EVOLUTION

The creation of the term hip hop is often associated to Keith Cowboy, rapper with Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five. However, Lovebug Starski, Keith Cowboy, and DJ Hollywood used the term when the music style, nowadays known as hip hop, was still known as disco rap. It is believed that Cowboy created the term while teasing a friend who had just joined the U.S. Army, by scat singing the words “hip/hop/hip/hop", in a way that mimicked the rhythmic cadence of marching soldiers.

The genre that emerged from basement parties in the

Sedgwick Avenue

apartment building of The Bronx, in New York City some 30 years ago, has ripened to a social, cultural and corporate phenomenon.  By the mid 80s, the art, dance, culture, language, fashion and swagger of hip hop began to pervade areas of the Caribbean, Europe, Africa and Asia. While hip hop began to be embraced and developed outside of the U.S., was also experiencing its own evolution within the States.  As tensions swelled in America’s cities, hip hop’s subject matter often reflected the increasing ravages of urban poverty, alcohol, drug abuse, crime, street violence, and gang rivalries. In the late 1980s people could experience the emergence of East and West coast rivalries through gangsta rap. After the popularity of artists like the Los Angeles-based group N.W.A. (Niggaz With Attitude) and albums like Dr. Dre's “The Chronic” in 1992, gangsta rap became the most commercially lucrative sub-genre of hip-hop.

 The subject matter inherent in gangsta rap caused a great deal of controversy and criticism from both right wing and left wing commentators, and religious leaders, with accusations of spreading homophobia, violence, profanity, promiscuity, misogyny, racism, and materialism. Gangsta rappers often defend themselves by claiming that they are describing the reality of inner-city life, and that they are only adopting a character, like an actor playing a role, that may not necessarily reflect a life that they promote. Hip hop continued to reflect a huge success throughout the 90s.