NIGHTLIFE
Does Hip Hop belong in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame?
March 27th , 2006
Rock and Roll: a Genre, an Attitude, a Lifestyle. Trying to define ‘Rock & Roll’ defies the entire movement itself. So much more than just a style of music, Rock & Roll is the anthem of the world’s youth promoting their rebellion against authority and anti-establishment. The music was meant to offend and appall the older generations with suggestive lyrics about the rebellious lifestyle of Drugs and Sex which became synonymous with Rock and Roll, not to mention its beginnings started with mainly black influences in a time when integration of whites and blacks was an idea and not yet COMMON SENSE.
According to Wikipedia (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rock_and_roll) Rock & Roll started in the 1940’s in the United States by artists “blending Rhythm and Blues, R & B, African American culture, and America's country and western music,” although some believe it’s original origins come much earlier from the 1920’s in New York with the “first fusion of heavily rhythmic African shuffles and sand dances with melody-driven European genres, particularly the Irish jig.” From Rock & Roll spawned the generic term of ‘Rock’ music which has come to include nearly all genres of music since. As the original generation of Rockers grew older, the genre became more socially accepted which was defying its original purpose of existence. With Rock becoming acceptable as a part of pop culture, new forms were forced to develop in order to keep with its original anti-establishment principles. The youths performing the previous acts and styles that were made strictly to shock the older generations were now the parents and rule-makers themselves. To counteract this “selling out” of Rock & Roll, Punk Rock, Rap and Hip-Hop emerged.
With these new forms of music expanding the original cause, the ideas of Sex, Drugs, and Rock & Roll spread around the world. From its very definition, Rock & Roll is Sex!
The term "rock and roll", which was black slang for sexual intercourse, appeared on record for the first time in 1922 on Trixie Smith's "My Baby Rocks Me With One Steady Roll". The word "rock" had a long history in the English language as a metaphor for "to shake up, to disturb or to incite". The verb "Roll" was a medieval metaphor which meant "having sex". Writers for hundreds of years have used the phrases "They had a roll in the hay" or "I rolled her in the clover". - http://www.rockabillyhall.com/BillHaley.html
Coming from the predominantly African-American world of Rhythm & Blues, slightly changing the backbeat and then broadcasting to a mixed white and black audience around the country, Rock music also rekindled the dance craze of the roaring twenties, eventually leading into the Funk, Techno, and Hip-Hop dancing of today. The artists transformed from ground-breaking musicians into Rock stars, a title held today at a higher social standard than the President himself.
One of the largest developments of Rock & Roll was the merging of African-American Jazz and R&B with the new rebellious ideas and popularity of Rock music which became one of the largest forms of music today; Hip-Hop!
The term Hip-Hop was originally coined by a man named Cowboy, a member of the most influential group of MC’s to affect this new genre, Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five! Following the same beginnings as the earlier forms of Rock & Roll, Hip-Hop and the art of “break-beat deejaying-the process of remixing and thereby creating a new piece of music by playing vinyl records and turntables as if they were musical instruments,” (www.rockhall.com/inductee)- only came into existence because the youth were forced into finding a new way to rebel. Grandmaster Flash helped pioneer this art of deejaying in order for the inner-city youths to be able to dance, since they weren’t old enough nor had the money to get into to the popular disco halls of the early 1970’s. So in the basements and block parties of the South Bronx, Hip-Hop was born and a new era of Rock & Roll has lived on since.
As told by the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, Flash’s career began as a DJ back in 1974.
“Flash worked briefly with Kurtis Blow, but Cowboy became the first MC to officially join Grandmaster Flash in what would become the Furious Five. Cowboy’s rousing exhortations—including now-familiar calls to party, like “Throw your hands in the air and wave ‘em like you just don’t care!”—became essential ingredients of the hip-hop experience.
