The Emergence of Rap Music

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Jon Doe May 20, 2013 TITLE: The Emergence of Rap Music Rap music refers to the art form or rapping, which is a form of spoken word poetry that is usually preformed to a beat with a certain flow or rhyme scheme. Old school rap was depicted by much simpler rapping methods and was usually centered around the party scene at that time. Though there are quite a few people that can be deemed “the pioneer” of rap, I believe that Afrika Bambaataa had the most influence on the commercialization and mainstream popularity of rap music prior to the emergence of New School. His passion for DJing and pushing the limits is what led him to becoming one of the originator of “break-beat” DJing and inspired rappers everywhere to pick up the mic and spit bars. The Bronx, NY was the birthplace of rap music, and Afrika Bambaataa grew up in the heart of it. He was raised by his activist mother and uncle, which exposed him to the black liberation movement at a very young age. Bambaataa drew his interest in music from his mother’s large record collection. As Bambaataa grew older he became heavily exposed to the street and gang life ever growing around him. The led to him being one of the early members of the The Black Spades gang. As a Black Spade, Bambaataa quickly climbed to the position of warlord. As a warlord, Bambaataa had no fear in crossing into other turf and create relationships with other gang members. He led the Black Spades to be the biggest gang in the city before leaving after coming to a realization that he needed to put his effort to more positive things. Afrika Bambaataa’s extremely social and bright personality is what led him to bring rap and the hip hop culture into the mainstream culture of the united states, along with putting the Bronx on the map as it’s birthplace. As early as 1977, Bambaataa started throwing block parties where he brought together four

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