One of the greatest things about music is the thought that you can borrow ideas from other musicians and artists to create your own masterpiece. For the kids in the ghettos of the Bronx New York this is exactly what they did.
It was a time when the United States government neglected the people of the Bronx New York because of the amount of violence s well as racism. Despite a seemingly insurmountable hill the youth of Generation X stood up for what they knew to be truth.
They stood up and screamed it while they developed there own brand of music known as Hip Hop.
Jamaica Sounds
The melting pot of america was about to give birth to another unique style and sound. Reggae, like Hip Hop is dependant on the “invisible man” behind the scene like DJ’s, producers and engineers who mix the music and create a danceable sound.
In fact the term DJ comes from the Jamaican term for rapper.
Studio owners like Lee “Scratch” Perry was one of these centers of musical power in Jamaica. He called his studio the “Black Ark”.
Beginning in 1973, for five years he recorded everyone and everything he could in Jamaica. Like Hip Hop the Reggae recordings became the uplifting ideas and political barometer or "political poll’s" set to melody and “Riddim.”
Dub History
Songs like Bob Marley and the Wailers “Small Axe” and Delroy Wilsons “Better Must Come” where rallying cry’s of the people. These highly political songs became great ways to express the will of the people.
Unfortunately it was not the answer to the problems as the music also had heavy social consequences and didn’t provide the relief from reality that music usually provides.
Eventually as a “B side “ to these popular songs the lyrics would be cut out letting this very danceable music thrive. These "Dubs" (songs without lyrics) provided the uplifting relief to it’s listeners that was need.
Dub masters like Lee “Scratch” Perry, Keith Hudson, Niney the Observer, the mighty two and King Tubby became some of the most influential artists of their time.
King Tubby created the first remix as we know it today on Jacobb Millers “Baby I Love You So” creating the happy uplifting song into a prison like haunting escapade.
Hip Hop a World Away
DJ Kool Herc, a native of Jamaica was familiar with the large sound systems. He had seen the power that rappers and the cool dance invoking styles of Reggae’s lyric less Dub music had on people.
Having grown up in Trenchtown, Jamaica, the same area that Bob Marley grew up in, the young pioneer had a fascination with turn tables and large, loud sound systems.
His father also owned a sound system that he rented to bands and DJ's when they needed it. This came in handy for the young DJ Kool Herc as he tested out this system when his father was not around. He did not have permission to use it because his father did not what him breaking it!
One day he stumbled upon a technique that unleashed the full power of the system and showed his father what he had learned. It was such a revelation to the two of them that his father started letting the young man spin records during the breaks at the concerts that his father was working at.
Eventually he began throwing parties so he could pay for clothing for school. These parties became so popular that he was soon known throughout New York.
As his abilities behind the turntables grew so did his vision for a peaceful Bronx, New York. Along with other young visionaries like Afrika Bambaataa and Grand Master Flash music history would never be the same.
For more information about the History of Hip Hop or other styles of music go to http://history.bebop2pop.com
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