1.
Run TMC
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Run TMC was the high-scoring trio of basketball teammates consisting of Tim Hardaway, Mitch Richmond and Chris Mullin. Starting in 1989, they played together for two seasons with the Golden State Warriors in the National Basketball Association, coached by Don Nelson, the Warriors played a fast-paced, run-and-gun style, and Run TMC was the leagues highest-scoring trio in the 1990–91 season. Despite their short time together, the popularity of Run TMC endured and their name was a play on the hip hop group Run–D. M. C. With the first name initials of each member forming TMC, Mullin joined the Warriors in 1985, Richmond was drafted by Golden State in 1988, and Hardaway was a rookie in 1989. They were the core of the Warriors uptempo offense, known as Nellie Ball after their coach Don Nelson, Nelson was a Warriors vice president in 1987–88 before becoming their coach and general manager starting in 1988–89. The Warriors led the NBA in scoring in 1989–90 in Run TMCs first season, early on, Hardaway was not as proficient a scorer as Mullin and Richmond. In a win over the Boston Celtics in the 38th game of the season, in their two seasons together, they accomplished the feat 48 times, going 30–18 in those games. The Warriors sold out home game in 1990–91. In the season opener, they defeated the Denver Nuggets 162–158, despite their scoring prowess, the Warriors were limited defensively. On February 26,1991, they lost 131–119 to the Orlando Magic despite the threesome each scoring more than 30 points, Golden State finished the season 44–38, their best record in nine years, and finished second in the league in scoring. Mullin finishing eighth in scoring, Richmond 10th, and Hardaway 11th and their combined scoring average was the second highest in NBA history for a 20-point trio, surpassed only by the 76.7 by Denvers Alex English, Kiki Vandeweghe, and Dan Issel in 1982–83. The Warriors advanced to the playoffs, upsetting the David Robinson, Nelson said he was under pressure to get bigger to improve the Warriors from a good team to a great one. In the trios two seasons together, the Warriors had a record of 81–83, never finished higher than fourth place in the Pacific Division. I’d never make that trade again, Nelson lamented, Hardaway, Richmond, and Mullin began the 1990–91 season being called the Big Three. Midway through the season, The San Francisco Examiner sponsored a Name the Warriors Trio Contest, the newspaper took the best suggestions to the players, who selected Run TMC. The name was a reference to hip hop group Run–D. M. C, Run DMC was one of the first rap groups that most people really took notice of. We definitely liked that nickname, remembered Richmond, former Laker Sam Perkins recalled that the Warriors even had Run–D. M. C. Perform at one of the Warriors–Lakers playoff games that season, Richmond was a six-time All-Star with Sacramento, and the Kings retired his number in 2003
2.
Darren McFadden
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Darren McFadden is an American football running back for the Dallas Cowboys of the National Football League. He played college football for the University of Arkansas, and was picked fourth overall by the Oakland Raiders in the 2008 NFL Draft, McFadden was born in Little Rock, Arkansas on August 27,1987 to Gralon McFadden and Mini Muhammad. The tenth of twelve children, he encountered hardships in his life with some members of his family, including his mother. He played a variety of positions for his team, but was primarily used as a running back on offense. In track & field, he competed as a sprinter and was timed at 10.8 seconds in the 100-meter dash. During his senior season, McFadden was a Parade magazine high school All-American in 2004, following his senior year, he was awarded the prestigious Landers Award, given every year to the top player in the state of Arkansas. McFadden was ranked the number 23 player in the nation by Rivals. com, McFadden received an athletic scholarship to attend the University of Arkansas, where he was a standout running back for coach Houston Nutts Arkansas Razorbacks football team from 2005 to 2007. In 2005, his freshman season, McFadden rushed for 1,113 yards and 11 touchdowns on 176 attempts. McFadden followed the Georgia game with a 187-yard effort against the South Carolina Gamecocks, McFadden also completed his first pass in a Razorback uniform in the game against LSU, when he completed a pass to Marcus Monk for thirteen yards on a critical fourth quarter drive. He was recognized at the end of the season as Southeastern Conference Freshman of the Year honors by both the SEC Media as well as SEC coaches, McFadden also garnered Freshman All-American nods, and was named as Newcomer of the Year for the Southeastern Conference by ESPN. He continued through spring practice early the year as the number one running back on the Razorback depth chart. McFadden also attained a new high for yards in a single game in his 219-yard performance in a 26–20 win against the University of South Carolina Gamecocks. On December 6,2006, McFadden was named one of three finalists for the Heisman Trophy, along with Troy Smith of The Ohio State University, in the final 2006 Heisman vote, McFadden placed second with 1,662 points, behind Smith and ahead of Quinn. On December 7,2006, McFadden became the first sophomore to win the Doak Walker Award and he was also the winner of Jim Brown Trophy in 2006. He was also a consensus All-America choice, making the vast majority of teams selected, McFadden surpassed Madre Hill as the record holder for most rushing yards in a season at the University of Arkansas in 2006. He was also the centerpiece of the Wildcat formation, an offensive formation wherein McFadden usually lined up at quarterback position. McFadden often played quarterback in school, and in the Wildcat formation, he was a threat to throw the ball, to run the ball. Before the 2007 season, McFadden was believed to be one of the top NFL draft picks after the 2007 season if he declared for the 2008 NFL Draft
3.
Jam Master Jay
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Jason William Mizell, better known by his stage name Jam Master Jay, was an American musician and DJ. He was the DJ of the hip hop group Run–D. M. C. Became one of the biggest hip-hop groups and are credited with breaking hip-hop into mainstream music, for his skill re-working riffs from classic guitar records, he was ranked No.10 on Spins list of the 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time. On October 30,2002, while recording new music at his studio in the Jamaica section of Queens, New York City, Mizell was shot and murdered by an unknown assailant. Jason Mizell was born in Brooklyn, New York City, the son of Jesse Mizell and Connie Thompson Mizell whose other children are Marvin L. Thompson, at age 3, Jason began playing trumpet. He learned to played bass, guitar, and drums and he performed at his church and in various bands prior to discovering turntablism. After he and his moved to Hollis, Queens, New York City in 1975, he discovered the turntables. For a time, he resided in Atlantic City, New Jersey and he caught on quickly because of his musical experience and after a year of DJing he felt that he was good enough to play in front of people. Originally calling himself, Jazzy Jase, he attended school at Andrew Jackson High School in Queens. He first started playing at parks and later played at bars and he also began throwing small parties around the area. Once he got a pair of Technics 1200s he improved rapidly since he was able to practice at night with headphones on when he was supposed to be sleeping, Mizell became a DJ because he just wanted to be a part of the band. He played bass and drums in garage bands. In 1982 he hooked up with Joseph Run Simmons and Darryl D. M. C, mcDaniels just after they graduated from high school and agreed to DJ for them because he wanted to be part of the band. On Run-D. M. Cs album Raising Hell, Mizell played keyboards, bass, Mizell remained in his childhood neighborhood in Hollis, Queens his entire life. In 1989, Mizell established the label Jam Master Jay Records and he also connected Chuck D with Def Jam co-founder Rick Rubin. After achieving relative prominence, Mizell was known to use the alias Jay Gambulos so as to avoid unwanted public attention, in 2002, Mizell founded the Scratch DJ Academy in Manhattan to provide unparalleled education and access to the art form of the DJ and producer. Jam Master Jay was related to the Mizell Brothers, a production team for Gary Bartz, Johnny Hammond Smith. On consecutive Christmas holidays, Mizell survived a car accident and a wound to the leg
4.
Darryl McDaniels
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Matthews McDaniels is an American musician. He is a member of the hip hop group Run–D. M. C. and is considered one of the pioneers of hip hop culture. McDaniels grew up in New York City and he was born to an unwed mother who surrendered him to the New York Foundling home. He was a ward of the Foundling, in care, until placed with the McDaniels. He attended Rice High School in Manhattan and later enrolled in St. Johns University in Queens, McDaniels first became interested in hip hop music after listening to recordings of Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five. In 1978, McDaniels taught himself to DJ in the basement of his parents home, using turntables, during this period he adopted the stage name Grandmaster Get High. Later that year, McDaniels sold his DJ equipment, after his friend Joseph Run Simmons acquired his own turntables, after Jam-Master Jay – who had a reputation as the best young DJ in Hollis – joined the group, Run encouraged McDaniels to rap rather than DJ. Gradually, McDaniels came to prefer rapping to mixing records, in 1981, he dropped the Easy D moniker in favor of DMcD, the way he signed his work in school, and then to the shorter D. M. C. This new nickname alternately stood for Devastating Mic Control or Darryl Mac, in 1984, the trio released their self-titled debut album and became very successful in the hip-hop industry. The groups success continued to grow and reached its peak with their third album Raising Hell, the album went to No.6 on the Billboard 200 and No.1 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart, making Run-D. M. C. The most popular group at the time. During this time, McDaniels began to build a reputation as a heavy drinker and he was known to drink up to eight 40-ounce bottles of malt liquor a day and was arrested twice for public intoxication and driving while intoxicated. Wrote Christmas in Hollis for A Very Special Christmas, the music video for Christmas in Hollis was shot in Hollis, Queens. Filmed the video during their 1987 tour, DMCs mother made a guest appearance in the video. In 1997, McDaniels began to develop a deep depression and he became extremely unhappy with the rigorous routine of touring and performing, and with being away from his wife and newborn son. He began to rely heavily on drugs and alcohol to ease the pain. While on tour, McDaniels noticed his voice was giving out and he was later diagnosed with spasmodic dysphonia, a vocal disorder which causes involuntary spasms of the larynx muscles. He believes it was caused by the way in which he performs his lyrics compounded with the years of heavy drinking
5.
Joseph Simmons
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Joseph Ward Simmons, known by the stage name Run, Rev. Run or DJ Run, is one of the members of the influential hip hop group Run–D. M. C. He is also a minister, known as Reverend Run. He found new popularity in 2005 with his familys MTV reality show Runs House, Simmons was born November 14,1964 in Hollis, Queens, New York. He is the brother of artist Danny Simmons and Russell Simmons. Simmons was the lead vocalist in the group called The Force. He founded Run-D. M. C. as a lead vocalist along with friend Darryl D. M. C, mcDaniels and the late DJ Jason Jam-Master Jay Mizell. Run began using the name of Rev. Run after he was ordained as a Pentecostal minister by E, jordan also named him Protege of the Year Award in 2004. The same day, symbolic of his Prosperity Ministry, there was a Rolls Royce parade outside the Plaza Hotel in New York City, the new $325,000 Phantom had been a gift from Reverend Run as a thank you for Jordans mentoring support. Run was a feature in the single Song 4 Lovers by UK pop band Liberty X in September 2005 and it was followed by his first solo album, Distortion. The first single from the album, Mind on the Road, is featured in the EA Sportss Madden NFL06 video game. Mind on the Road uses samples from the song I Love Rock n Roll, in 2002, he appeared on a special Rap Stars edition of The Weakest Link, and was the third one voted off. Rev Run appeared on the MTV series Runs House, a reality show revolving around his life with his family. In 2007, he appeared with his son Diggy Simmons on My Super Sweet 16 while attending a 16th birthday party for Diddys son, diddy is also the producer of Runs House. In 2008, Simmons and his wife Justine teamed up with Kool-Aid, with Kool-Aid, they are helping to build twenty four playgrounds over the course of 2008 and hope to raise awareness for the need for safe play spaces. On August 5,2008, Gotham Press published Simmons book, Take Back Your Family, A Challenge to Americas Parents, co-authored by his wife, Justine Simmons, on September 8,2007, Rev Run was honored as a BMI Icon at the annual BMI Urban Awards. The weekend of September 17 and 18 of 2011, Rev Run made a special guest appearance at Bay Area Fellowship with Pastor Bil Cornelius in Corpus Christi, in October 2011, Rev Run was a special guest of Fellowship Church based out of Grapevine, Texas
6.
