The genre of hip hop was first developed during the very end of the 1970s in The Bronx, New York by inner-city African Americans and Latino Americans. The genre of hip hop started off as slow paced but quickly became more fast paced as time went on. Hip hop features forms of instrumental sounds made by turntables and other pieces of recording equipment.

The 1970s and 1980s

Throughout the course of the first decade of the hip hop era, music that was being released is drastically different than now. The music was typically slow paced with a reggae tone to it. Some of the most popular artists of this era were The Sugar Hill Gang, LL Cool J, Salt-N-Pepa, N.W.A. and Run D.M.C. Some of the most well known songs during this time period were “Straight Outta Compton” by N.W.A., “The Breaks” by Kurtis Blow and “Rebel Without A Pause”, by Public Enemy.

The 1990s

The 1990s were a controversial decade in the world of hip hop music. African American rappers such as Eazy E and Ice Cube were coming forward and talking about police brutality towards African Americans all over The United States. It was also an era that introduced future superstars of the rap industry such as 2Pac, Jay Z and Eminem. Some of the most popular songs that were released during this era were “Fight The Power” by Public Enemy, “You Know How We Do It” by Ice Cube, “Who Am I?” by Snoop Dogg and “Juicy” by The Notorious B.I.G.

“During this era artists really started to evolve in new ways,” said sophmore Jaxsen Krapf. “Groups like OutKast and A Tribe Called Quest revolutioned the sound at the time.”

The 2000s

During the turn of the new century, a new side of hip hop, slowly started to shine through with new artists such as Outkast rising to fame. On the contrary, there was a new type of feel that was now present in the hip hop industry. Auto Tune was now very prevalent, and using bass and different forms of changing pitch of music was common. Some of the top songs of this decade were “Hot in Herre” by Nelly, “Lose Yourself” by Eminem, “In Da Club” by 50 Cent, “Crank That” by Soulja Boy and “99 Problems” by Jay Z.

The 2010s

Throughout the 2010s another known rythmn to hip hop and rap became more prevalent, which is known as “mumble rap”, which is exactly what it sounds like. Fast paced, pitch changes and often hard to understand when listening to it for the first time. Applications such as SoundCloud now help talented artists rise to fame and obtain record deals. Well known artists of this previous decade are Drake, Kanye West, Wiz Khalifa, Jay Z and Travis Scott. Some of the most well known rap songs from the previous decade were “Lucid Dreams” by Juice Wrld, “Congratulations”, by Post Malone, “God’s Plan” by Drake, and “Bad and Boujee” by Lil Uzi Vert and Migos.