Rap Music: Ingenuity in the South Bronx
- Music History Hall
- 7 hours ago
- 1 min read
Rap Music
The South Bronx in the 1970s was a dark and dreary place. There were crumbled buildings, closed schools, and a lack of basic services. Yet out of the chaos and despair, a new art form was created—Rap Music.
Growing up in the South Bronx area of New York was difficult. It was understood that if something needed to be done, it was up to you to do it. This spurred a generation of young people to develop a brand new art form using nothing but pure creativity and ingenuity. Hip Hop was created by young people who had no instruments or musical training.
Another way the young people living amidst the harsh conditions in the South Bronx expressed themselves was through graffiti art. They would decorate the trains that ran throughout New York City with colorful artwork. By sneaking around at night and spray painting messages and pictures on train cars, they were letting the rest of New York know that they were there.
Along with music and art, they created a new form of dance to accompany the rap beats—breakdancing. Without good schools or jobs available, the young people hung out on stoops and street corners and used their creativity to create something new. Breakdancing was a dance people did during the drum or instrumental "break" in the record due to the DJ's mixing.
Rap DJs at parties would talk in between the songs while changing the records on the turntable and stop and start songs with a scratching sound. Grandmaster Flash was one of the first DJs to develop several innovative techniques.