Hollis, Queens
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Hollis is a residential middle-class neighborhood within the southeastern section of the New York City borough of Queens. There are small minorities of Hispanics and Indians reside in the area, boundaries are considered to be the Atlantic Branch of the Long Island Rail Road to the west, Hillside Avenue to the north, Francis Lewis Boulevard to the east, and Murdock Avenue to the south. Much of this area is considered to be within the St. Albans postal district, Hollis is close to Jamaica and Queens Village. The neighborhood is part of Queens Community Board 12, Hollis is patrolled by the NYPDs 113th Precinct. Public schools in the area are operated by the New York City Department of Education, the first European settlers were Dutch homesteaders in the 17th century. Woodhull Avenue in Hollis is named after him, the area remained rural until 1885, when developers turned 136 acres into houses, and the area is still developed primarily with single-family houses. In 1898, it became a part of New York City with the rest of the borough of Queens, since the end of the Korean War, the neighborhood has been settled primarily by African-American families. In recent years, the area has seen an influx of South Asians. The area has a majority of working parents with many early schools in Hollis. Hollis is mainly within zip codes 11423 and 11412, the neighborhood is part of Queens Community Board 8. At 193rd Street is Foothill Malls, a traffic median with a memorial marking the main entrance to the upscale subdivision. A notable local facility was Holliswood Hospital, the hospital provided psychiatric care with 127 beds. On August 16,2013 the facility was closed, based on data from the 2010 United States Census, the population of Hollis was 20,269, a decrease of 478 from the 26,061 counted in 2000. Covering an area of 525.10 acres, the neighborhood had a density of 38.6 inhabitants per acre. The racial makeup of the neighborhood was 64. 0% African American,10. 7% Asian,2. 3% White,0. 6% Native American,0. 1% Pacific Islander,4. 8% from other races, and 4. 3% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 13. 2% of the population, Long Island Rail Road service is available at the Hollis station, located at 193rd Street and Woodhull Avenue, The station is served mostly by the Hempstead Branch. West of Hollis station is the LIRRs Holban Yard, a yard that has been shared with St. Albans for over a century. The Q1, Q2, Q3, Q36, Q43, Q76, Q77, Q110 buses serve Hollis, as well as closed-door NICE Bus N6, the E J Z trains stop nearby at Jamaica Center – Parsons/Archer
7.
New York (state)
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New York is a state in the northeastern United States, and is the 27th-most extensive, fourth-most populous, and seventh-most densely populated U. S. state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south and Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Vermont to the east. With an estimated population of 8.55 million in 2015, New York City is the most populous city in the United States, the New York Metropolitan Area is one of the most populous urban agglomerations in the world. New York City makes up over 40% of the population of New York State, two-thirds of the states population lives in the New York City Metropolitan Area, and nearly 40% lives on Long Island. Both the state and New York City were named for the 17th-century Duke of York, the next four most populous cities in the state are Buffalo, Rochester, Yonkers, and Syracuse, while the state capital is Albany. New York has a diverse geography and these more mountainous regions are bisected by two major river valleys—the north-south Hudson River Valley and the east-west Mohawk River Valley, which forms the core of the Erie Canal. Western New York is considered part of the Great Lakes Region and straddles Lake Ontario, between the two lakes lies Niagara Falls. The central part of the state is dominated by the Finger Lakes, New York had been inhabited by tribes of Algonquian and Iroquoian-speaking Native Americans for several hundred years by the time the earliest Europeans came to New York. The first Europeans to arrive were French colonists and Jesuit missionaries who arrived southward from settlements at Montreal for trade, the British annexed the colony from the Dutch in 1664. The borders of the British colony, the Province of New York, were similar to those of the present-day state, New York is home to the Statue of Liberty, a symbol of the United States and its ideals of freedom, democracy, and opportunity. In the 21st century, New York has emerged as a node of creativity and entrepreneurship, social tolerance. On April 17,1524 Verrazanno entered New York Bay, by way of the now called the Narrows into the northern bay which he named Santa Margherita. Verrazzano described it as a vast coastline with a delta in which every kind of ship could pass and he adds. This vast sheet of water swarmed with native boats and he landed on the tip of Manhattan and possibly on the furthest point of Long Island. Verrazannos stay was interrupted by a storm which pushed him north towards Marthas Vineyard, in 1540 French traders from New France built a chateau on Castle Island, within present-day Albany, due to flooding, it was abandoned the next year. In 1614, the Dutch under the command of Hendrick Corstiaensen, rebuilt the French chateau, Fort Nassau was the first Dutch settlement in North America, and was located along the Hudson River, also within present-day Albany. The small fort served as a trading post and warehouse, located on the Hudson River flood plain, the rudimentary fort was washed away by flooding in 1617, and abandoned for good after Fort Orange was built nearby in 1623. Henry Hudsons 1609 voyage marked the beginning of European involvement with the area, sailing for the Dutch East India Company and looking for a passage to Asia, he entered the Upper New York Bay on September 11 of that year
8.
Hip hop music
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It developed as part of hip hop culture, a subculture defined by four key stylistic elements, MCing/rapping, DJing/scratching with turntables, break dancing, and graffiti writing. Other elements include sampling beats or bass lines from records, while often used to refer solely to rapping, hip hop more properly denotes the practice of the entire subculture. Hip hops early evolution occurred as sampling technology and drum machines became available and affordable. Turntablist techniques such as scratching and beatmatching developed along with the breaks and Jamaican toasting, rapping developed as a vocal style in which the artist speaks or chants along rhythmically with an instrumental or synthesized beat. The Sugarhill Gangs 1979 song Rappers Delight is widely regarded to be the first hip hop record to gain popularity in the mainstream. The 1980s marked the diversification of hip hop as the genre developed more complex styles, prior to the 1980s, hip hop music was largely confined within the United States. However, during the 1980s, it began to spread to scenes in dozens of countries. New school hip hop was the wave of hip hop music, originating in 1983–84 with the early records of Run-D. M. C. The Golden age hip hop period was a period between the mid-1980s and the early 1990s. Notable artists from this era include the Juice Crew, Public Enemy, & Rakim, Boogie Down Productions and KRS-One, EPMD, Slick Rick, Beastie Boys, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane, Ultramagnetic MCs, De La Soul, and A Tribe Called Quest. Gangsta rap is a subgenre of hip hop that often focuses on the violent lifestyles, in the West Coast hip hop style, G-funk dominated mainstream hip hop for several years during the 1990s. I. G. In the 1990s, hip hop began to diversify with other regional styles emerging, such as Southern rap, at the same time, hip hop continued to be assimilated into other genres of popular music, examples being Neo soul and nu metal. Hip hop became a pop music genre in the mid-1990s. The popularity of hip hop music continued through the 2000s, with hip hop influences also increasingly finding their way into mainstream pop, the United States also saw the success of regional styles such as crunk, a Southern genre that emphasized the beats and music more than the lyrics. Starting in 2005, sales of hip hop music in the United States began to severely wane, during the mid-2000s, alternative hip hop secured a place in the mainstream, due in part to the crossover success of artists such as OutKast and Kanye West. Creation of the hip hop is often credited to Keith Cowboy, rapper with Grandmaster Flash. However, Lovebug Starski, Keith Cowboy, and DJ Hollywood used the term when the music was known as disco rap. Cowboy later worked the hip hop cadence into a part of his stage performance, the first use of the term in print was in The Village Voice, by Steven Hager, later author of a 1984 history of hip hop
9.
Rap rock
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Rap rock is a music genre that fuses vocal and instrumental elements of hip hop with various forms of rock. Rap rocks most popular subgenres include rap metal and rapcore, which include heavy metal and hardcore punk-oriented influences, one of the earliest examples would be The Magnificent Seven by The Clash, which fused new wave, hip hop, and funk. AllMusic describes rap metal as having big, lurching beats and heavy, heavy riffs that occasionally, Allmusic also states that the rhythms of rap rock are rooted in that of hip hop, with more funk influences than normal hard rock. Hed PE, which punk rock with hip hop, sometimes incorporates reggae. According to Rolling Stone writer Rob Kemp, Incubus 1997 album S. C. I. E. N. C. E, links funk metal to the rap metal. Kottonmouth Kings perform a style which they refer to as psychedelic hip-hop punk rock. Kid Rock incorporates country and Southern rock influences, and is backed by a 10 piece band, while Everlast fuses blues and rock with hip hop, performing with a live band that includes a DJ. An example of rap rock is the album Collision Course, its a collaboration between the rapper Jay Z and the band Linkin Park, the lyrical themes of rap rock vary. Although many nu metal bands incorporate hip hop beats, rap rock bands are always fronted by rappers, Rock bands generally not associated with rap rock have experimented with hip hop influences, including rapping. Such bands have included Blondie, Rush, Beck and Cake, many rappers have been noted for a prominent use of samples derived from rock songs, including Eminem, Ice-T, The Fat Boys, LL Cool J, Public Enemy, Whodini, Vanilla Ice, and Esham. In 1983, KISS released the song All Hells Breakin Loose on the album Lick It Up with singer Paul Stanley rapping the verses, collaborated with Aerosmith on a remake of the latters earlier song, Walk This Way, first released in 1975. Red Hot Chili Peppers vocalist Anthony Kiedis employed rapping on the bands 1984 self-titled debut album as well as subsequent releases, in a 2002 interview with Penthouse, Kiedis stated We were early in creating the combination of hardcore funk with hip-hop-style vocals. We became, maybe, an inspiration to Limp Bizkit, Kid Rock, beastie Boys, formerly a hardcore punk group, began working in the hip hop genre, their 1986 debut album, Licensed to Ill, largely featured a rock-based sound. The three aforementioned artists all collaborated with producer Rick Rubin, who is credited with creating the rap rock genre. In 1989, Tone-Lōcs Wild Thing off of his debut album, Public Enemys track, She Watch Channel Zero. Features Chuck D rapping over a riff from the Slayer song Angel of Death, rap rock began to enter the mainstream arena in the 1990s. American rock bands such as 311, 24-7 Spyz, Faith No More and Rage Against the Machine fused rock, simultaneously, British bands like Pop Will Eat Itself and Senser were similarly shaping the genre across Europe. The soundtrack for the 1993 film Judgment Night featured 11 collaborations between hip hop and rock musicians, urban Dance Squad mixed funk, heavy metal, hip hop and punk
10.
Arista Records
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/ˈɛ. rɪ. stə/ was a major American record label. It was a wholly owned unit of Sony Music Entertainment and was handled by Bertelsmann Music Group. The company operated under the RCA Music Group until 2011, the label was founded in 1974 by Clive Davis, who formerly worked for CBS Records. Until its demise in 2011, it was a distributor and promoter of albums throughout the United States. Today, the labels reissues and catalogue releases are handled by RCA Records, after being fired from CBS Records, Clive Davis was hired by Columbia Pictures in June 1974 to be a consultant for the companys record and music operations. The label was named Arista after New York Citys secondary school honor society, in early 1975, most of the artists who had been signed to Bell were let go, except David Cassidy, Tony Orlando and Dawn, and the 5th Dimension. Others, such as Suzi Quatro and Hot Chocolate, were farmed out to the Bell/Arista-distributed label, several Bell acts, such as Barry Manilow, the Bay City Rollers, and Melissa Manchester moved to Arista. The British Bell label kept that name for a couple of years before changing its name to Arista, the label was immortalized in the 1978 Rockpile song They Called It Rock, in the lyric, Arista says they love you/But the kids cant dance to this. In addition to Manilow, the Kinks, and Dionne Warwick, Arista signed Aretha Franklin in 1980, the labels most significant acquisition came in 1983 when Davis signed Warwicks cousin, Whitney Houston. Houston would eventually become Aristas biggest-selling recording artist, with sales of 200 million records worldwide, Arista had an imprint label in the 1970s called Arista Novus, which focused on contemporary jazz artists. A country music division, Career Records, was merged into the Arista Nashville division in 1997, Arista Austin was used in the late 1990s as a country label. Additionally, Arista was the North American distributor of Jive Records from 1981 until 1987, during the 1990s, Arista also distributed Logic, Rowdy and Heavenly Recordings. Looking to stave off bankruptcy, Columbia Pictures sold Arista to German-based Ariola Records in 1979, after Ariola purchased General Electrics RCA Records in 1986, the combined company was renamed Bertelsmann Music Group, though Aristas U. S. releases would not note BMG until 1987. Into the 1980s, Arista continued its success, including major UK act Secret Affair, over the years it acquired Northwestside Records, deConstruction Records, First Avenue Records, and Dedicated Records in the UK. In 1989, Arista entered into a joint venture with Antonio L. A. Reid and Babyface in the creation of LaFace Records record company of TLC, in 1993, Arista also entered into a joint-venture with Sean P. Diddy Combs to form Bad Boy Records. In 1997 Arista acquired Profile Records, the home of Run-D. M. C. in 1989, Arista signed Milli Vanilli, a duo consisting of Rob Pilatus and Fab Morvan that was based in Germany. The label released its album, Girl You Know Its True, which was a remixed and re-edited version of All or Nothing. The album was certified platinum in the U. S. and charted five top-ten singles
11.