Grandmaster’s squadron of MCs expanded to include Kidd Creole, Melle Mel, Mr. Ness (a.k.a. Scorpio) and Raheim, in that order. Melle Mel, one of the most phonetically and rhythmically precise rappers in the genre—and the authoritatively deep voice who delivered the anti-cocaine rap “White Lines”—recalled the early days of hip-hop: “Disco was for adults, and they wouldn’t let the kids in. That forced us to go out on the streets and make our own entertainment.” - http://www.rockhall.com/inductee/grandmaster-flash-and-the-furious-five/
As Rolling Stone observed, “’The Message’ was [the first record] to prove that rap could become the inner city’s voice, as well as its choice.” For the first time, a form of Rock music was being used to inform corporate and suburban America about a part of life that they didn’t recognize in this country rather than simply rebelling against the social norm. Through ‘The Message,’ we heard Melle Mel’s confessions about life in the ghetto, “It’s like a jungle sometimes, it makes me wonder how I keep from going under.” Hip-Hop now embodied Rock & Roll as appalling and shocking mature America by showing them what they didn’t want to see yet again, solidifying its place as a spawn of Rock & Roll and an integral part of modern Rock and Pop music.
How are artists considered to be inducted into the prestigious Rock & Roll Hall of Fame? Currently, groups or individuals are qualified for induction 25 years after the release of their first record. Nominees should have demonstrable influence and significance within the history of rock and roll. Four categories are recognized: Performers, Non-Performers, Early Influences, and since 2000, Sidemen. Since it is obvious how Hip-Hop was born out of the institution of Rock & Roll, it is definitely necessary to include this pioneer of mixing and the first five MC’s in the Hall of Fame. Being the first Hip-Hop artists to ever be inducted, Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five remember their Rock & Roll beginnings and influences. Some of their first tours were with Queen and Blondie, both pioneers of the new sounds of Rock & Roll stretching from the 1970’s through the 1980’s. Now, other inductees of the class of 2007, such as R.E.M., talked of still owning some of Flash’s albums and the influence that the Grandmaster of the turntable and his Five Furious MC’s had on their lives and their music.
Inducted by Jay-Z, modern Hip-Hop’s current CEO and one of the biggest Rock stars in the world, there is no doubt that Hip-Hop is here to stay and an important part of the progression of Rock & Roll. Conceived by the marriage of the earlier forms of R&B and the rebellious ideas, attitudes, fashions and lifestyles of the early stages of Rock & Roll, Hip-Hop definitely belongs in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. It has earned its place by influencing the musical and political styles of not just modern Rap, but also the Grunge, Post Punk, and Pop Rock eras. Hip-Hop is no longer just a voice for the youth of the inner-city, but a form of Rock & Roll that carries with it the original meaning of the genre. Hip-Hop is the youth of America’s way to shock and offend the older generations, as well as express their ideas in a way that can reach and unite the entire world in both song and dance. To quote a modern group of influential MC’s from New York,
“For the last year there's been a lot of music comin out the shit been weak… this is true hip-hop you listenin to right here. In the pure form, this ain't no R&B with a wack n***a takin the loop, Be loopin that shit thinkin it's gonna be the sound of the culture… All that player dressin up on this shit, actin like this some kind of fashion show man… This is hip-hop right here. YaknowhatI'msayin? This is lyrics, MCin! And yo, to y'all n***az who think you going to become an MC overnight, Better snap out that f***in dream!” – RZA, Wu-Tang Clan (1997)
With these lyrics, Wu-Tang showed that even in modern Hip-Hop, there is still influence of the original MC’s and the Grandmaster. Not all Hip-Hop has stayed true to the roots of Rock & Roll. A lot of rap stars have sold out to the money and fame, treating the art as a means to become pop idols, not a way to rebel against the social norms and to educate the world about the lifestyle in which you were raised. In a way, a lot of modern Hip-Hop has grown to be accepted by even the older generations just as the previous spawns of Rock & Roll. But in its true form of MC-ing with lyricists spreading their story and Mixers showing their talents, Hip-Hop is truly a part of the history of Rock & Roll and is forever solidified in the family tree of Rock Music.
Hip-Hop has earned its spot in the Rock Hall, as have its pioneers: Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five! Hip-Hop began with them, as said by their presenter Jay-Z, “The shot heard ’round the world was fired from the South Bronx.” Thank you Flash and the Five MC’s for helping us to reach the state of Rock music that we are in today.
Joseph Bonish, joe@stldmag.com
For all of our photos from the induction ceremony at the Waldorf-Astoria in New York, check them out here, as well as random pics and stories from our minds and journeys.
For more info on the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, log onto www.rockhall.com.
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