Hip Hop's Presence in the 80's

Presenter: Lucas Mateo Bernal

Presenter Status: Undergraduate student

Academic Year: 20-21

Semester: Fall

Faculty Mentor: Anne-Louise Dierkes

Department: Art

Funding Source/Sponsor: SYRCE Symposium

Screenshot URL: https://drive.google.com/uc?id=1tTML1IGzwqBOa8l58QQCkO9J_Q9PXUcD

Abstract:
When examining the development of hip hop, it’s important to understand its roots and how it evolved from what it was in the past to how it is today. Hip hop has undergone many changes throughout its history while also being dynamic with its impact on American culture as whole. Going back to the 70’s hip hop music (the most popular branch of hip hop) would be born from scratch; it began in the East Coast with MCing when artists would sample segments of songs to stretch them out into full tracks. It wasn’t until the 80’s that the hip hop movement would grossly leave its mark on American culture forever. 

    One thing about hip hop that made its presence truly known was that it was made specifically for the rebellious youth that populated urban regions and this connection to the audience was what fuelled it to become the superpower in the industry that it is today. An example of a collective that helped contribute to this movement was NWA.Their lyrics were explicit but nowhere far from the truth, drawing attention to real issues in American society like corruption of the judicial system and poverty’s effect on the urban world. Due to the explicit nature of this underground rap scene, it gained more and more attention until it was talked about nationwide. Their real listeners understood the rap group’s messages because they were living through them. Without the fiscal aspect of it, hip hop’s cultural impact would still be just as powerful because of its direct connection to its audience that it had.

    In the come up of hip hop culture, a new class of social hierarchy had arrived on the scene of America. This young social class was the population of “rebellious black teenagers,” as described in the article ‘R&B Extremes Flare in the '80s; Rap, Hip-hop Exacerbate Generation Gap.’ The way that hip hop united the jovial age of America was by breaking up into branches in order to find a fanbase in all kinds of audiences. Some examples of these were R&B, MCing, rap, breakdance, even graffiti and more. One similitude that is responsible for the spread of influence in all of these separate family members of hip hop is that they all share a sense of absurdity. This approach to displaying art is what makes them so controversial; the more conversations started, the greater the impact on culture. The birth of this new fanbase was almost the same as when Rock brought a new wave of music culture when it emerged in the 40’s and blew up to have teenagers lined up for concerts across the nation.

    Graffiti was one of the defining aspects of the hip hop movement as it blew up and evolved in the 80’s. It wasn’t as relevant in the 70’s but in the following decade it rapidly grew attention when subways in the East Coast would be peppered in ink. Some extremely important names to this movement were Futura 2000, Jean-Michel Basquiat, and Keith Haring. They were known for influencing the younger generation of graffiti artists and are referred to as “The Three Kings.” Graffiti’s first reaction was of course a negative reaction by people that shared the same perspective as conservatives and essentially police figures; legally, it is vandalism though. For the youth of America, it was perceived as art because that’s what it really was and they saw something that they could cling to and call their own. Imagine taking the same subway every day seeing the same art as well along with the new tags that arrive. It was only a matter of time until those people experiencing this would succumb to appreciate and understand how graffiti portrays a personality of the community. This is similar to the initial reaction of rap’s lyrics in the sense that they reflect the culture surrounding them.