Bertelsmann Music Group
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Bertelsmann Music Group was a division of German media company Bertelsmann before its completion of sale of the majority of its assets to Japans Sony Corporation of America on October 1,2008. It was established in 1987 to combine the music activities of Bertelsmann. The joint venture with Sony Music was set up in August 2004 and it reduced the Big Five record companies to the Big Four record companies. At that time, the company had a 21. 5% share in the music market. Sony Music and BMG remained separate in Japan, although BMG Music Japan was wholly owned by Sony BMG. Bertelsmann sold its 50% share of Sony BMG to Sony Corporation of America for a total of $1.5 billion, and it is focused mainly in BMGs European stronghold markets. The basis of the company was formed through BMGs decision to withhold selected European music catalogues from the former Sony BMG joint venture, also kept separate from the acquisition by Sony Corporation of America was Sony BMGs wholly owned and operated BMG Japan. Sony Music Japan remained independent from the Sony BMG joint venture, therefore BMG, during Sony BMGs buyout, BMG Japan was instead picked up by Sony Music Entertainment Japan. It briefly continued to operate as an entity until a reorganization in early 2009 folded the company into Sony Music Japan. Barry Weiss, President and Chief Executive Officer, Zomba Label Group CEO Now part of Sony Music Entertainment after the buyout of Bertelsmann AGs 50% stake in Sony BMG. BMG Music Publishing, which was not part of the Sony BMG merger, was a business of the Bertelsmann Music Group until it was sold to Universal Music Group for €1.63 billion in 2007. Universal then folded the company into Universal Music Publishing Group, the company was headquartered at 245 Fifth Avenue, 8th Floor New York, New York 10016 and had operations in 36 offices in 25 countries. BMG Music publishing controlled over one million copyrights, BMG Music Publishing was the global leader in Classical music and was number one in Contemporary Christian music. Brentwood-Benson Music Publishing is BMG Music Publishings Christian publisher and owns over 60,000 copyrights, BMG Music Publishing and its assets have now been completely absorbed and folded into Universal Music Publishing Group. After Sony bought out Bertelsmanns share in Sony BMG, Bertelsmann was allowed to keep the rights to recordings from the former joint venture. These songs served as the foundation to BMG Rights Management, BMG Rights Management now serves as a division within Bertelsmann and as a replacement to the defunct Bertelsmann Music Group. A settlement in 2002 included the publishers and distributors, Sony Music, Warner Music, Bertelsmann Music Group, EMI Music. In restitution for price fixing they agreed to pay a $67.4 million fine and distribute $75.7 million in CDs to public and non-profit groups and it is estimated customers were overcharged by nearly $500 million and up to $5 per album
12.
Beastie Boys
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The Beastie Boys were an American hip hop group from New York City, formed in 1981. For the majority of their career, the group consisted of Michael Mike D Diamond, Adam MCA Yauch, Berry left shortly thereafter, and was replaced by Horovitz. They toured with Madonna in 1985 and a year released their debut album Licensed to Ill. With seven platinum or better albums from 1986 to 2004, the Beastie Boys were one of the hip hop acts worldwide. In 2009, they released digitally remastered editions of their albums Pauls Boutique, Check Your Head, Ill Communication. Their eighth studio album, Hot Sauce Committee Part Two, was released in 2011, and received positive reviews. They were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in April 2012, just the third rap group to enter the Hall, after Run–D. M. C. and Grandmaster Flash, the following month, MCA died of cancer of the parotid salivary gland. In June 2014, Mike D confirmed that he and Ad-Rock would not continue the Beastie Boys, prior to forming the Beastie Boys, Michael Diamond was part of a number of bands such as the Walden Jazz Band, BAN and The Young Aborigines. The band supported Bad Brains, the Dead Kennedys, the Misfits and Reagan Youth at venues such as CBGB, A7, Trudy Hellers Place and Maxs Kansas City, playing at the latter venue on its closing night. In November 1982 the Beastie Boys recorded the 7 EP Polly Wog Stew at 171A studios, on November 13,1982, the Beastie Boys played Philip Puccis birthday for the purposes of his short concert film of the Beastie Boys, Beastie. Pucci held the concert in Bard Colleges Preston Drama Dance Department Theatre and this performance marked the Beastie Boys first on screen appearance in a published motion picture. The opening band for that performance was The Young and the Useless, skills to Pay the Bills later went on to earn the Recording Industry Association of Americas gold sales award for selling more than 500,000 copies. The band also recorded and then performed its first hip hop track, Cooky Puss, based on a prank call by the group to Carvel Ice Cream in 1983. It was a part of the new line-up’s first EP, also called Cooky Puss, which was the first piece of work that showed their incorporation of the rap phenomenon. It quickly became a hit in New York underground dance clubs, in 1983, the new line-up released the Cooky Puss EP, which offered the first evidence of them picking up on the underground rap phenomenon and the use of samples. ‘Beastie Revolution’ was later sampled for a British Airways commercial, earning them $40,000 in royalties, due to the success of Cooky Puss they began to incorporate rap into their sets. They decided to hire a DJ for their shows and ended up getting an NYU student named Rick Rubin. Soon thereafter, Rubin began producing records and he then formed Def Jam Recordings with fellow NY University student Russell Simmons and approached the band about producing them for his new label
13.
Rick Rubin
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Frederick Jay Rick Rubin is a Jewish-American record producer and former co-president of Columbia Records. Along with Russell Simmons, Rubin is the co-founder of Def Jam Records, with the Beastie Boys, LL Cool J, Public Enemy, and Run–D. M. C. Rubin helped popularize hip hop music, in 2007, MTV called him the most important producer of the last 20 years, and the same year Rubin appeared on Times 100 Most Influential People in the World. Frederick Jay Rubin was born in Long Beach, New York and grew up in Lido Beach and his father, Michael was a shoe wholesaler and his mother, Linda, a housewife. While a student at Long Beach High School he befriended the schools audiovisual department director Steve Freeman who gave him a few lessons in playing and songwriting. Their biggest claim to fame was being thrown off the stage at CBGB after two songs for brawling with the heckling audience and these hecklers were friends of the band instructed to instigate a confrontation so as to get the show shut down and create a buzz. Somewhat anecdotally, this story was confirmed in an interview with music journalist Zane Lowe. Although he had no authority in New York City, Rubins father traveled from Nassau County, New York, during his senior year, Rubin founded Def Jam Records using the schools four-track recorder. He moved on to form Hose, influenced by San Franciscos Flipper, in 1982, a Hose track became Def Jams first release, a 45 rpm 7 vinyl single in a brown paper bag, and no label. The band broke up in 1984 as Rubins passion moved towards the NYC hip hop scene, having befriended Zulu Nations DJ Jazzy Jay, Rubin began to learn about hip hop production. By 1983, the two men produced Its Yours for rapper T La Rock, and released it on their independent label, Producer Arthur Baker helped to distribute the record worldwide on Bakers Streetwise Records in 1984. Jazzy Jay introduced Rubin to concert promoter/artist manager Russell Simmons in a club, Simmons and Rubin edged out Jazzy Jay and the official Def Jam record label was founded while Rubin was attending New York University in 1984. Their first record released was LL Cool Js I Need a Beat, Rubin went on to find more hip-hop acts outside The Bronx, Brooklyn and Harlem including rappers from Queens, Staten Island and Long Island, which eventually led to Def Jams signing of Public Enemy. Rubin was instrumental in pointing the members of the Beastie Boys away from their roots and into rap. 1985s Rock Hard/Partys Gettin Rough/Beastie Groove EP by the Beastie Boys came out on the success of Rubins production work with breakthrough act Run–D. M. C, which previous recordings were produced by Russell Simmons and Orange Krushs musician Larry Smith. His productions were characterized by occasionally fusing rap with heavy rock, Rubin tapped Adam Dubin and Ric Menello to co-direct the music videos for the Beastie Boys Fight for Your Right and No Sleep till Brooklyn, effectively launching the bands mainstream hip hop careers. It was the idea of Rick Rubins friend Sue Cummings, an editor at Spin magazine, to have Run–D. M. C. and this 1986 production is often credited with both introducing rap hard rock to mainstream ears and revitalizing Aerosmith. In 1986, he worked with Aerosmith again on demos for their forthcoming album, in the same year, Rubin began his long musical partnership with Slayer, producing Reign in Blood, considered a classic of the heavy metal genre
14.
Aerosmith
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Aerosmith is an American rock band, sometimes referred to as the Bad Boys from Boston and Americas Greatest Rock and Roll Band. Their style, which is rooted in blues-based hard rock, has come to incorporate elements of pop, heavy metal, and rhythm and blues. They were formed in Boston, Massachusetts in 1970, in 1971, Tabano was replaced by Brad Whitford, and the band began developing a following in Boston. They were signed to Columbia Records in 1972, and released a string of gold and platinum albums, beginning with their 1973 eponymous debut album, followed by Get Your Wings in 1974. In 1975, the broke into the mainstream with the album Toys in the Attic. Two additional albums followed in 1977 and 1979 and their first five albums have since attained multi-platinum status. Throughout the 1970s, the band toured extensively and charted a dozen Hot 100 singles, by the end of the decade, they were among the most popular hard rock bands in the world and developed a loyal following of fans, often referred to as the Blue Army. The band did not fare well between 1980 and 1984, releasing the album Rock in a Hard Place, which was certified gold, Perry and Whitford returned to Aerosmith in 1984 and the band signed a new deal with Geffen Records. After a comeback tour, the band recorded Done with Mirrors, the band also became a pop culture phenomenon with popular music videos and notable appearances in television, film, and video games. Their comeback has been described as one of the most remarkable, additional albums followed in 2001,2004, and 2012. Since 2001, the band has toured every year, except 2008, Aerosmith is the best-selling American hard rock band of all time, having sold more than 150 million records worldwide, including over 70 million records in the United States alone. The band has scored 21 Top 40 hits on the Billboard Hot 100, nine number-one Mainstream Rock hits, four Grammy Awards, six American Music Awards, and ten MTV Video Music Awards. They were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2001, in 2013, the bands principal songwriters, Tyler and Perry, were inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame. In 1964, Steven Tyler formed his own called the Strangeurs—later Chain Reaction—in New Hampshire. Meanwhile, Perry and Hamilton formed the Jam Band, which was based on free-form, Hamilton and Perry moved to Boston, Massachusetts in September 1969. There they met Joey Kramer, a drummer from Yonkers, New York, Kramer knew Tyler and had always hoped to play in a band with him. Kramer, a Berklee College of Music student, decided to school to join Jam Band. In 1970, Chain Reaction and Jam Band played at the same gig, Tyler immediately loved Jam Bands sound, and wanted to combine the two bands
15.
Kurtis Blow
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Kurt Walker, professionally known by his stage name Kurtis Blow, is an American rapper and record producer. He is the first commercially successful rapper and the first to sign with a record label. The Breaks, a single from his 1980 debut album, is the first certified gold rap song. Throughout his career he has released 15 albums and is currently an ordained minister, originally from Harlem, Walker began DJing under the name Kool DJ Kurt. He was also a disco performer, Walker changed his name to Kurtis Blow at the suggestion of Russell Simmons, copying the pattern from Eddie Cheeba. In 1979, aged twenty, Kurtis Blow became the first rapper to be signed by a label, Mercury. Its follow-up, The Breaks, also sold over half a million copies and he was also the first rapper to perform overseas. He released ten albums over the eleven years. His first album was Kurtis Blow, while his second was the Top 50 pop album Deuce, Party Time featured a fusion of rap and go-go. Ego Trip included the hits,8 Million Stories, AJ Scratch and his 1985 album, America, garnered praise for its title tracks music video. From this album, the song If I Ruled the World became a Top 5 hit on Billboards R&B chart, towards the end of the 1980s, his recording career waned and he moved into production. Besides his own work, Kurtis has been responsible for hits by The Fat Boys, Run began his career billed as The Son of Kurtis Blow. Lovebug Starski, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Full Force, Russell Simmons and Wyclef Jean all have produced by, or collaborated with. Former label mates René & Angela had their R&B chart topping debut Save Your Love was produced by him, along with Dexter Scott King, Walker co-ordinated King Holiday, a song to celebrate Martin Luther King’s birthday, released in January 1986. His acting performances and music coordination in several films includes Leon Kennedy’s Knights of the City, as host and co-producer for Das Leben Amerikanischer Gangs, an international film productions focus on the West Coast gang scene, Kurt crossed international waters for inner city justice. As host and associate producer for Rhyme and Reason Kurtis gave an account of the status of hip hop. Kurt has spoken out emphatically against racism and he was an active participant in the Artists Against Apartheid record “Sun City”. Kurt has worked with Rev. Jesse Jacksons Operation Push and National Rainbow Coalition in Chicago, Kurt has also worked with Rev. Al Sharptons Action Network in New York City
16.
