potential of graffiti. His characteristic style features abstract imagery.

SKEME

An early graffiti artist who was featured prominently in the film Style Wars. One of his most famous works was a two-car piece using the words "ALL YOU SEE IS...CRIME IN THE CITY"

DOZE

An early graffiti artist. His magnum opus, "Children of the Grave," took up three whole cars on a New York City subway.

DJ

In early hip-hop, DJs evolved from being mere "disc jockeys" who played records to being the bedrock of creativity for musical, choreographic, and social invention. In contrast with "turntablism," DJing still focused on the manipulation of recorded sound through the medium of the vinyl record.

Louis Farrakhan

Leader of the Nation Islam starting in 1977. In addition to messages about self-sufficiency, moral purity, and self-respect, he also sometimes promoted anti-semitic and misogynistic ideas. He was a big influence on the political positions of Public Enemy.

DJ Kool Herc

(aka Clive Campbell) The inventor of the hip-hop breakbeat, considered by many the father of hip-hop. His "merry-go-round" technique opened the door for a host of innovations in the use of turntable technology.

Grandmaster Flash

(aka Joseph Saddler) The most important technical innovator in the early history of hip-hop DJing. He took many of Kool Herc's ideas and perfected them, introducing a level of precision and mathematical rigor to the practice. With the Furious Five, he went on to make some of the most important and enduring early hip-hop recordings.

Grand Wizzard Theodore

(aka Theodore Livingston) An early innovator of turntablism and the supposed inventor of the technique of "scratching."

Marley Marl

A DJ and producer associated with the Juice Crew who was instrumental in developing the techniques of sampling in hip-hop production.

Burru Drumming

A Jamaican musical tradition which traces its roots all the way back to Africa. It centers around the interplay of three drums parts: bass drum, alto drum, and repeater.

New York City Breakers

A New York breaking crew that helped transform breaking from a spontaneous and informal social practice to a choreographed performance art form. They were largely responsible for introducing breaking to prestigious cultural institutions like the Kennedy Center.

Ghetto Brothers

A South Bronx street gang active in the early 1970's. Originally founded around concerns for territory and pride, they adjusted their focus to also include providing social services for the local community.

Sampling

A beat-making technique in which clips of pre-existing music could be isolated and manipulated. As digital samplers like the SP-1200 became available in the mid-1980's, it became possible to construct beats through the composition of many small samples, as opposed to the breakbeats spun by early hip-hop DJs in which an existing beat was presented as it appeared on the original recording.

Richie "Crazy Legs" Colon

A breaker that came to prominence in the late 1970's and early 1980's in New York City. As a member of the Rock Steady Crew, he helped to develop the techniques of breaking from its origins to its widespread popularity in the mid-80's. He contributed to the increased use of "power moves" like windmills and backspins.

Cipher

A circular or elliptical arrangement of people around a central space. In early hip-hop party culture, the cipher was where breakers would dance. Unlike traditional performance situations, in which performers and audience occupy rigidly separate spaces, the cipher is porous and non-hierarchical.

Afrika Bambaataa

A former gang member turned DJ who founded the Zulu Nation, introduced currents of mysticism and afro-centricity into early hip-hop, and developed a reputation for playing a bizarrely eclectic variety of records.

ZEPHYR

A graffiti artist who started creating artworks in 1975. He was one of the early graffiti artists who made the transition from subway cars to galleries in the 1980's. His works appear in the films Style Wars and Wild Style.

FAB 5 FREDDY

A graffiti artist who was instrumental in facilitating hip-hop's emergence into the downtown New York art scene in the 1980's. He was featured in Blondie's "Rapture" video and the film Wild Style, and remained one of the foremost ambassadors for hip-hop culture to the mainstream.

Tag

A graffiti writer's signature, which includes a characteristic visual style and adopted artistic persona. A tag has to be short enough to be written quickly, and distinctive enough to be recognizable.

