LIFELINE
There are many genres of music that have been born by combining or adding something new to previously existing musical styles in effort to create an all new sound. Country music, southern rock, blues and of course hip-hop all have their roots in other genres. Of these, hip-hop is the epitome of the meshing of genres to create something new and fresh. From its inception in the 1970s folks like DJ Kool Herc, Afrika Bambaataa and DJ Grand Wizard Theodore are combining funk records with different drumbeats in attempts to keep their club audiences bouncing. It must have been awesome to be in a club when these ground breaking DJs would unveil a new beat that they had created that would send the crowds into a dancing frenzy. Of course, this takes place well before the pacifier sucking, glow stickwaving trance DJs eventually take the art form to…let’s just say, interesting places. Staying true to its roots, hip-hop continues to evolve w ith artists combining different “ingredients” to create that next “it sound." And sampling of other genres provides just the freshness that hip-hop needs to keep growing in popularity. Sampling provides a new, yet familiar effect for a song by borrowing snippets from another song. As hip-hop grows, sampling moves seamlessly from taking simple beats
from Latin songs to sampling entire guitar riffs, sound effects, and even spoken word from other genres. Eventually it’s the genius of Run DMC, who successfully bring hip-hop and rock together with their albums Run-DMC, King of Rock and Raising Hell that launches h ip-hop into the stratosphere of the mainstream. Hip-hop fusion is born and continues to prove successful throughout the late 80s and early 90s as acts like the Beastie Boys, Ice-T and Teddy Riley mesh their hip-hop talents with punk rock, heavy metal and rhythm and blues. This trend appears to be a mainstay and it continues even today although the genre seems to be growing more and more generic and popish, in the mainstream at least. However, there may be some hope for hip-hop. Perhaps there is a lifeline that just might save hip-hop from its own self, and that lifeline resides in the indie hip-hop scene.