The Fat Boys
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The Fat Boys are an American hip hop trio from Brooklyn, New York City, that emerged in the early 1980s. The group was known originally as the Disco 3. Prince Markie Dee Damon Wimbley a. k. a, the Human Beat Box Manager Charlie Stettler was a Swiss national who had embraced hip-hop culture. In 1983, putting the two together he contacted the nascent Swatch company and offered the talents of his group, Stettler, knowing the video channel was playing no hip-hop, readily agreed. Even with no fee he sensed the exposure would catapult his trio into youths mainstream, the company returned to The Fat Boys for a 1985 Christmas commercial, created by former MTV creative heads Alan Goodman and Fred Seibert. Big Buff Love, the Human Beatbox, was a pioneer in beatboxing and he and another contemporary, Doug E. Fresh, popularized beatboxing, inspiring other artists to innovate, including Biz Markie. For its 1987 album, Crushin, the Fat Boys made a version of The Surfaris hit Wipe Out with The Beach Boys singing back-up vocals. The single made it to #12 on the Billboard chart, the Fat Boys also recorded a version of The Twist with Chubby Checker, who performed it originally in 1960. Capitalizing on their personalities, the trio starred in the 1985 Run-D. M. C. The group was approached to record the theme song for A Nightmare on Elm Street 4, The Dream Master, called Are You Ready for Freddy. Attempting to capitalize on the name of the Fat Boys, another hip hop group dubbed itself the Skinny Boys. The popularity of groups was mild in comparison, however. The groups popularity declined by the 1990s, for example, in the 1992 feature film Boomerang, Chris Rocks character laments the breakup of the Fat Boys. He was later quoted by Jay-Z in his 2001 song the Heart of the City, prince Markie Dee left the group to pursue solo interests, which included producing many early tracks for Mariah Carey and Mary J. Blige which included her debut single, Real Love. In 1991, the two members, Kool Rock Ski and Buff Love, carried on as a duo and released Mack Daddy, but shortly thereafter. On December 10,1995, Buff Love died of an attack in Rosedale, Queens. He was 28 years old and reportedly weighed 450 pounds, prince Markie Dee is a current radio host for WEDR99 Jamz in Miami, Florida working weekends. Kool Rock-ski resides in New York, the surviving members of the Fat Boys launched its first official homepage, OriginalFatBoys. com, on November 5,2008
17.
Nas
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Nasir Bin Olu Dara Jones, better known by his stage name Nas /ˈnɑːz/, is an American rapper, record producer, actor and entrepreneur. The son of jazz musician Olu Dara, Nas has released eight consecutive platinum and multi-platinum albums and has sold over 25 million records worldwide. He is also an entrepreneur through his own label, he serves as associate publisher of Mass Appeal magazine and is the owner of a Fila sneaker store. He is currently signed to Mass Appeal Records and his musical career began in 1991 as featured artist on Main Sources Live at the Barbeque. His debut album Illmatic received universal acclaim from critics and the hip hop community and is frequently ranked as one of the greatest hip hop albums of all time. Nas follow-up It Was Written debuted at one on the Billboard 200, stayed on top for four consecutive weeks. From 2001 to 2005, Nas was involved in a publicized feud with rapper Jay Z. Nas signed to Def Jam in 2006. In 2010, he released Distant Relatives, an album with reggae artist Damian Marley. His eleventh studio album, Life Is Good was nominated for Best Rap Album at the 55th Annual Grammy Awards, Nas is often named as one of the greatest hip hop artists. MTV ranked him at number 5 on their list of The Greatest MCs of All Time, in 2012, The Source ranked him number two on their list of the Top 50 Lyricists of All Time. In 2013, Nas was ranked fourth on MTVs Hottest MCs in the Game list. About. com ranked him first on their list of the 50 Greatest MCs of All Time in 2014, nasir bin Olu Dara Jones was born September 14,1973, in Brooklyn, New York. His father, Olu Dara, is a jazz and blues musician and his mother, Fannie Ann Jones, was a Postal Service worker from North Carolina. He has one sibling, a brother named Jabari Fret who is best known as Jungle and his father took his name Olu Dara from the Yoruba people. His African DNA indicates he has roots in countries with high Yoruba populations Nigeria, Benin, Togo and Ghana – as well as Mali, the Ivory Coast, Cameroon, Congo, and Senegal. His matrilineal DNA haplogroup is of African origin, found among the Yoruba and he also found that his Y-DNA traces directly back to Scandinavia, through which he is a descendant of the Vikings. As a young child, Nas and his family relocated to the Queensbridge Houses in the Long Island City neighborhood of Queens and his neighbor, Willy Ill Will Graham, influenced Nass interest in hip hop by playing him records. His parents divorced in 1985, and he dropped out of school after the eighth grade and he educated himself about African culture through the Five Percent Nation and the Nuwaubian Nation
18.
Method Man
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Clifford Smith, better known by his stage name Method Man, is an American rapper, record producer, and actor. He is known as a member of the East Coast hip hop collective Wu-Tang Clan and he is also one half of the hip hop duo Method Man & Redman. He took his name from the 1979 film Method Man. In 1996, he won a Grammy Award for Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group, for Ill Be There for You/Youre All I Need to Get By, with American R&B singer-songwriter Mary J. Blige. Method Man has appeared in such as Belly, How High, Garden State, The Wackness, Venom, Red Tails, Keanu. On television, he and frequent collaborator, fellow East Coast rapper Redman and he also had a recurring role as Tug Daniels on HBOs Oz and Calvin Cheese Wagstaff on the HBOs The Wire. In 2016, he had a role in Luke Cage which aired on Netflix. In 2012, The Source placed him on their list of the Top 50 Lyricists of All Time. Born on March 2,1971, in Hempstead, Long Island and he has two sisters, Terri and Missy. As Wu-Tang Clan ascended to hip hop stardom, Method Man was always one of the most visible members of the collective. Method Mans solo debut, Tical, was acclaimed and well received, entering the American charts at #4. That album featured the hit single All I Need, later remixed featuring Mary J. Blige, which won a Grammy. During this time Method Man also became friends with fellow New York City-based rapper The Notorious B. I. G. and was the only guest rapper featured on his debut album Ready to Die. He was also featured on Spice 1s album AmeriKKKas Nightmare on the track Hard 2 Kill, in 1995, he was also featured on Got the Flava off Showbiz and A. G. s album Goodfellas. He was also featured on Redmans 1996 album Muddy Waters on the track Do What Ya feel, on June 3,1997, the Wu-Tang Clan released their Grammy-nominated multiplatinum double CD Wu-Tang Forever, the long-awaited follow up to 36 Chambers. The album has sold over 8.3 million copies to date worldwide, the album was certified double platinum. Reviews for the album were mixed and its long runtime and abundance of intermittent comedy skits were widely criticized, producers on this album included True Master, 4th Disciple and the RZA. Method Man was part of the very successful Hard Knock Life Tour with Jay-Z, Redman, Ja Rule, during this tour, Method Man & Redman recorded Blackout
19.
Hip hop
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Hip hop is a subculture and art movement developed by African-Americans and Latinos from the inner-city South Bronx neighbourhood in New York City in the late 1970s. Jamaican immigrant DJ Kool Herc also played a key role in developing hip hop music, at 1520 Sedgwick Avenue, Herc mixed samples of existing records and DJed percussion breaks, mixing this music with his own Jamaican-style toasting to rev up the crowd and dancers. These youths mixed these influences with existing musical styles associated with African Americans prior to the 1970s, Hip hop music became popular outside of the African-American community in the late 1980s, with the mainstream commercial success of gangsta rap. Critic Greg Tate described the hip hop movement as the only avant-garde still around, Hip hop culture has spread to both urban and suburban communities throughout the United States and subsequently the world. These elements were adapted and developed considerably, particularly as the art spread to new continents and merged with local styles in the 1990s. Sampling older culture and re-using it in a new context or a new format is called flipping in hip hop culture. Hip hop music follows in the footsteps of earlier African-American-rooted musical genres such as blues, jazz, rag-time, funk, cowboy later worked the hip hop cadence into his stage performance. The group frequently performed with artists who would refer to this new type of music by calling them hip hoppers. The name was meant as a sign of disrespect, but soon came to identify this new music. The song Rappers Delight, by The Sugarhill Gang, released in 1979, begins with the phrase I said a hip, hop the hippie the hippie to the hip hip hop, and you dont stop. Lovebug Starski, a Bronx DJ who put out a single called The Positive Life in 1981, and DJ Hollywood then began using the term when referring to this new disco rap music. Bill Alder, an independent consultant, once said, There was hardly ever a moment when rap music was underground, one of the very first so-called rap records, was a monster hit. Hip hop pioneer and South Bronx community leader Afrika Bambaataa also credits Lovebug Starski as the first to use the hip hop. Bambaataa, former leader of the Black Spades gang, also did much to popularize the term. In the 1970s, an urban movement known as Hip Hop began to develop in the South Bronx in New York City. It focused on emceeing over breakbeats, house parties and neighbourhood block party events, Hip hop music has been a powerful medium for protesting the impact of legal institutions on minorities, particularly police and prisons. Jamaican-born DJ Clive Kool Herc Cindy Campbell pioneered the use of DJing percussion breaks in hip hop music, beginning at Hercs home in a high-rise apartment at 1520 Sedgwick Avenue, the movement later spread across the entire borough. Herc created the blueprint for hip hop music and culture by building upon the Jamaican tradition of impromptu toasting, on August 11,1973 DJ Kool Herc was the DJ at his sisters back-to-school party
20.
LL Cool J
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James Todd Smith, known professionally as LL Cool J, is an American rapper, actor, author, and entrepreneur from Queens, New York. LL Cool J is also known as one of the forefathers of pop rap and he has released 13 studio albums and two greatest hits compilations. His twelfth album Exit 13, was his last for his deal with Def Jam Recordings. His latest album, Authentic, was released in April 2013, in 2010, VH1 considered him to be in their 100 Greatest Artists Of All Time list. LL Cool J has also appeared in films, including In Too Deep, Any Given Sunday. He currently stars in a role as NCIS Special Agent Sam Hanna, on the CBS crime drama television series NCIS. LL Cool J is also the host of Lip Sync Battle on Spike, LL Cool J was born James Todd Smith on January 14,1968, in Bay Shore, New York, the son of Ondrea Griffeth and James Louis Smith, Jr. In an episode of Finding Your Roots, LL learned his mother was adopted by Eugene Griffith, the series genetic genealogist CeCe Moore identified LLs biological grandparents as Ethel Mae Jolly and Nathaniel Christy Lewis through analysis of his DNA. LLs biological great-uncle was hall of fame boxer, John Henry Lewis and he began rapping at age 9 and was influenced by hip-hop group The Treacherous Three. His grandfather, a jazz saxophonist, bought him $2,000 worth of equipment, Smith later discussed his childhood background and rapping, stating that By the time I got that equipment, I was already a rapper. In this neighborhood, the kids grow up in rap and its like speaking Spanish if you grow up in an all-Spanish house. I got into it when I was about 9, and since then all I wanted was to make a record and hear it on the radio. In a VH1 documentary, LL Cool J, at 14 years of age, revealed that he wanted to call himself J-Ski. Under his new name, LL Cool J, Smith was signed by Def Jam, which led to the release of his first official record. The single was a hard-hitting, streetwise b-boy song with spare beats, Smith later discussed his search for a label, stating I sent my demo to many different companies, but it was Def Jam where I found my home. That same year, Smith made his debut concert performance at Manhattan Center High School. In a later interview, LL Cool J recalled the experience, stating They pushed the lunch room tables together and me and my DJ, Cut Creator, as soon as it was over there were girls screaming and asking for autographs. Right then and there I said This is what I want to do, LLs debut single sold over 100,000 copies and helped establish both Def Jam as a label and Smith as a rapper
21.
The Beastie Boys
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The Beastie Boys were an American hip hop group from New York City, formed in 1981. For the majority of their career, the group consisted of Michael Mike D Diamond, Adam MCA Yauch, Berry left shortly thereafter, and was replaced by Horovitz. They toured with Madonna in 1985 and a year released their debut album Licensed to Ill. With seven platinum or better albums from 1986 to 2004, the Beastie Boys were one of the hip hop acts worldwide. In 2009, they released digitally remastered editions of their albums Pauls Boutique, Check Your Head, Ill Communication. Their eighth studio album, Hot Sauce Committee Part Two, was released in 2011, and received positive reviews. They were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in April 2012, just the third rap group to enter the Hall, after Run–D. M. C. and Grandmaster Flash, the following month, MCA died of cancer of the parotid salivary gland. In June 2014, Mike D confirmed that he and Ad-Rock would not continue the Beastie Boys, prior to forming the Beastie Boys, Michael Diamond was part of a number of bands such as the Walden Jazz Band, BAN and The Young Aborigines. The band supported Bad Brains, the Dead Kennedys, the Misfits and Reagan Youth at venues such as CBGB, A7, Trudy Hellers Place and Maxs Kansas City, playing at the latter venue on its closing night. In November 1982 the Beastie Boys recorded the 7 EP Polly Wog Stew at 171A studios, on November 13,1982, the Beastie Boys played Philip Puccis birthday for the purposes of his short concert film of the Beastie Boys, Beastie. Pucci held the concert in Bard Colleges Preston Drama Dance Department Theatre and this performance marked the Beastie Boys first on screen appearance in a published motion picture. The opening band for that performance was The Young and the Useless, skills to Pay the Bills later went on to earn the Recording Industry Association of Americas gold sales award for selling more than 500,000 copies. The band also recorded and then performed its first hip hop track, Cooky Puss, based on a prank call by the group to Carvel Ice Cream in 1983. It was a part of the new line-up’s first EP, also called Cooky Puss, which was the first piece of work that showed their incorporation of the rap phenomenon. It quickly became a hit in New York underground dance clubs, in 1983, the new line-up released the Cooky Puss EP, which offered the first evidence of them picking up on the underground rap phenomenon and the use of samples. ‘Beastie Revolution’ was later sampled for a British Airways commercial, earning them $40,000 in royalties, due to the success of Cooky Puss they began to incorporate rap into their sets. They decided to hire a DJ for their shows and ended up getting an NYU student named Rick Rubin. Soon thereafter, Rubin began producing records and he then formed Def Jam Recordings with fellow NY University student Russell Simmons and approached the band about producing them for his new label
22.