Sugarhill Gang

A group of three MCs that were brought together by Sylvia Robinson and Sugar Hill Records to make the record "Rapper's Delight." The three MCs (Wonder Mike, Master Gee, and Big Bank Hank), were hip-hop enthusiasts and amateur rappers who had never performed live before the recording session.

Lee Quiñones

A major graffiti artist who helped raise the visibility of graffiti art through his appearance in Blondie's "Rapture" video and the film Wild Style. In addition to his ambitious full-car pieces on the subways, he also became well-known for murals in handball courts and other walls.

Russell Simmons

A manager and record executive for Def Jam who shaped the direction of hip-hop by developing a sound and a roster of artists who could appeal to suburban listeners.

Black Panthers

A militant political organization founded in 1966 focusing around concerns for self-defense and community development in African-American inner-city neighborhoods. Their political ideology and style (including berets and conspicuous display of firearms) would influence politically engaged hip-hop groups like Public Enemy.

Breakbeat

A musical technique in which the break sections of existing songs are repeated or strung together to create an unbroken flow of dance-able rhythms. The technique was "invented" by DJ Kool Herc and formed the basis for all early hip-hop.

Turntablism

A musical technique which uses turntable technology as a type of musical instrument. In contrast with DJing, turntablism is focused less on the organization of recorded sound and more on the use of the turntable's mechanism for musical purposes. "Scratching" is a central technique, as is manipulation of the fader and the control of the playback speed.

Henry Chalfant

A photographer and filmmaker who was one of the first documenters of New York's subway graffiti. His book Subway Art and his film Style Wars remain among the best records of the work of early graffiti writers

Black nationalism

A political movement that thrived in the mid-20th century and supported radical separatism and self-determination for communities of color in the US and around the world. It aligned with anti-colonialist and third-world Marxist movements in other countries. In the United States, black nationalism was manifested in groups like the Black Panthers and Nation of Islam which rejected the assimilationist and gradualist approaches of Martin Luther King's movement.

Bombing

A practice of guerrilla art, in which a graffiti writer creates an artwork on a public space, particularly a subway train. Bombing is both an act of artistic self-expression and also a symbolic appropriation of municipal property.

Dr. Dre

A producer and MC that helped define the sound of West Coast rap. He produced all of NWA's albums and defined the post-gangsta sound with his 1992 album The Chronic.

Juice Crew

A rap crew based in Queens, organized around radio DJ Mr. Magic and DJ/producer Marley Marl. The Juice Crew included the MCs Big Daddy Kane, Roxanne Shanté, MC Shan, Biz Markie, and Kool G Rap. They were a part of several feuds with other rappers, including the "Roxanne Wars" and the "Bridge Wars."

Eric B. and Rakim

A rap duo from Long Island who greatly influenced the development of hip-hop in the late 1980's. Eric B. built on Marley Marl's production techniques by creating sophisticated sample-based beats using sampler technology. Rakim's unemotional, low-pitched rapping style would go on to influence many of the rappers that followed him, and his word play and poetic lyrics set a new high bar for the lyrical craft of hip-hop MCs.

NWA

A rap group based in Compton, California that epitomized the early sound of West Coast gangsta rap. The group included Ice Cube, Eazy-E, Dr. Dre, MC Ren, and the DOC. Their debut album, Straight Outta Compton, was commercially successful, even though most radio stations refused to play it. Their music became the center of controversies about explicit lyrics in popular music, especially their song "**** the Police."

2 Live Crew

A rap group based in Miami that became known for their sexually explicit music. Their 1989 album, As Nasty As They Wanna Be, was declared obscene by a court in Florida.

Boogie Down Productions

A rap group, made up of KRS-One, DJ Scott La Rock, and D Nice, based in the South Bronx. Their music anticipated both gangsta rap and conscious rap, including honest depictions of urban poverty and violence alongside unflinching political statements. Their conflict with the Juice Crew became known as the Bridge Wars. Five months after the release of their album Criminal Minded, Scott La Rock was murdered.

