Introduction To New School

"Old school" and "new school"

"Old school" and "new school" are indefinite terms and there is no agreement among critics or members of the hip-hop community over their exact meaning or the specific time periods that they refer to. Some maintain that old school hip-hop began with the release of The Sugarhill Gang's "Rappers Delight" in 1979 and others that it began with the release of The Fatback Band's "King Tim III (Personality Jock)." Still others maintain that old school began long before the first hip-hop records were made and cite DJ Kool Herc's "Back to School Jam" in August of 1973 as the starting point for old school. However, there is near universal agreement that new school began with the early records produced by Def Jam Recordings in 1984.

New Generation Of DJs

A new generation of DJs also began to appear with different ideas about creating music. Although most began as "turntablists" in the mode of Grandmaster Flash and Grand Wizzard Theodore, they quickly began to follow the lead of Afrika Bambaataa and Arthur Baker and see digital technologies and the studio as part of their arsenal of "new instruments" to use in creating their mixes. As old school DJs had become both musicians and composers of new music made from vinyl recordings, the next generation of DJs would function more like producers and would assembled their mixes from whatever sources were available to them and become "composers" in a more traditional sense of the word.

Afrika Bambaataa's Planet Rock

Afrika Bambaataa's "Planet Rock" in 1982 opened up hip-hop in the '80s to new sounds and new approaches to DJing that went far beyond turntable skills. Bambaataa had interpolated the melodic line on "Planet Rock" from Kraftwerk's "Trans Europe Express" and based the drum mix on Kraftwerk's "Numbers" from their 1981 album Computer World. Additional drumbeats were based on the Yellow Magic Orchestra's "Riot in Lagos" and "Super Sporm" by Captain Sky from Chicago. Bambaataa's producer, Arthur Baker, converted the whistling melody from Ennio Moricone's For A Few Dollars More soundtrack album to a synthesizer arrangement that was also included in the mix for "Planet Rock."

BBOYing/Graffiti Writing

Although music was at the core of the evolution of hip-hop, BBOYing and graffiti writing would play an important role in initially bringing hip-hop before the broad mainstream audience and, indirectly, played a significant role in the transition from old school to new school.

Hip-Hop Acceptance Eventually Moved On From Commercially Viable Representations Like Break Dancing

And so, between 1979 and 1984, hip-hop began to move from the closed environment of the inner city and find its way into the mainstream. Initially, the changes that would eventually define new school were felt only on the margins of the mainstream as more acceptable and commercially viable representations of hip-hop like the "break dance" movies took center stage. However, that would change in 1984-87 when a series of successful records by RUN-D.M.C, LL Cool J, and The Beastie Boys brought the full force of new school before the broad popular audience. And, paradoxically, the driving creative force in the emergence of new school was not a "homeboy" with established "street cred," but a white Jewish teenager from Long Island who had a vision of what hip-hop could be ... and, as it turned out, was about to become.

Graffiti Artists Connect With Traditional Artists

As early as 1979, Fred "Fab 5 Freddy" Braithwaite and George "LEE" Quinones had taken graffiti writing from the street and into the world of art. The "Beyond Words: Graffiti Based-Rooted-Inspired Works" exhibition at the Mudd Club in 1981 made the connection between graffiti artists like LEE, DONDI, ZEPHYR, and HAZE with emerging SoHo artists including Jean-Michel Basquiat, Keith Haring, and Kenny Scharf. In the wake of the "Beyond Words" show, dozens of once "notorious" graffiti artists were asked to exhibit works in respected art galleries and the attention of the art world became focused on "street art" and its place and importance in the history of contemporary art.

New Generation Of MCs

As the content and focus of hip-hop changed, a new generation of MCs began to appear with a dramatically different approach than their old school predecessors. They were young, tough, aggressive, and fiercely competitive. They understood that the future of hip-hop belonged to the MC and were bent on establishing their place and importance in that future. As a consequence, they were not content with backing and complementing the mix of the DJ as old school MCs had been and saw their place as equal to and sometimes greater than the DJ. They developed far more sophisticated and complex rhyme schemes and placed emphasis on their individual styles both in their raps and as performers. They also began to make it known that they had "something to say" and saw the success of Ed "Duke Bootee" Fletcher and Melle Mel's "The Message" as a precursor to the future direction of hip-hop.