Public Enemy (group)
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Public Enemy is an American hip hop group consisting of Chuck D, Flavor Flav, Professor Griff, Khari Wynn, DJ Lord, and the S1W group. Critic Stephen Thomas Erlewine called them the most influential and radical band of their time, in 2004, Rolling Stone magazine ranked Public Enemy number 44 on its list of the Immortals,100 Greatest Artists of All Time, the highest ranking for a hip hop act. The group was inducted into the Long Island Music Hall of Fame in 2007, the band were announced as inductees for the 2013 class of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on December 11,2012, making them the fourth hip-hop act to be inducted. Carlton Ridenhour and William Drayton met at Long Islands Adelphi University in the early-1980s. M. C. Chuck D put out a tape to promote WBAU and to fend off a local MC who wanted to battle him. He called the tape Public Enemy #1 because he felt like he was being persecuted by people in the local scene and this was the first reference to the notion of a public enemy in any of Chuck Ds songs. The single was created by Chuck D with a contribution by Flavor Flav, around 1986, Bill Stephney, the former Program Director at WBAU, was approached by Ali Hafezi and offered a position with the label. Stephney accepted, and his first assignment was to help fledgling producer Rick Rubin sign Chuck D, according to the book The History of Rap Music by Cookie Lommel, Stephney thought it was time to mesh the hard-hitting style of Run DMC with politics that addressed black youth. With the addition of Flavor Flav and another local mobile DJ named Terminator X, according to Chuck, The S1W, which stands for Security of the First World, represents that the black man can be just as intelligent as he is strong. It stands for the fact that were not third-world people, were people, were the original people. Public Enemy started out as opening act for the Beastie Boys during the latters Licensed to Ill popularity, and in 1987 released their debut album Yo. Bum Rush the Show. Over the next few years, Public Enemy released It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back, Fear of a Black Planet, and Apocalypse 91… The Enemy Strikes Black. In addition to ushering in the age of hip hop, during this time, Public Enemy reached the height of their popularity, adulation. The group then separated from Def Jam and has since been producing, marketing. Their debut album, Yo. Bum Rush the Show, was released in 1987 to critical acclaim, the album was the groups first step toward stardom. In October 1987, music critic Simon Reynolds dubbed Public Enemy a superlative rock band, Nation of Millions. was the first hip hop album to be voted album of the year in The Village Voices influential Pazz & Jop critics poll. In 1989, the returned to the studio to record Fear of a Black Planet. The album was supposed to be released in late 1989, but was pushed back to April 1990 and it was the most successful of any of their albums and, in 2005, was selected for preservation in the Library of Congress. Fight the Power is regarded as one of the most popular and it was the theme song of Spike Lees Do the Right Thing
23.
New school hip hop
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The new school of hip hop was a movement in hip hop music starting 1983–84 with the early records of Run–D. M. C. and LL Cool J. Like the hip hop preceding it, it came predominantly from New York City, the new school was initially characterized in form by drum machine led minimalism, often tinged with elements of rock. It was notable for taunts and boasts about rapping, and socio-political commentary, in image as in song its artists projected a tough, cool, street b-boy attitude. These elements contrasted sharply with the funk and disco influenced outfits, novelty hits, live bands, synthesizers and party rhymes of artists prevalent in 1984, New school artists made shorter songs that could more easily gain radio play, and more cohesive LPs than their old school counterparts. By 1986 their releases began to establish the hip hop album as a fixture of the mainstream, hip-hop production became denser, rhymes and beats faster, as the drum machine was augmented with the sampler technology. Rakim took lyrics about the art of rapping to new heights, while KRS-One, native Tongues artists inclusive, sample-crowded music accompanied their positivity, Afrocentricity and playful energy. I. G. Coming to dominate the East Coast scene, the phrase leader of the new school, coined in hip hop by Chuck D in 1988, and presumably given further currency by the group with the exact name Leaders of the New School, remains popular. It has been applied to artists ranging from Jay-Z to Lupe Fiasco, elements of new school had existed in some form in the popular culture since hip-hops birth. This part of the culture was initiated by Kool DJ Herc in 1972 using breaks from James Brown, The Incredible Bongo Band, browns music—extensive vamps in which his voice was a percussive instrument with frequent rhythmic grunts, and with rhythm-section patterns. West African polyrhythms—was a keynote of hip hops early days, by 1975, Grandmaster Flash and Afrika Bambaataa had taken up Kool Hercs breakbeat style of DJing, each with their own accompanying rappers. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band and Grand Funk Railroads Inside Looking Out on unsuspecting b-boys, the earliest hip-hop records replaced the DJ with a live band playing funk and disco influenced tunes, or interpolating the tunes themselves, as in Rappers Delight and King Tim III. It was the soft, futuristic funk closely tied to disco that ruled hip hops early days on record, often though the rawer elements present in live shows did not make it past the recording studio. Bambaataas first records, for instance, two versions of Zulu Nation Throwdown, were recorded with just drums and rhymes, when Bambaataa heard the released records, a complete live band had been added. Likewise on the bootleg Live Convention 82, Grand Wizard Theodore cuts the first six bars of Rufus Thomass Do the Funky Penguin together for five and a half minutes while an MC raps over the top. Grandmaster Flashs Superrappin had a pumping syncopated rhythm and The Furious Five emulating his spinbacks and needle drops and chanting that that Flash is on the beatbox going. The beatbox itself however, a machine which Flash had added to his turntable set-up some time earlier, was absent on the record. Kool Moe Dees verbal personal attacks on Busy Bee Starski live at Harlem World in 1982 caused a sensation in hip hop circles. In the same way, groups like the Cold Crush Brothers and The Force MCs were known for their routines, competitive attitude, tapes of battles like these circulated widely, even without them becoming viable recordings
24.
Music recording sales certification
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Music recording sales certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped or sold a certain number of copies. The threshold quantity varies by type and by nation or territory, almost all countries follow variations of the RIAA certification categories, which are named after precious materials. The number of sales or shipments required for these awards depends upon the population of the territory in which the recording is released, typically, they are awarded only to international releases and are awarded individually for each country in which the album is sold. Different sales levels, some perhaps 10 times lower than others, the original gold record awards were presented to artists by their own record companies to publicize their sales achievements. The first of these was awarded by RCA Victor to Glenn Miller and His Orchestra in February 1942, another example of a company award is the gold record awarded to Elvis Presley in 1956 for one million units sold of his single Dont Be Cruel. The first gold record for an LP was awarded by RCA Victor to Harry Belafonte in 1957 for the album Calypso and these sales were restricted to U. S. -based record companies and did not include exports to other countries. For albums in 1968, this would mean shipping approximately 250,000 units, the platinum certification was introduced in 1976 for the sale of one million units, album or single, with the gold certification redefined to mean sales of 500,000 units, album or single. No album was certified platinum prior to this year, for instance, the recording by Van Cliburn of the Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto from 1958 would eventually be awarded a platinum citation, but this would not happen until two decades after its release. In 1999, the certification was introduced for sales of ten million units. On 14 March 1958, the RIAA certified its first gold record, soundtrack was certified as the first gold album four months later. In 1976, RIAA introduced the platinum certification, first awarded to Johnnie Taylors single, Disco Lady, as music sales increased with the introduction of compact discs, the RIAA created the Multi-Platinum award in 1984. Diamond awards, honoring those artists whose sales of singles or albums reached 10,000,000 copies, were introduced in 1999 and this became much less common once the majority of retail sales became paid digital downloads and digital streaming. In most countries certifications no longer apply solely to physical media, in June 2006, the RIAA also certified the ringtone downloads of songs. Streaming from on-demand services such as Rhapsody and Spotify has been included into existing digital certification in the U. S since 2013, in the U. S. and Germany video streaming services like YouTube, VEVO, and Yahoo. Music also began to be counted towards the certification, in both cases using the formula of 100 streams being equivalent to one download, other countries, such as Denmark and Spain, maintain separate awards for digital download singles and streaming. The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry was founded in 1996, and grants the IFPI Platinum Europe Award for album sales over one million within Europe, multi-platinum Europe Awards are presented for sales in subsequent multiples of one million. Eligibility is unaffected by time, and is not restricted to European-based artists, IMPALA sales awards were launched in 2005 as the first sales awards recognising that success on a pan-European basis begins well before sales reach one million. The award levels are Silver, Double Silver, Gold, Double Gold, Diamond, Platinum, below are certification thresholds for the United States and United Kingdom
25.
Grammy Award
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A Grammy Award, or Grammy, is an honor awarded by The Recording Academy to recognize outstanding achievement in the mainly English-language music industry. The annual presentation ceremony features performances by prominent artists, and the presentation of awards that have a more popular interest. It shares recognition of the industry as that of the other performance awards such as the Emmy Awards, the Tony Awards. The first Grammy Awards ceremony was held on May 4,1959, to honor, following the 2011 ceremony, The Academy overhauled many Grammy Award categories for 2012. The 59th Grammy Awards, honoring the best achievements from October 2015 to September 2016, was held on February 12,2017, the Grammys had their origin in the Hollywood Walk of Fame project in the 1950s. The music executives decided to rectify this by creating a given by their industry similar to the Oscars. This was the beginning of the National Academy of Recording Arts, after it was decided to create such an award, there was still a question of what to call it, one working title was the Eddie, to honor the inventor of the phonograph, Thomas Edison. They finally settled on using the name of the invention of Emile Berliner, the gramophone, for the awards, the number of awards given grew and fluctuated over the years with categories added and removed, at one time reaching over 100. The second Grammy Awards, also held in 1959, was the first ceremony to be televised, the gold-plated trophies, each depicting a gilded gramophone, are made and assembled by hand by Billings Artworks in Ridgway, Colorado. In 1990 the original Grammy design was revamped, changing the traditional soft lead for a stronger alloy less prone to damage, Billings developed a zinc alloy named grammium, which is trademarked. The trophies with the name engraved on them are not available until after the award announcements. By February 2009,7,578 Grammy trophies had been awarded, the General Field are four awards which are not restricted by genre. Album of the Year is awarded to the performer and the team of a full album if other than the performer. Record of the Year is awarded to the performer and the team of a single song if other than the performer. Song of the Year is awarded to the writer/composer of a single song, Best New Artist is awarded to a promising breakthrough performer who releases, during the Eligibility Year, the first recording that establishes the public identity of that artist. The only two artists to win all four of these awards are Christopher Cross, who won all four in 1980, and Adele, who won the Best New Artist award in 2009 and the other three in 2012 and 2017. Other awards are given for performance and production in specific genres, as well as for other such as artwork. Special awards are given for longer-lasting contributions to the music industry, the many other Grammy trophies are presented in a pre-telecast Premiere Ceremony earlier in the afternoon before the Grammy Awards telecast
26.
Raising Hell (album)
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Raising Hell is the third studio album by hip hop group Run–D. M. C. Raising Hell spawned several hit singles, notably the groundbreaking rap rock version of Aerosmiths 1975 song Walk This Way, Raising Hell features the well-known cover Walk This Way featuring Steven Tyler and Joe Perry of Aerosmith. Raising Hell peaked at No.1 on Billboards Top R&B Albums chart as the first hip hop/rap album to do so, and at No.6 on the Billboard 200. Raising Hell was voted the fifth best album of 1986 in the Pazz & Jop, in 1987, Soul Train Music Award for Best Rap - Single for Walk This Way. Raising Hell was placed at four on the list, describing it as the record to move rap from the ghetto to the suburbs. Blame it or celebrate it, you cant deny Raising Hells impact, in 1998, the album appeared in The Sources 100 Best Rap Albums. Q magazine -5 stars out of 5 -. the apex of pre-Public Enemy, beatbox-based hip hop, vibe - Included in Vibes 100 Essential Albums of the 20th Century. Uncut -4 stars out of 5 - that forced the music biz to take rap seriously, Rolling Stone - he pioneering trio took hip-hop into the upper reaches of the pop charts, introducing mainstream to a new urban thunder, rap rock. AllMusic -5 stars out of 5 -. the music was fully realized, in 2003, the album was ranked number 123 on Rolling Stone magazines list of the 500 greatest albums of all time. It ranked fourth on Chris Rocks list of the Top 25 Hip-Hop Albums of all time, in 2006, the album was chosen by Time as one of the 100 greatest albums. Time named it No.41 of the 100 best albums of the past fifty years, in 2012, Slant Magazine listed the album at No.65 on its list of Best Albums of the 1980s. Public Enemys Chuck D considers Raising Hell to be the greatest hip-hop album of all-time,2 - Re-charted in 1987 at #50 on the Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks chart. There are at least two color schemes for this LP, one is a purple front photo with lime green writing and a red back photo with teal writing. Another is a green front photo with rose letters and a teal back photo, there are some pressings that are mislabeled on both sides as side 2, though the grooves in the vinyl are etched correctly
27.