Diss track

A rap song created specifically to call out or disrespect another artist. The cleverness of the diss can be an opportunity for producers or MCs to show off their own skills or their wit.

Sister Souljah

A rapper and activist who collaborated with Public Enemy and released a solo album, 360 Degrees of Freedom, in 1992. She became a household name when presidential nominee Bill Clinton criticized her for her statements about the LA Riots.

Break

A section in the form of a song in which the melodic elements drop out and the percussive/rhythmic elements come to the forefront.

War on Drugs

A set of government policies which seek to combat the use of sale of illegal drugs in the United States. The term was first used by Richard Nixon in 1971, but the policies have persisted into the present day. While the incidence of drug use has not decreased significantly, the policies associated with the War on Drugs have contributed to mass incarceration and the criminalization of poverty.

Speed Rap

A style of vocal delivery that prioritizes speed over other concerns.

Gangsta Rap

A sub-genre of rap music that features graphic depictions of life in the urban ghetto, including frank accounts of crime, violence, and sex. The earliest examples of the genre are Schoolly D's "P.S.K. What Does it Mean?", Ice-T's "6 'N the Morning", and Eazy-E's "Boyz in the Hood." NWA's debut album Straight Outta Compton signaled the arrival of gangsta rap on the national scene. As gangsta rap became commercially successful, it also became a flash point for discussions about violence, sex, misogyny, and profanity in popular music.

Dub

A subgenre of reggae, Dub music grew out of a production technique in which records were stripped of their melodic content in order to preserve just the percussion/rhythm elements. Dub was popularized in the 1960's and informed some of the innovations at the heart of early hip-hop.

"Benign Neglect"

A term used by New York Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan in a memo to President Richard Nixon about the state of racial inequality in American cities. The term and the political sentiment it represents were indicative of an unwillingness to invest government funds in the development of the (racially segregated) inner city in the 1970's. Parks, schools, police, and fire departments all had their budgets cut.

B-boy and B-Girl

Abbreviations of "break-boy" and "break-girl." The teenage innovators who participated in early hip-hop party culture and created the dance form known as breaking by showing off their individual moves during DJs' breakbeats.

Fantastic Five

An early rap crew. They maintained an ongoing rivalry with the Cold Crush Brothers and both groups were featured in the film Wild Style. They were the rap crew that accompanied DJ sets by Grand Wizzard Theodore.

Cold Crush Brothers

An early rap crew. They maintained an ongoing rivalry with the Fantastic Five and both groups were featured in the film Wild Style. Grandmaster Caz was their most well-known member.

Malcolm X

An important leader of the militant wing of the Civil Rights Movement. He preached separatism and self-defense for black communities and openly criticized the pacifist tactics of Martin Luther King. He was assassinated at Harlem's Audobon Ballroom in 1965.

Def Jam Records

An independent record label based in New York that released music by some of the most commercially successful artists of the 1980's. The label was founded by Russell Simmons and Rick Rubin. Its roster of artists included Run-DMC, LL Cool J, and the Beastie Boys.

Incredible Bongo Band

An instrumental musical group founded in 1972, mostly remembered for how their recordings were used in early hip-hop breakbeats.

Merry-Go-Round Technique

DJ Kool Herc's technique in which he used multiple turntables to loop break sections or combine the breaks from different records.

"The Four Elements"

DJing, Rapping, Breaking, and Graffiti

Redlining

Discriminatory practices used by the Federal Housing Authority (FHA) and other institutions in the mid-20th century which refused to grant mortgages to African-Americans in affluent neighborhoods and therefore created a de-facto system of racial segregation in Northern cities.

Charlie Ahearn

Filmmaker and "activist artist" who worked to spread hip-hop culture. His most notable achievement as an ambassador of hip-hop is the film Wild Style, which featured artists like FAB 5 FREDDY, Lee Quiñones, Crazy Legs, Grandmaster Flash, and the Cold Crush Brothers.