Between 1979 and 1984

Between 1979 and 1984, the nature of hip-hop was undergoing dramatic changes. The block parties and jams of DJ Kool Herc, Grandmaster Flash, and Afrika Bambaataa had all but disappeared as DJs and MCs began to play clubs and make records. As the street parties went away, so did the flurry of competitive battles of BBOYs and BGIRLs. By 1980, very few street dancers remained active and the few that did danced as part of semi-professional dance organizations like the Rock Steady Crew and the Dynamic Rockers from Queens. Increased efforts by city authorities to curb the spread of graffiti had begun to take effect and "graf writers" found fewer and fewer urban "canvases" on which to leave their "tags" and artworks. And there was also the reality of age.

Hallmark Of New School

From a purely artistic standpoint, the rise of the MC meant that the content of the rap and the verbal skills of the MC would become the hallmark of new school. The success of "The Message" also meant that hip-hop was no longer just dance music and that the words, message, and the individual style of the MC would move the contribution of the DJ farther and farther into the background.

Planet Rock Important For More Reasons Than Introduction To Electronic Technology

However, "Planet Rock" was important in more ways than just the introduction of electronic technology into the world of hip-hop. It intentionally made the message of the rap a key feature in the mix and would exert a powerful influence on what was to come. Bambaataa had realized, "I could use my albums to send messages" and the record companies would be "the delivery mechanism to send those messages around the world." Where "Rapper's Delight" had opened the door for hip-hop, "Planet Rock" had opened the possibilities for what might be behind that door once it was opened. Two months after "Planet Rock" was released, Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five released "The Message" and the importance of rap as a means of making social statements was firmly established.

The Move Of Hip-Hop Off The Streets And Into Clubs And Recording Studios

However, as hip-hop moved off the streets and into clubs and recording studios, artists and producers began to see commercial potential in the new music. Although "Rapper's Delight" and "The Breaks" were far from "top of the chart" mainstream hits, they were profitable and offered far greater rewards to DJs and MCs than "passing the hat" at neighborhood jams. Independent labels like Bobby Robinson's Enjoy! Records, Sylvia Robinson's Sugar Hill Records, and Tom Silverman's Tommy Boy Records turned out records by The Sugarhill Gang, Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, Afrika Bambaataa & Soulsonic Force, Funky Four Plus One, Spoonie Gee, and Kool Moe Dee with The Treacherous Three that sold well by independent standards. Although none of these records managed to enjoy the success of Blondie's "Rapture," which went to Number One on the Billboard Hot 100, a few like "The Message" managed to actually chart. More important, the movement of hip-hop from the streets to the recording studio changed the nature of hip-hop and laid the groundwork for the eventual success of new school.

Hip-Hop NOT Dying

However, it was not that hip-hop was dying or losing importance. To the contrary, it was slowly but inexorably reaching beyond the narrow world of the inner city and beginning to find a place in the popular mainstream ... and, in many ways, that "place in the popular mainstream" would become the defining characteristic of what would eventually come to be known as "new school."

Artists Bringing Hip-Hop Intro Mainstream Were NOT Sellouts

However, the artists that would bring hip-hop forcibly into the popular mainstream with new school were far from panderers or sellouts offering concessions to the mainstream merely to gain approval and enjoy commercial success. To the contrary, the emerging hip-hop artists of the early 1980s were fierce in their devotion to creating something new and radically different from both the songs that dominated the popular mainstream and from the music of their old school forerunners. Like their punk contemporaries, most hip-hop artists in the 1980s saw the popular mainstream as bloated, bland, and artistically barren. They were also, according to author David Toop, "consciously hardcore" and intent on creating an alternative to old school, which, in their view, was too concerned with creating "good time" party and dance music. Although commercial success was clearly of interest to the emerging hip-hop artists of the early 1980s, success was not to be had at any price and the sacrifice of credibility for success was seen as far too great a price to pay by both the artists and their audience.