MTV
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MTV is an American cable and satellite television channel owned by Viacom Media Networks and headquartered in New York City. Launched on August 1,1981, the originally aired music videos as guided by television personalities known as video jockeys. In its early years, MTVs main target demographic was young adults and it has received criticism towards this change of focus, both by certain segments of its audience and musicians. MTVs influence on its audience, including issues involving censorship and social activism, has also been a subject of debate for several years, in recent years, MTV had struggled with the secular decline of music-related cable media. In April 2016, MTV announced it would start to return to its original music roots with the reintroduction of the classic MTV series MTV Unplugged. It was also reported that the series MTV Cribs would be making a return on Snapchat, MTV has spawned numerous sister channels in the US and affiliated channels internationally, some of which have gone independent. As of July 2015, approximately 92,188,000 US households have received MTV, several earlier concepts for music video-based television programming had been around since the early 1960s. The Beatles had used music videos to promote their records starting in the mid-1960s, CBS rejected the idea, but Williams premiered his own musical composition Classical Gas on the Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, where he was head writer. The series featured clips from various popular artists, but was canceled by its distributor in 1971. The channel, which featured video disc jockeys, signed a deal with US Cable in 1978 to expand its audience from retail to cable television, the service was no longer active by the time MTV launched in 1981. The QUBE system offered many specialized channels, One of these specialized channels was Sight on Sound, a music channel that featured concert footage and music-oriented television programs. With the interactive QUBE service, viewers could vote for their favorite songs, the original programming format of MTV was created by media executive Robert W. Pittman, who later became president and chief executive officer of MTV Networks. Pittman had test-driven the music format by producing and hosting a 15-minute show, Album Tracks, the inspiration for PopClips came from a similar program on New Zealands TVNZ network named Radio with Pictures, which premiered in 1976. The concept itself had been in the works since 1966, when record companies began supplying the New Zealand Broadcasting Corporation with promotional music clips to play on the air at no charge. Few artists made the trip to New Zealand to appear live. A shortened version of the shuttle launch ID ran at the top of hour in various forms. The first music video shown on MTV was The Buggles Video Killed the Radio Star and this was followed by the video for Pat Benatars You Better Run. Sporadically, the screen would go black when an employee at MTV inserted a tape into a VCR, MTVs lower third graphics that appeared near the beginning and end of music videos would eventually use the recognizable Kabel typeface for about 25 years
28.
American Bandstand
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American Bandstand is an American music-performance show that aired in various versions from 1952 to 1989 and was hosted from 1956 until its final season by Dick Clark, who also served as producer. Freddy Boom Boom Cannon holds the record for most appearances at 110, the shows popularity helped Dick Clark become an American media mogul and inspired similar long-running music programs, such as Soul Train and Top of the Pops. Clark eventually assumed ownership of the program through his Dick Clark Productions company and this incarnation was an early predecessor of sorts of the music video shows that became popular in the 1980s, featuring films that are themselves the ancestors of music videos. As WFIL grew financially and the account became important, Stewart wasnt needed and was eventually dropped from the program. Tony Mammarella was the producer with Ed Yates as director. The short Snader and Official music films continued in the term, mainly to fill gaps as they changed dancers during the show—a necessity. On July 9,1956, Horn was fired after a drunk-driving arrest, as WFIL and he was also reportedly involved in a prostitution ring and brought up on morals charges. Horn was temporarily replaced by producer Tony Mammarella before the job went to Dick Clark permanently, in late spring of 1956, the ABC television network asked their O&Os and affiliates for programming suggestions to fill their 3,30 p. m. time slot. Clark decided to pitch the show to ABC president Thomas W. Moore, One show from this first season is now in the archives of Chicagos Museum Of Broadcast Communications. Studio B measured 80x42x24, but appeared smaller due to the number of props, television cameras and it was briefly shot in color in 1958 when WFIL-TV began experimenting with the then-new technology. WFIL went back to the TK-10s two weeks later when ABC refused to carry the signal and management realized that the show lost something without the extra cameras. Clark would often interview the teenagers about their opinions of the songs being played, the segment gave rise, perhaps apocryphally, to the phrase Its got a good beat and you can dance to it. In one humorous segment broadcast for years on retrospective shows, comedians Cheech, featured artists typically performed their current hits by lip-syncing to the released version of the song. During this time, there were shows that were not hosted by Clark. From 1969 to 1974, Bandstand Theme, a rock instrumental written by Mike Curb. From 1974 to 1977, there was a newer, orchestral version of Bandstand Boogie, arranged and performed by Joe Porter. From 1977 to the end of its ABC run in 1987, the opened and closed with Barry Manilows rendition of Bandstand Boogie. This version introduced lyrics written by Manilow and Bruce Sussman, referencing elements of the series, the previous theme was retained as bumper music
29.
Rolling Stone
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Rolling Stone is an American biweekly magazine that focuses on popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner, who is still the publisher. It was first known for its coverage and for political reporting by Hunter S. Thompson. In the 1990s, the magazine shifted focus to a readership interested in youth-oriented television shows, film actors. In recent years, it has resumed its traditional mix of content, Rolling Stone magazine was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and Ralph Gleason. To get it off the ground, Wenner borrowed $7,500 from his own family and from the parents of his soon-to-be wife, Jane Schindelheim. The first issue carried a date of November 9,1967. Some authors have attributed the name solely to Dylans hit single, At Gleasons suggestion, Rolling Stone initially identified with and reported the hippie counterculture of the era. In the very first edition, Wenner wrote that Rolling Stone is not just about the music, in the 1970s, Rolling Stone began to make a mark with its political coverage, with the likes of gonzo journalist Hunter S. Thompson writing for the magazines political section. Thompson first published his most famous work Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas within the pages of Rolling Stone, where he remained a contributing editor until his death in 2005. In the 1970s, the magazine also helped launch the careers of prominent authors, including Cameron Crowe, Lester Bangs, Joe Klein, Joe Eszterhas, Patti Smith. It was at point that the magazine ran some of its most famous stories. One interviewer, speaking for a number of his peers, said that he bought his first copy of the magazine upon initial arrival on his college campus. In 1977, the magazine moved its headquarters from San Francisco to New York City, editor Jann Wenner said San Francisco had become a cultural backwater. During the 1980s, the magazine began to shift towards being an entertainment magazine. Music was still a dominant topic, but there was increasing coverage of celebrities in television, films, the magazine also initiated its annual Hot Issue during this time. Rolling Stone was initially known for its coverage and for Thompsons political reporting. In the 1990s, the changed its format to appeal to a younger readership interested in youth-oriented television shows, film actors
30.
Live Aid
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Live Aid was a dual-venue concert held on 13 July 1985, and an ongoing music-based fundraising initiative. The original event was organised by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure to raise funds for relief of the ongoing Ethiopian famine. Billed as the jukebox, the event was held simultaneously at Wembley Stadium in London, England, United Kingdom and John F. Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. On the same day, concerts inspired by the initiative happened in countries, such as the Soviet Union, Japan, Austria, Australia. It was one of the largest-scale satellite link-ups and television broadcasts of all time, the 1985 Live Aid concert was conceived as a follow-on to the successful charity single Do They Know Its Christmas. Which was also the brainchild of Geldof and Ure, in October 1984, images of millions of people starving to death in Ethiopia were shown in the UK in Michael Buerks BBC News reports on the 1984 famine. Bob Geldof saw the report, and called Midge Ure from Ultravox, in the hope of raising money for famine relief. Geldof then contacted colleagues in the industry and persuaded them to record the single under the title Band Aid for free. On 25 November 1984, the song was recorded at Sarm West Studios in Notting Hill, London, Geldof then set his sights on staging a huge concert to raise further funds. The idea to stage a charity concert to raise funds for Ethiopia originally came from Boy George. George and Culture Club drummer Jon Moss had taken part in the recording of Do They Know Its Christmas, and in December 1984 Culture Club were undertaking a tour of the UK, which culminated in six nights at Wembley Arena. George was so overcome by the occasion he told Geldof that they should consider organising a benefit concert and its a logical progression from the record, but the point is you dont just talk about it, you go ahead and do it. It was clear from the interview that Geldof had already had the idea to hold a dual venue concert and how the concerts should be structured, The show should be as big as is humanly possible. Theres no point just 5,000 fans turning up at Wembley, we need to have Wembley linked with Madison Square Gardens and it would be great for Duran to play three or four numbers at Wembley and then flick to Madison Square where Springsteen would be playing. While hes on, the Wembley stage could be ready for the next British act like the Thompsons or whoever. In that way lots of acts could be featured and the rights, tickets. Its not an idea, and certainly one worth exploiting. Among those involved in organising Live Aid were Harvey Goldsmith, who was responsible for the Wembley Stadium concert, and Bill Graham, the concert grew in scope, as more acts were added on both sides of the Atlantic
31.
Rapping
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The components of rapping include content, flow, and delivery. Rap differs from spoken-word poetry in that rap is performed in time to a beat. Rapping is often associated with and an ingredient of hip-hop music. Rapping is also used in Kwaito music, a genre originated in Johannesburg, South Africa. Another form of rap that predates hip hop was boxer Muhammad Alis rhythmic poetry used to taunt his opponents in the 1960s and 1970s, rapping can be delivered over a beat, typically provided by a DJ, turntablist or Beatboxer, or without accompaniment. Stylistically, rap occupies an area between speech, prose, poetry, and singing. The word, as used to describe quick speech or repartee, the word had been used in British English since the 16th century. It was part of the African American dialect of English in the 1960s meaning to converse, today, the terms rap and rapping are so closely associated with hip-hop music that many writers use the terms interchangeably. The English verb rap has various meanings, such as to strike, especially with a quick, smart, or light blow, as well to utter sharply or vigorously, to rap out a command. The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary gives a date of 1541 for the first recorded use of the word with the meaning to utter sharply, vigorously and it is these meanings from which the musical form of rapping derives, and this definition may be from a shortening of repartee. A rapper refers to a performer who raps, by the late 1960s, when Hubert G. Brown changed his name to H. Rap was used to describe talking on records as early as 1971, on Isaac Hayes album Black Moses with track names such as Ikes Rap, Ikes Rap II, Ikes Rap III, Hayes husky-voiced sexy spoken raps became key components in his signature sound. Del the Funky Homosapien similarly states that rap was used to refer to talking in a manner in the early 1970s. Back then what rapping meant, basically, was you trying to convey something—youre trying to convince somebody, thats what rapping is, its in the way you talk. Rapping can be traced back to its African roots, centuries before hip-hop music existed, the griots of West Africa were delivering stories rhythmically, over drums and sparse instrumentation. Such connections have been acknowledged by modern artists, modern day griots, spoken word artists, mainstream news sources. Grammy-winning blues musician/historian Elijah Wald and others have argued that the blues were being rapped as early as the 1920s, Wald went so far as to call hip hop the living blues. A notable recorded example of rapping in blues music was the 1950 song Gotta Let You Go by Joe Hill Louis, not just jazz music and lyrics but also jazz poetry
32.
Disc jockey
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A disc jockey is a person who mixes different sources of pre-existing recorded music as it is playing, usually for a live audience in a nightclub or dance club or via broadcasting. DJs typically perform for an audience in a nightclub or dance club or a TV, radio broadcast audience, or in the 2010s. DJs also create mixes, remixes and tracks that are recorded for later sale, in hip hop music, DJs may create beats, using percussion breaks, basslines and other musical content sampled from pre-existing records. In hip hop, rappers and MCs use these beats to rap over, DJs use equipment that can play at least two sources of recorded music simultaneously and mix them together. This allows the DJ to create seamless transitions between recordings and develop unique mixes of songs, DJ equipment, notably the specialized DJ mixer, a small audio mixer with a crossfader and cue functions. The crossfader enables the DJ to blend or transition from one song to another, the cue knobs or switches allow the DJ to preview a source of recorded music in headphones before playing it for the live club or broadcast audience. Previewing the music in headphones helps the DJ pick the track they want to play. DJs may also use a microphone to speak to the audience, effects such as reverb to create sound effects, drum machines. The title DJ is also used by DJs in front of their real names or adopted pseudonyms or stage names as a title to denote their profession. Some DJs focus on creating a mix of songs for the club dancers or radio audience. Other DJs use turntablism techniques such as scratching, in which the DJ or turntablist manipulates the record player turntable to create new sounds. In many types of DJing, including club DJing and radio/TV DJing, there are several types of disc jockey. Radio DJs or radio personalities introduce and play music that is broadcast on AM, FM, club DJs select and play music in bars, nightclubs or discothèques, or at parties, raves, or even in stadiums. Mobile DJs travel with portable sound systems and play recorded music at a variety of events. Some mobile DJs also serve as the master of ceremonies at weddings or other events, directing the attention of attendees, there are also many competitions for DJs that specialize in different turntablism techniques, such as mixing, hip hop music-style scratching or other kinds of techniques. Other types of DJ use musical performance techniques that allow them to be categorized as performing musicians, hip hop DJs and are also often songwriters or music producers who use turntablism and sampling to create backing instrumentals for new tracks. In reggae, the DJ is a vocalist who raps, toasts, chants or chats over pre-recorded rhythm tracks, the individual who helps the DJ by selecting tracks or records to be played is called the selector. Many electronica artists and producers who work as DJs often perform music by combining turntablism with keyboards, digital musical instruments
33.