Sylvia Robinson

Musician and record producer who founded Sugar Hill Records and produced the first commercial hip-hop recording, "Rapper's Delight."

Freeze

One of the defining elements of breaking. After transitioning from toprocking to footwork closer to the floor, breakers would strike a pose and hold it. Although breakers would regularly invent their own freezes, a standard vocabulary emerged, including the "baby" and the "chair."

TAKI 183

One of the earliest known graffiti tags, which started appearing throughout the NYC subway system in the late 1960's and early 1970's. A New York Times article, published in 1971, described the use of this tag and inspired other graffiti writers. The 183 in the tag corresponds to the street on which Taki lived.

Ice-T

One of the first MCs from the West Coast to achieve nationwide acclaim. His song "6 'N the Morning" was an early example of gangsta rap. In the national conversation around explicit lyrics, he often served as a defender of free speech. One of his most controversial songs was "Cop Killer," released by his heavy metal band Body Count.

Zulu Nation

One of the first hip-hop crews, founded by Afrika Bambaataa and focused on community development, representing hip-hop culture, and spreading religious (including elements of the Nation of Islam and the Five Percent Nation) and afro-centric ideology.

Run-DMC

One of the first rap groups with sustained popular success. Made up of DMC, MC Run, and DJ Jam Master Jay, Run-DMC was managed by Russell Simmons and signed to Def Jam Records. Their music defined the sound of commercial 80's rap, combining spare, booming, drum machine beats with slow tempos and square vocal deliveries. They also pioneered the mixing of rap and rock, including in the songs "Rock Box," "King of Rock," and "Walk This Way," which was recorded with the band Aerosmith.

Treacherous Three

One of the first recorded rap groups consisting of the MCs Kool Moe Dee, LA Sunshine, and Special K. Their single, "New Rap Language," was released as the B-side of Spoonie Gee's "Love Rap" and exemplified their speed rap style.

Spoonie Gee

One of the first recorded rappers. He was the nephew of producer Bobby Robinson, and signed on to record with his label, Enjoy Records. His early hits included "Love Rap" and "New Rap Language," with the Treacherous Three.

Eazy-E

One of the main MCs and personalities in the group NWA. Before their debut album Straight Outta Compton, Eazy-E released his solo album Eazy Duz It, which established the sound and creative team that would define early West Coast gangsta rap. Following the breakup of NWA in 1991, Eazy-E feuded with the other members of the group and died in 1995 of complications from AIDS.

Grandmaster Caz

One of the most significant early MCs. He was a member of the Cold Crush Brothers and exerted a strong influence (bordering on plagiarism) on the Sugar Hill Gang.

Hank Shocklee

One of the primary producers for Public Enemy and a co-founder of the Bomb Squad.

Keith Shocklee (aka Wizard K-Jee)

One of the primary producers for Public Enemy and a co-founder of the Bomb Squad.

Public Enemy

Part musical group/part activist collective, Public Enemy was one of the most influential forces in hip-hop in the late 1980's. The group was formed in 1986 in Long Island when its members were attending Adelphi University. They were known for foregrounding the politics of racial empowerment and militancy and for a groundbreaking musical style that featured fast tempos and dense sample-based beats. They were also one of the first groups to emphasize noisy and dissonant samples. The members of the group included MCs Chuck D and Flava Flav, DJ Terminator X, producers Hank and Keith Shocklee, "media assassin" Harry Allen, and "minister of information" Professor Griff. Their bodyguard crew was called the Security of the First World (S1Ws).

Sugar Hill Records

Record label based in New Jersey that made the first commercial hip-hop recording, "Rapper's Delight." Following the song's success, Sugar Hill became the home for several of the most important early hip-hop recording artists.

Afrodiasporic

Relating to the shared historic, social, or cultural identity and practices of people in the African diaspora (people who can trace their immediate lineage back to Africa). In most cases, this also includes a shared history of enslavement or colonization.

James Brown

Soul singer and performer whose records were used by many early hip-hop DJs. His onstage motions were also referenced by first-generation B-boys as an inspiration for their dancing.