Young MCs and DJs More Determined

However, the inaccurate misrepresentation of hip-hop in the "break dance" movies of 1984 made young MCs and DJs more determined to "tell their story" and do so without compromise or concession. Rather than follow the lead of those films, the emerging artists of new school hip-hop took a hard line and focused on an unflinching view of life in the ghetto, political militancy, black activism, black identity, and a sometimes violent, confrontational attitude that would, in time, evolve into gangsta.

Documentary And Film Attracts Attention To Hip-Hop

In 1983, Tony Silver and Henry Chalfant's documentary, Style Wars, aired on PBS and brought graffiti writers and hip-hop culture to the attention of the broad mainstream public. Later that year, Charlie Ahearn's loosely fictionalized Wild Style presented a fairly accurate picture of hip-hop culture in the early 1980s and featured Fab 5 Freddy, DONDI, Crazy Legs and the Rock Steady Crew, The Cold Crush Brothers, Grandmaster Flash, Grand Wizzard Theodore, and Grand Mixer DXT playing themselves in key roles. Although the film had poor production values, little in the way of a story, and failed at the box office; it brought a measure of attention to hip-hop culture in the media and, of course, anything that captures media attention creates interest and interest creates opportunity.

Old-School Companies And Producers Vs. New-School Companies And Producers

Most of the record companies and producers that recorded old school hip-hop were far removed from the street culture that had created hip-hop and fewer still had any real understanding of what hip-hop was or was about. Producers like Paul Winley and Sylvia and Joe Robinson saw hip-hop records as a potentially profitable commercial product, but had little grasp or understanding of hip-hop beyond its commercial appeal. Even Bobby Robinson, who first recorded Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, was more a producer of blues and R&B than hip-hop. However, the producers and future record company executives who created new school hip-hop - Russell Simmons and Rick Rubin, who founded Def Jam Recordings; Marley Marl, who assembled the Juice Crew; Larry Smith, who produced most of the singles and albums for RUN-D.M.C; and others - not only understood hip-hop but had the drive to take it into the popular mainstream ... without concession or compromise.

Hip-Hop Portrayed Incorrectly To Appeal To Mainstream

Musically, all of the "break dance" films employed scores that were profoundly uncharacteristic of the mixes and beats BBOYs and BGIRLs danced to in their cyphers or in Apache line competitions. Their depiction of "street life" was similarly inaccurate and terribly romanticized. Most of the stories told in those films were more in line with traditional boy-meets-girl Hollywood musicals than with the harsh realities of life in the inner city. In rather typical Hollywood fashion, hip-hop had been made safe, soft, and unthreatening in order to appeal to mainstream sensibilities. As David Toop wrote in Rap Attack 3: African Rap to Global Hip-Hop, "Hollywood had mutated (hip-hop) into an all-singing, all-dancing romance."

Early effects On Mainstream Minimal To Nonexistent

Musically, hip-hop was developed in opposition to the popular mainstream, isolated from it, and for close to a decade it would exert almost no influence on mainstream popular music. Even after the release of successful mainstream recordings that included hip-hop elements like Blondie's "Rapture," The Clash's "The Magnificent Seven," and the success of early hip-hop records like "Rapper's Delight" and "The Breaks," the popular mainstream largely ignored hip-hop or treated it as a novelty that would pass like other fads on the fringes of the musical mainstream. Similarly, graffiti writing, an important source of identity and creative expression in the inner city, was treated as a public nuisance and regarded as an act of simple vandalism outside of places like the South Bronx. Even the East Coast dance styles created by BBOYs and BGIRLs and the West Coast styles exhibited on Soul Train were considered interesting but trivial aspects of ghetto culture and had only marginal effect on the popular mainstream before 1984.