VH1
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VH1 is an American cable television network based in New York City that is owned by the Viacom Global Entertainment Group, a unit of Viacom Media Networks. The channel was first launched on January 1,1985 in the old space of Turner Broadcasting Systems short-lived Cable Music Channel and it was originally created by Warner-Amex Satellite Entertainment, at the time a division of Warner Communications and the original owner of MTV. As of February 2015, approximately 92.6 million US households receive VH1, also frequently featured in the networks early years were videos for Motown and other 60s oldies consisting of newsreel and concert footage. It was introduced on January 1,1985 with the performance of The Star-Spangled Banner by Marvin Gaye. From the start, Video Hits One was branded as a version of its sister/parent channel. It played more jazz and R&B artists than MTV and had a rotation of urban-contemporary performers. Its early on-camera personalities were New York radio veterans Don Imus, Frankie Crocker, Scott Shannon, Jon Bauman, Bobby Rivers, later VJs included Tim Byrd of WPIX-FM, a station whose eclectic ballad-and-R&B oriented format mirrored that of VH-1, and Alison Steele. Rosie ODonnell later joined the outlets veejay lineup, ODonnell would also host a comedy show featuring various comedians each episode. The format left room for occasional ad-libs by the VJ, a godsend for emcees such as Imus, in true Imus style, he used a 1985 segment of his VH-1 show to jokingly call smooth-jazz icon Sade Adu a grape for her oval-shaped head. At first many different musicians guest-hosted the program, but eventually musician/songwriter Ben Sidran became the permanent host, new-Age music videos continued to play on the channel into the 1990s. They would be seen on the Sunday morning 2-hour music video block titled Sunday Brunch, once VH1 established itself a few years later, they catered to Top 40, adult contemporary, classic rock, and 1980s mainstream pop. For a time, even music videos aired in a one-hour block during the afternoons. They started out using MTVs famous Kabel typeface font for their music video credit tags and it was later replaced in 1991 by a larger font, with the year the video was made added to the lower column that identified the label on which the album was released. In 1993, the name of the director was included at the bottom of the credits. Every week, the Top 21 Video Countdown usually had a different guest host, occasionally, they had themed countdowns as well, such as Elvira hosting scary videos for Halloween in 1991. Long blocks of videos by a particular artist or band, theme. One popular weekend program was called Video Rewind, in blocks of 1980s videos from one particular year would play for an hour. There was also a short-lived hour-long program called By Request in which viewers could call a 1–900 hotline number to request their videos, also in 1991, a popular morning program was introduced called Hits News & Weather that ran from 7 AM to 9 AM ET
34.
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
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The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum is a hall of fame and museum located on the shore of Lake Erie in downtown Cleveland, Ohio, United States. In 1986, Cleveland was chosen as the hall of fames permanent home.8 billion, the Foundation began inducting artists in 1986, but the Hall of Fame still had no home. The search committee considered several cities, including Philadelphia, Memphis, Detroit, Cincinnati, New York City, Cleveland was also one of the premier tour stops for most rock bands. Civic leaders in Cleveland pledged $65 million in money to fund the construction. A petition drive was signed by 600,000 fans favoring Cleveland over Memphis, on May 5,1986, the Hall of Fame Foundation chose Cleveland as the permanent home of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum. Sam Phillips of Sun Studios fame and many others were stunned and disappointed that it ended up in Cleveland, the hall of fame shouldve been in Memphis, certainly, wrote Peter Guralnick, author of an acclaimed two-volume Elvis Presley biography. Cleveland may also have chosen as the organizations site because the city offered the best financial package. As The Plain Dealer music critic Michael Norman noted, It was $65 million, Cleveland wanted it here and put up the money. During early discussions on where to build the Hall of Fame and Museum, ultimately, the chosen location was along East Ninth Street in downtown Cleveland by Lake Erie, east of Cleveland Stadium. Initial CEO Dr. Larry R. Thompson facilitated I. M. Pei in designs for the site, Pei came up with the idea of a tower with a glass pyramid protruding from it. The museum tower was planned to stand 200 ft high. The buildings base is approximately 150,000 square feet, the groundbreaking ceremony took place on June 7,1993. Pete Townshend, Chuck Berry, Billy Joel, Sam Phillips, Ruth Brown, Sam Moore of Sam and Dave, Carl Gardner of the Coasters and Dave Pirner of Soul Asylum all appeared at the groundbreaking. The museum was dedicated on September 1,1995, with the ribbon being cut by an ensemble that included Yoko Ono and Little Richard, among others, the following night an all-star concert was held at the stadium. It featured Chuck Berry, Bob Dylan, Al Green, Jerry Lee Lewis, Aretha Franklin, Bruce Springsteen, Iggy Pop, John Fogerty, John Mellencamp, and many others. In addition to the Hall of Fame inductees, the documents the entire history of rock and roll. Hall of Fame inductees are honored in an exhibit located in a wing that juts out over Lake Erie. Since 1986, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame has selected new inductees, the formal induction ceremony has been held in New York City 25 times, twice in Los Angeles, and four times in the Hall of Fames home in Cleveland
35.
Russell Simmons
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Russell Wendell Simmons is an American entrepreneur, producer and author. The Chairman and CEO of Rush Communications, he cofounded the hip-hop music label Def Jam Recordings and created the fashion lines Phat Farm, Argyleculture. Simmons had an estimate of $340 million in 2011. Simmons was born and raised in Queens, New York and his father is a public school administrator and his mother is a New York City park administrator. His brothers are painter Daniel Simmons, Jr. and Rev Run of Run-DMC, upon hearing Eddie Cheeba perform at Charles Gallery in Harlem in 1977, Simmons knew that hip hop would be his career. Simmons stated, Hearing Cheeba in 77 made me feel like I had just witnessed the invention of the wheel, Simmons co-founded Def Jam in 1983 with Rick Rubin who sold his share of the company for $120 million to Universal Music Group in 1996. In 1985 Russell Simmons co-produced and appeared in the film, Krush Groove, Simmons company, Rush Communications Inc. includes over ten businesses and three non-profits. In 2003, Russell Simmons co-founded RushCard, a debit card provider. Simmons met model Kimora Lee in November 1992 and they dated for four years and married on December 20,1998. On the island of Saint Barthélemy and they have two daughters, Ming Lee and Aoki Lee. In March 2006, Simmons announced his divorce from Lee, Russell Simmons has been vegan since 1999 and advocates Ahimsa and veganism, citing animal rights along with the environmental and health benefits. Simmons is a supporter of Farm Sanctuary, a working to end cruelty to farm animals. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals awarded him the 2001 PETA Humanitarian Award, in 2004, Simmons organized thousands of protestors and Hip-Hop celebrities in front of city hall demanding change of the harsh sentencing of the Rockefeller Drug Laws. Simmons became Chairman of Board of the Foundation for Ethnic Understanding in 2002, in a similar vein, Simmons is a supporter of the Somaly Mam Foundation, and was honored at their 2011 gala dinner. Simmons officially endorses the second Muslim Jewish Conference 2011, together with Rabbi Marc Schneier he served as the official patron of the conference held July 2011 in Kiev, Ukraine. In 2011, he took part in the Occupy Wall Street protests, visiting the protesters at Zuccotti Park often, Simmons is also a longtime supporter for gay rights. In 2011, when the retail corporation Lowes withdrew funding from the show All-American Muslim, in 2012, Simmons supported Ohio congressman Dennis Kucinichs re-election campaign, appearing with the politician at various speaking events. In November 2013, he pledged support for New Yorks mayoral candidate Bill de Blasio in recognition of his support for animal rights, in 2017, Simmons was listed by UK-based company Richtopia at number 23 in the list of 200 Most Influential Social-Entrepreneurs and Philanthropists Worldwide
36.
DJ
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A disc jockey is a person who mixes different sources of pre-existing recorded music as it is playing, usually for a live audience in a nightclub or dance club or via broadcasting. DJs typically perform for an audience in a nightclub or dance club or a TV, radio broadcast audience, or in the 2010s. DJs also create mixes, remixes and tracks that are recorded for later sale, in hip hop music, DJs may create beats, using percussion breaks, basslines and other musical content sampled from pre-existing records. In hip hop, rappers and MCs use these beats to rap over, DJs use equipment that can play at least two sources of recorded music simultaneously and mix them together. This allows the DJ to create seamless transitions between recordings and develop unique mixes of songs, DJ equipment, notably the specialized DJ mixer, a small audio mixer with a crossfader and cue functions. The crossfader enables the DJ to blend or transition from one song to another, the cue knobs or switches allow the DJ to preview a source of recorded music in headphones before playing it for the live club or broadcast audience. Previewing the music in headphones helps the DJ pick the track they want to play. DJs may also use a microphone to speak to the audience, effects such as reverb to create sound effects, drum machines. The title DJ is also used by DJs in front of their real names or adopted pseudonyms or stage names as a title to denote their profession. Some DJs focus on creating a mix of songs for the club dancers or radio audience. Other DJs use turntablism techniques such as scratching, in which the DJ or turntablist manipulates the record player turntable to create new sounds. In many types of DJing, including club DJing and radio/TV DJing, there are several types of disc jockey. Radio DJs or radio personalities introduce and play music that is broadcast on AM, FM, club DJs select and play music in bars, nightclubs or discothèques, or at parties, raves, or even in stadiums. Mobile DJs travel with portable sound systems and play recorded music at a variety of events. Some mobile DJs also serve as the master of ceremonies at weddings or other events, directing the attention of attendees, there are also many competitions for DJs that specialize in different turntablism techniques, such as mixing, hip hop music-style scratching or other kinds of techniques. Other types of DJ use musical performance techniques that allow them to be categorized as performing musicians, hip hop DJs and are also often songwriters or music producers who use turntablism and sampling to create backing instrumentals for new tracks. In reggae, the DJ is a vocalist who raps, toasts, chants or chats over pre-recorded rhythm tracks, the individual who helps the DJ by selecting tracks or records to be played is called the selector. Many electronica artists and producers who work as DJs often perform music by combining turntablism with keyboards, digital musical instruments
37.
Phonograph
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The phonograph is a device invented in 1877 for the mechanical recording and reproduction of sound. In its later forms it is called a gramophone. To recreate the sound, the surface is rotated while a playback stylus traces the groove and is therefore vibrated by it. In later electric phonographs, the motions of the stylus are converted into an electrical signal by a transducer. The phonograph was invented in 1877 by Thomas Edison, while other inventors had produced devices that could record sounds, Edisons phonograph was the first to be able to reproduce the recorded sound. His phonograph originally recorded sound onto a sheet wrapped around a rotating cylinder. A stylus responding to sound vibrations produced an up and down or hill-and-dale groove in the foil, in the 1890s, Emile Berliner initiated the transition from phonograph cylinders to flat discs with a spiral groove running from the periphery to near the center. Later improvements through the years included modifications to the turntable and its system, the stylus or needle. The disc phonograph record was the dominant audio recording format throughout most of the 20th century, from the mid-1980s on, phonograph use on a standard record player declined sharply because of the rise of the cassette tape, compact disc and other digital recording formats. Records are still a favorite format for some audiophiles and DJs, vinyl records are still used by some DJs and musicians in their concert performances. Musicians continue to release their recordings on vinyl records, the original recordings of musicians are sometimes re-issued on vinyl. Usage of terminology is not uniform across the English-speaking world, in more modern usage, the playback device is often called a turntable, record player, or record changer. When used in conjunction with a mixer as part of a DJ setup, the term phonograph was derived from the Greek words φωνή and γραφή. The similar related terms gramophone and graphophone have similar root meanings, the roots were already familiar from existing 19th-century words such as photograph, telegraph, and telephone. In British English, gramophone may refer to any sound-reproducing machine using disc records, the term phonograph was usually restricted to machines that used cylinder records. Gramophone generally referred to a wind-up machine, after the introduction of the softer vinyl records, 33 1⁄3-rpm LPs and 45-rpm single or two-song records, and EPs, the common name became record player or turntable. Often the home record player was part of a system that included a radio and, later, from about 1960, such a system began to be described as a hi-fi or a stereo. In American English, phonograph, properly specific to machines made by Edison, was used in a generic sense as early as the 1890s to include cylinder-playing machines made by others
38.