Flava Flav

The "hype man" MC and comedic relief in Public Enemy. He created an easily recognizable personal style, including his trademark clock necklace and his high-pitched "yeah boooooy" interjections.

Terminator X

The DJ for Public Enemy.

Digging in crates

The act of looking for vinyl records to use as a source for DJing or building sample-based beats.

Biting

The act of plagiarizing or stealing material (beats, rhymes, style, etc.) from another hip-hop artist. Biting is usually considered to be one of the cardinal sins in the hip-hop community.

The Bomb Squad

The creative team behind Public Enemy's beats. They created a distinctive instrumental sound characterized by fast tempos, dense sample-based beats, and an innovative use of noisy and dissonant samples.

Furious Five

The crew of MCs assembled by Grandmaster Flash to rap along with his DJ sets. The five members of the group were Melle Mel, Keith Cowboy, Kidd Creole, Mr. Ness, and Rahiem.

Kurtis Blow

The first hip-hop recording artist to be signed to a major label deal. His singles "Christmas Rappin'" and "The Breaks" were released on Mercury in 1979 and 1980. He was managed by Russell Simmons and was instrumental in launching the career of MC Run.

Toprocking

The foundational dance moves in breaking, in which the dancer is still standing erect.

Tipper Gore

The founder of the Parents Music Resource Center, which led a campaign against explicit lyrics in the 1980's.

White Flight

The large-scale migration of white people out of racially diverse urban areas and into racially homogeneous suburban and exurban areas in the mid-20th century. This can be seen as a direct result of suburbification and racist responses to the Great Migration.

Chuck D

The lead MC and dominant persona of Public Enemy. Born Carlton Ridenhour, he delivered his politically conscious lyrics in a powerful and resonant baritone voice. While he certainly subscribed to some politically radical views, he often served as a mediator between the media and the more outspoken and less diplomatic members of the group, especially Professor Griff.

Debby Harry

The lead singer of the band Blondie, who got to know some of hip-hop's pioneers around the downtown New York scene. Her enthusiasm for the culture and its artists is evident in the song "Rapture," which features a "rap" section and references to Grandmaster Flash and FAB 5 FREDDY. The video for the song features appearances by Jean-Michel Basquiat, Lee Quiñones, and FAB 5 FREDDY.

Great Migration

The migration, between 1910 and 1970, of millions of African-Americans from the rural south to the urban north, fleeing Jim Crow and institutional segregation and seeking economic opportunity in northern industrialized cities.

Rock Steady Crew

The most prominent breaking crew in New York City in the late 1970's and 1980's.

LADY PINK

The most prominent early female graffiti artist. Her artworks, which were made on trains and on walls, focus on empowering women and other political statements.

Rick Rubin

The musical force behind Def Jam Records. Having founded the label in his NYU dorm room to release punk rock, he shifted gears when he met Russell Simmons.

Soulsonic Force

The musical group assembled by Afrika Bambaataa in the early 1980's. Their songs "Planet Rock" and "Renegades of Funk" created a radically new sound for hip-hop music, including the use of the Roland TR-808 drum machine and samples from a wide variety of musical styles. Their mystical cosmology and eccentric costumes connected them to the artistic movement of afro-futurism.

Professor Griff

The self-appointed "minister of information" for Public Enemy. While his musical contributions were minimal to the group, he exerted an influence on the group through his militant political beliefs, which drew extensively from the ideas of the Nation of Islam and other black nationalist groups. After making a series of anti-semitic remarks in interviews, he engulfed the group in public controversy and eventually resigned.

"Hip-Hop's Founding Fathers"

The three DJs who created the techniques and sounds of early hip-hop.

Robert Moses

Urban planner and public official who oversaw the shift of focus from city center to suburban commuter culture in the New York City area. Among many other projects, he lead the building of the Cross-Bronx Expressway starting in 1948, which devastated vast areas of the borough.