Mar 4, 2013

Influence of Disco (Transition to Recording)

Hip hop music was both influenced by disco music and a backlash against it.

According to Kurtis Blow, the early days of hip hop were characterized by divisions between fans and detractors of disco music.

Hip hop had largely emerged as "a direct response to the watered down, Europeanised, disco music that permeated the airwaves."

In Washington, D.C. go-go emerged as a reaction against disco and eventually incorporated characteristics of hip hop during the early 1980s. The genre of electronic music behaved similarly, eventually evolving into what is known as house music in Chicago and techno in Detroit.

Transition to Recording

Prior to 1979, recorded hip hop music consisted mainly of PA system recordings of parties and early hip hop mixtapes by DJs. Puerto Rican DJ Disco Wiz is credited as the first hip hop DJ to create a "mixed plate," or mixed dub recording, when, in 1977, he combined sound bites, special effects and paused beats to technically produce a sound recording.

The first hip hop record is widely regarded to be The Sugarhill Gang's "Rapper's Delight", from 1979

Despite the genre's growing popularity, Philadelphia was, for many years, the only city whose contributions could be compared to New York City's. Hip hop music became popular in Philadelphia in the late 1970s. The first released record was titled "Rhythm Talk", by Jocko Henderson.

The New York Times had dubbed Philadelphia the "Graffiti Capital of the World" in 1971. Philadelphia native DJ Lady B recorded "To the Beat Y'All" in 1979, and became the first female solo hip hop artist to record music