Breakdancing
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B-boying or breaking, also called breakdancing, is a style of street dance that originated primarily among Puerto Rican and African American youths during the mid-1970s in the Bronx. The dance spread worldwide due to popularity in the media, especially in such as Canada, France, Germany, Japan, Russia, South Korea. While diverse in the amount of variation available in the dance, b-boying consists of four kinds of movement, toprock, downrock, power moves, and freezes. B-boying is typically danced to hip-hop, funk music, and especially breakbeats, although modern trends allow for much wider varieties of music along certain ranges of tempo, a practitioner of this dance is called a b-boy, b-girl, or breaker. Although the term breakdance is frequently used to refer to the dance in culture and in the mainstream entertainment industry. These terms are preferred by the majority of the pioneers and most notable practitioners, instead of the term b-boying, the mainstream media promoted the artform as breakdancing, causing many to only know it as such. Enthusiasts consider breakdancing an ignorant and derogatory term due to the exploitation of the artform. The media displayed a simplified version of the dance, making it seem like the so-called “tricks” were everything, ultimately trading the culture for money and promotion. The dance itself is properly called breaking according to such as KRS-One, Talib Kweli, Mos Def. The terms b-boy, b-girl, and breaker are the terms used to describe the dancers who performed to DJ Kool Hercs breakbeats. DJ Kool Herc is a Jamaican-American DJ who is responsible for developing the foundational aspects of hip-hop music, the obvious connection of the term breaking is to the word breakbeat. DJ Kool Herc has commented that the term breaking was 1970s slang for getting excited, most breaking pioneers and practitioners prefer the terms b-boy, b-girl, and/or breaker when referring to these dancers. For those immersed in culture, the term breakdancer may be used to disparage those who learn the dance for personal gain rather than for commitment to the culture. B-boy London of the New York City Breakers and filmmaker Michael Holman refer to these dancers as breakers, frosty Freeze of the Rock Steady Crew says, we were known as b-boys, and hip-hop pioneer Afrika Bambaataa says, b-boys, what you call break boys. Or b-girls, what you call break girls, many elements of b-boying can be seen in other antecedent cultures prior to the 1970s. B-boy pioneers Richard Crazy Legs Colon and Kenneth Ken Swift Gabbert, many of b-boyings acrobatic moves, such as the flare, show clear connections to gymnastics. The engraving shows a man apparently B-boying. The dance was called the Giesse Harad Polska or salmon district dance, a young street dancer performing acrobatic headspins was recorded by Thomas Edison in 1898
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Hard rock
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Hard rock is a loosely defined subgenre of rock music that began in the mid-1960s, with the garage, psychedelic and blues rock movements. It is typified by a use of aggressive vocals, distorted electric guitars, bass guitar, drums. Hard rock developed into a form of popular music in the 1970s, with bands such as The Who, Led Zeppelin, Queen, Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, Aerosmith, AC/DC. During the 1980s, some rock bands moved away from their hard rock roots and more towards pop rock. Hard rock began losing popularity with the success of R&B, hip-hop, urban pop, grunge. Out of this movement came garage rock bands like The White Stripes, The Strokes, Interpol and, later on, in the 2000s, only a few hard rock bands from the 1970s and 1980s managed to sustain highly successful recording careers. Hard rock is a form of loud, aggressive rock music, the electric guitar is often emphasised, used with distortion and other effects, both as a rhythm instrument using repetitive riffs with a varying degree of complexity, and as a solo lead instrument. Drumming characteristically focuses on driving rhythms, strong drum and a backbeat on snare. The bass guitar works in conjunction with the drums, occasionally playing riffs, vocals are often growling, raspy, or involve screaming or wailing, sometimes in a high range, or even falsetto voice. In the late 1960s, the heavy metal was used interchangeably with hard rock. Heavy metal took on darker characteristics after Black Sabbaths breakthrough at the beginning of the 1970s, in the 1980s it developed a number of subgenres, often termed extreme metal, some of which were influenced by hardcore punk, and which further differentiated the two styles. Despite this differentiation, hard rock and heavy metal have existed side by side, with bands frequently standing on the boundary of, other antecedents include Link Wrays instrumental Rumble in 1958, and the surf rock instrumentals of Dick Dale, such as Lets Go Trippin and Misirlou. In the 1960s, American and British blues and rock bands began to rock and roll by adding harder sounds, heavier guitar riffs, bombastic drumming. From the late 1960s, it common to divide mainstream rock music that emerged from psychedelia into soft. Soft rock was often derived from rock, using acoustic instruments and putting more emphasis on melody. In contrast, hard rock was most often derived from rock and was played louder. Blues rock acts that pioneered the sound included Cream, The Jimi Hendrix Experience, Cream, in songs like I Feel Free combined blues rock with pop and psychedelia, particularly in the riffs and guitar solos of Eric Clapton. Jimi Hendrix produced a form of blues-influenced psychedelic rock, which combined elements of jazz, blues and rock, from 1967 Jeff Beck brought lead guitar to new heights of technical virtuosity and moved blues rock in the direction of heavy rock with his band, The Jeff Beck Group
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Old-school hip hop
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Old-School Hip Hop describes the earliest commercially recorded hip hop music, and the music in the period preceding it from which it was directly descended. Old school hip hop is said to have ended around 1984 due to changes in both rapping technique and the music and rhythms. It is characterized by the simpler rapping techniques of the time, old-school hip hop is noted for its relatively simple rapping techniques compared to later hip-hop music. Artists such as Melle Mel would use few syllables per bar of music, with simple rhythms, much of the subject matter of old school hip hop centers around partying and having a good time. In the book How to Rap, Immortal Technique explains how party content played a big part in old school hip hop, hip-hop was born in an era of social turmoil, in the same way that slaves used to sing songs on a plantation. Thats the party songs that we used to have, as mentioned earlier, a notable exception is the song The Message, which was written, produced and mainly rapped by Duke Bootee. It was offered to Grandmaster Flash and he turned it down, citing that no one wanted to hear reality, Melle Mel however contacted Duke Bootee afterward and expressed that he did want to take part. Melle Mel rapped the verse he rapped in 1979s Super Rappin on the Message, once the song was completed it was released under the banner of Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five in order to give it some credibility. The song was a hit and introduced social commentary to hip hop, Duke Bootee solely produced and rapped The Message II with Melle Mel again in 1983. Battle rap was also a part of the old school hip hop aesthetic, while discussing battle rapping, Esoteric said, a lot of my stuff stems from old school hip-hop, braggadocio ethic. A famous old school hip hop battle occurred in December 1981 when Kool Moe Dee challenged Busy Bee Starski. Busy Bee Starskis defeat by the more complex raps of Kool Moe Dee meant that no longer was an MC just a crowd-pleasing comedian with a tongue, he was a commentator. KRS-One also credits this as creating a shift in rapping in the documentary Beef, sci-Fi/Afrofuturism was another theme introduced into hip hop. The release of Planet Rock in 1982 was a game changer, the combination of electronic percussive propulsion and Afrika Bambaataas rap sounded like an orchestra being rocketed into outer space. Light Years Away, by Warp 9, produced and written by Lotti Golden and Richard Scher, a cornerstone of early 80s beatbox afrofuturism, Light Years Away, is characterized as a brilliantly spare and sparse piece of electro hip-hop traversing inner and outer space. Freestyle rap during hip-hops old school era was defined differently than it is today, Kool Moe Dee refers to this earlier definition in his book, Theres a God on the Mic, There are two types of freestyle. Theres an old-school freestyle thats basically rhymes that youve written that may not have anything to do with any subject or that all over the place. Then theres freestyle where you come off the top of the head, in old school hip hop, Kool Moe Dee says that improvisational rapping was instead called coming off the top of the head
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Afrika Bambaataa
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Afrika Bambaataa is an American disc jockey from the South Bronx, New York. He is notable for releasing a series of genre-defining electro tracks in the 1980s that influenced the development of hip hop culture. Afrika Bambaataa is one of the originators of breakbeat DJing and is known as The Godfather and Amen Ra of Hip Hop Kulture. Through his co-opting of the gang the Black Spades into the music and culture-oriented Universal Zulu Nation. He was born to Jamaican and Barbadian immigrants, Bambaataa grew up in The Bronx River Projects, with an activist mother, as a child, he was exposed to the black liberation movement, and witnessed debates between his mother and uncle regarding the conflicting ideologies in the movement. He was exposed to his mothers extensive and eclectic record collection, gangs in the area became the law, clearing their turf of drug dealers, assisting with community health programs and both fighting and partying to keep members and turf. Bambaataa was a member of the Black Spades and he quickly rose to the position of warlord of one of the divisions. As warlord, it was his job to build ranks and expand the turf of the young Spades and he was not afraid to cross turfs to forge relationships with other gang members, and with other gangs. As a result, the Spades became the biggest gang in the city in terms of membership and turf. After Bambaataa won an essay contest that earned him a trip to Africa and he had seen the movie Zulu and was impressed with the solidarity exhibited by the Zulu in that film. During his trip to Africa, the communities he visited inspired him to one in his own neighborhood. He changed his name to Afrika Bambaataa Aasim, adopting the name of the Zulu chief Bhambatha and he told people that his name was Zulu for affectionate leader. Bambaataa formed The Bronx River Organization as an alternative to the Black Spades, inspired by DJ Kool Herc and Kool DJ Dee, Bambaataa began hosting hip-hop parties beginning in 1976. He vowed to use hip-hop to draw angry kids out of gangs, Cowboy of Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, is credited with naming hip-hop, the term became a common phrase used by MCs as part of a scat-inspired style of rhyming. In 1982, Bambaataa and his followers, a group of dancers, artists and he saw that the hip hop tours would be the key to help expand hip hop and his Universal Zulu Nation. In addition it would promote the values of hip hop that he believed are based on peace, unity, love. He brought peace to the gangs, many artists and gang members say that hip hop saved a lot of lives and his influence inspired many overseas artists like the French rapper MC Solaar. He was a popular DJ in The South Bronx rap scene and became not only as Afrika Bambaataa
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Melle Mel
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Melvin Glover was born The Bronx, New York City, New York. He has stated his mother is Cherokee, Glover began performing in the late 1970s. He may be the first rapper to call himself MC, other Furious Five members included his brother Kid Creole, Scorpio, Rahiem and Cowboy. Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five began recording for Enjoy Records and they later moved on to Sugar Hill Records and were popular on the R&B charts with party songs like Freedom and The Birthday Party. They released numerous singles, gaining a gold disc for Freedom, in 1982 Melle Mel began to turn to more socially-aware subject matter, in particular the Reagan administrations economic and drug policies, and their effect on the black community. A song The Message became an instant classic and one of the first glimmers of conscious hip-hop, Mel recorded a rap over session musician Duke Bootees instrumental track The Jungle. Some of Mels lyrics on The Message were taken directly from Superrappin, other than Melle Mel, no members of Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five actually appear on the record. Mel would also go on to write songs about struggling life in New York City, Grandmaster Flash split from the group after contract disputes between Melle Mel and their promoter Sylvia Robinson in regard to royalties for The Message. When Flash filed a lawsuit against Sugar Hill Records, the factions of The Furious Five parted, Mel became known as Grandmaster Melle Mel and the leader of the Furious Five. The group went on to produce the anti-drug song White Lines, an unofficial music video starred up-and-coming actor Laurence Fishburne and was directed by then-unknown film student Spike Lee). The record was credited to Grandmaster + Melle Mel by Sugar Hill Records in order to fool the public into thinking Grandmaster Flash had participated on the record. Mel gained greater fame and success after appearing in the movie Beat Street and he performed a memorable rap on Chaka Khans smash hit song I Feel for You which introduced hip hop to a wider and more mainstream R&B audience. Grandmaster Melle Mel & The Furious Five had further hits with Step Off, Pump Me Up, King of the Streets, Jesse, and Vice, Jesse was a highly political song which urged people to vote for then presidential candidate Jesse Jackson. In 1988, after an almost 4-year layoff, Mel and Flash reunited and released the album On The Strength, but with up-and-coming new school artists such as Eric B. & Rakim, DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince, Public Enemy, Boogie Down Productions, and Big Daddy Kane dominating the hip-hop market, the album failed miserably. Mel performed with The King Dream Chorus and Holiday Crew on King Holiday aimed at having Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. s birthday declared a national holiday. Mel ended the decade by winning two Grammy Awards for his work on Quincy Jones Back On The Block and Q – The Autobiography of Quincy Jones albums, in 1996, Mel contributed vocals to the US edition of Chers hit One By One. Their version is available on the maxi CD format