Roots: Hip Hop in Philadelphia

Philadelphia for many years was the only city whose contributions to hip hop was valued as greatly as New York City’s by hip hop critics. Hip hop was popular in Philly as far back as 1976 and the New York Times newspaper coined Philly as the “Graffiti Capital of the World” in 1971, due to the influence of legendary graffiti artists, Cornbread. In 1980, the first female solo artist to record hip hop was Lady B, “To the Beat Y’All”, a Philly-area radio DJ.

In addition, Philly has produced some of the most well known rappers and DJs since the beginning of hip hop culture. DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince were one of the first to put Philly on the map as a hip hop headquarters.  They made music that crossed over to R&B and Pop radio stations. Also, an underground rapper, Steady B pushed the Philly underground sound with hard beats and rhymes which were reminiscent of early LL Cool J.

Also, The Roots, were the first proclaimed hip hop band in the area, that was followed by underground fans since the mid-1990s. Philly is also famous for early 2000’s mainstream acts such as Beanie Sigel, Eve, Freeway, State Property, Cassidy and Cyssero. The Philadelphia underground scene consists of Reef the Lost Cauze, Chief Kamachi, Hezekiah, Random, The Last Emperor, Jedi Mind Tricks, meek mill and so many more.

 

If you would like any additional information please contact DJ Untouchable at info@deejayuntouchable.com

and (Office) 336-833-4752 or (Cell) 267-269-9709

 

 

The Origin of DJ’s in the Hip Hop Culture-Part 2

The history of DJ and Hip Hop comes from the term Turntablism that is best known as a modern art form and musical practice that laid down its roots in the early 1970s.

Kool DJ Herc, Afrika Bambaataa and Grandmaster Flash are widely credited for having a strong foundation within the role of Hip Hop DJs as entertainers. Kool Herc’s invention of break-beat DJing is generally regarded as the foundational development in Hip Hop history.To understand the significance of this achievement, it is important to first define the “break.”

 

The “break” of a song is a musical fragment only seconds in length, which typically takes the form of an “interlude” in which all or most of the music stops except for the percussion. The break is roughly equivalent to the song’s “climax,” as it is meant to be the most exciting part of a song before returning once more to its finale.

 

Kool Herc introduced the break-beat technique as a way of extending the break indefinitely. This is done by buying two of the same record and switching from one to the other on the DJ mixer.

Kool Herc’s techniques set the course for the development of turntablism as an art form in significant ways. Most important, however, he developed a new form of DJing that does not consist of playing and mixing records one after the other.  In addition, Kool Herc originates the idea of creating a sequence for his own purposes, introducing the idea of the DJ as the “feature” of parties, whose performance on any given night would be examined critically by the crowd.

However it was Grand Wizard Theodore, an apprentice of Flash, who accidentally isolated the most recognizable technique of turntablism: scratching. He put his hand on a record one day, to silence the music on the turntable while his mother was calling out to him and thus accidentally discovered the sound of scratching by moving the record back and forth under the stylus. Though Theodore discovered scratching, it was Flash who helped push the early concept and showcase it to the public, in his live shows and on recordings.

These early pioneers cemented the fundamental practice that would later become one of the pillars of the emerging turntablist art form. Scratching during the 1980s became a playing field for hip hop music, being used by producers and DJs on records and in live shows. By the end of the 1980s it was very common to hear scratching on a record, generally as part of the chorus of a track or within its production. On stage the DJ would provide the music for the MCs to rhyme to, scratching records during the performance and showcasing his skills alongside the verbal skills of the MC. The most well known example of this ‘equation’ of MCs and DJ is probably Run DMC who was composed of two MCs and one DJ. The DJ, the late Jam Master Jay, was an integral part of the group since his turntablism was critical to Run DMC’s productions and performances.

As you can see, DJs have played a critical role in the art of Hip Hop for many years.  DJs are still evolving every day and learning new techniques to entertain their audiences.

If you would like to start a discussion about history of DJ’s leave a comment or contact DJ Untouchable at info@deejayuntouchable.com and (Office) 336-833-4752, (Cell) 267-269-9709. 

The Origin of DJ’s in the Hip Hop Culture-Part 1

 

DJ’s have always been influential to Hip Hop Culture.  DJing is one of the four main “elements” of hip hop that includes MCing, graffiti, and break dancing.

While hip hop did not invent DJing, it has extended its boundaries and techniques. The first hip hop DJ was Kool DJ Herc a.k.a. the “godfather of hip hop”, a native of Jamaica who created hip hop through the isolation of “breaks. Herc was one of the most popular DJs in the early 1970s in New York, and he quickly switched from using reggae records to funk, rock and, later, disco, since the New York audience did not particularly like reggae. Because the percussive breaks were generally short, Herc and other DJs began extending them using an audio mixer and two records. Mixing and scratching techniques eventually developed along with the breaks. In addition to developing Herc’s techniques, DJs like Grandmaster Flash, Grand Wizard Theodore, and Grandmaster Caz made further innovations with the introduction of scratching.

In the early years of hip hop, the DJs were the stars, but their limelight has been taken by MCs since 1978, thanks largely to Melle Mel of Grandmaster Flash’s crew, the Furious Five. However, a number of DJs have gained stardom nonetheless in recent years. Famous DJs include Grandmaster Flash, Mr. Magic, DJ Jazzy Jeff, DJ Scratch from EPMD, DJ Premier from Gang Starr, DJ Scott La Rock from Boogie Down Productions, DJ Pete Rock of Pete Rock & CL Smooth, DJ Muggs from Cypress Hill, Jam Master Jay from Run-DMC, Eric B., Funkmaster Flex, Tony Touch, DJ Clue, DJ Q-Bert.

Stay tuned for part 2 of The Origin of DJ’s in the Hip Hop Culture.  If you would like to discuss the history of DJ’s in further details contact DJ Untouchable at info@deejayuntouchable.com and (Office) 336-833-4752, (Cell) 267-269-9709