| Chapter 2: | What is Hip Hop? |
|
|
and was provided by local gang members, such as the Five Percenters. At this point during the 1980s, rap and hip hop were separate entities, brought together only to the extent that rappers and other entertainers were members of specific gangs or were claimed by any given gang as associate members.
It is important to note that women as well as men were masters of ceremony (MCs) and entertainers at these community rooms and outdoor parties. In Oneka LaBennett’s interview of Cindy Campbell, DJ Kool Herc’s sister, she pointed out that Campbell organized, advertised, and brought food to the parties that started hip hop (LaBennett, 2009). In fact, an in-depth history of this period in the South Bronx would likely reveal more female than male talent in these communities, given the preponderance of women who took music and dance lessons. But women performers, such as Sharon Jackson (Sha Rock) and the Funky Four, were overshadowed by innovations of sound systems, the developing of music sampling and “scratching”—techniques practiced by the young men, most of whom had little formal training in music.
The Four Element
At some point, rap became part of hip hop–gang pursuits. Gang members participated in four main activities as part of their truce formation and rapport building. The hip hop founders regarded these endeavors as the core of hip hop’s identity: DJing (disc jockeying), MCing (serving as masters of ceremony for social events), B-boying (break-dancing), and graffiti writing. Kool Herc first developed DJing to provide street entertainment and music for dances by blending cuts or riffs of different records, thereby creating new sounds and new music. Multiple turntables were required in order to mix sounds from different records. Grandmaster Flash innovated mixing records with his “scratching” technique. He also used the turntable and records as musical instruments, scratching new sounds to existing rhythms and beats. He figured out how to drop the needle at precise locations on the record to get specific sounds. Whereas DJs provided the music, MCs entertained audiences through the force of