New Breed Of Hip-Hop Entrepreneurs

Perhaps of greater importance in the move to new school than the emergence of a new breed of DJs and MCs was the rise of a new breed of hip-hop entrepreneurs who understood hip-hop on personal terms and saw both its commercial and artistic potential. They became the producers, managers, and founders of the independent record companies that would record new school hip-hop and take it into the popular mainstream.

Technology's Role In Changing Hip-Hop

Technology also began to play a significant role in changing the nature of hip-hop. Old school DJs created their breakbeats and mixes mechanically on turntables from funk and soul records. However by the early 1980s, the influence of techno-pop bands like Yellow Magic Orchestra from Japan and Kraftwerk from Germany brought drum machines, synthesizers, vocoders, sequencers, and electronic samplers into the studio as a means of creating very sophisticated mixes electronically.

Break Dancing Movie Craze

The interest created by Style Wars and Wild Style and the unexpected success of Flashdance in 1983 quickly led Hollywood to attempt to capitalize on the public's fascination with what the media called "break dancing." A string of "break dance" movies was released in 1984 beginning with Breakin' in May and followed by Beat Street in June, Body Rock in August, and Breakin' 2: Electric Boogaloo in December. All were critical disasters and, unlike Wild Style and Style Wars, all misrepresented hip-hop culture despite the participation Afrika Bambaataa, DJ Kool Herc, Melle Mel, The Treacherous Three, The Furious Five, Ice-T, DJ Jazzy Jay, Crazy Legs, Sha-Rock, The Rock Steady Crew, and The New York Breakers in several of those films. However, all save Body Rock, were commercially successful and turned "break dancing" into a national phenomenon.

Most Important Distinction Between Old And New School

The most important distinction between "old school" and "new school" was that old school hip-hop was a phenomenon of the inner city with virtually no connection to mainstream culture and society and new school hip-hop was not only part of the mainstream, it was intentionally designed to appeal to the broad popular audience.

1984 Break Dancing Movies A Success; Hip-Hop Interest Grows

The success of the 1984 "break dance" movies made hip-hop culture a mainstream fascination and brought the "Four Pillars of Hip-Hop" - DJing, MCing, BBOYing, and graffiti writing - before the mainstream public, but in commercial, unthreatening, and bowdlerized forms. However, as "cover records" by white artists eventually led the mainstream audience to the original recordings by Little Richard, Etta James, Fats Domino, and LaVern Baker in the 1950s; the breakdancing phenomenon eventually led the audience to the grittier reality of true hip-hop artists and culture.

Hip-Hop Teenagers In 1970s

The teenagers who created hip-hop in the 1970s were becoming young adults in the 1980s with adult lives and adult responsibilities. Marriage, family, jobs or the lack of jobs, and the other realities of day-to-day adult life eclipsed the joys of street parties, graffiti writing, and BBOYing. And, for those who came after the first generation of hip-hop artists and fans, the once revolutionary "newness" of hip-hop had worn thin and the search for something new and different was already taking place.

Change In Sampling

There was also a movement away from the old school tradition of principally borrowing from soul and R&B recordings and towards the sampling of rock and roll records, electronic dance music, and even heavy metal in creating hip-hop's musical backing beats. In part, old school had sought out records with extended beat breaks like those found on James Brown records and instrumentals like The Incredible Bongo Band's "Apache" to create their mixes. However, the introduction of digital samplers made the creation of extended breakbeats from almost any source relatively simple. Sampling from the popular mainstream also made the possibility of "crossing over" into the mainstream a more reasonable expectation by bringing hip-hop, at least musically, into a context more familiar and accessible to the mainstream audience.

Early Hip-Hop Records/DJ Role Diminshed

With the notable exception of "The Adventures of Grandmaster Flash on the Wheels of Steel," most early hip-hop records were made by studio musicians who laid down a basic beat for MCs to rap over. As a consequence, the importance of the DJ diminished dramatically and the focus of hip-hop shifted to the MC. Where DJs like Kool Herc, Grandmaster Flash, and Afrika Bambaataa were clearly the focus of old school hip-hop, new school would redirect emphasis to the MC.