Even mongolians are claiming hip hop

Sukairain

Sukairain

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Iku$a$a said:
Lol. What :mjlol:

People have been doing spoken word, poetic speech and rapping type vocals over instrumentation globally for centuries.

Hip hop touches people in such a deep and global way because it is poetry over drumbeats and that resonates on a primal level BUT Hip hop like all AA music however is sonically unique and the nature and context of the music is unique. Hip hop came about in NY by way of Congo Square. Just like Congolese Soukous or Mbalax from Senegal has it own unique contexts and can’t be claimed by others. Everyone can enjoy the music respectfully tho!

Brehs got Me laughing into my oatmeal at this shyt :russ:
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I would say the musical element is what defines hip-hop. The poetry part, every single culture in the world has had rhyming verse since the beginning of time. There's nothing new about the lyrical side of it. But the beauty of hip-hop is putting that to an instrumental track and the artist synchronising their voice and their words with the music. That's what's unique and original, and also what makes it so much better than plain old poetry.

What makes you say that poetry over music has been around forever? I fail to see how that's possible, it couldn't have happened until the 20th century at the very earliest, because until then there was no way to record music except to write down notes and have an orchestra play it live. And you can't get your lyrics to synchronise with the music unless you practice a lot. You have to listen to the music a lot first to figure out it's rhythm and speed, and then tailor each line of your verse to match that. It's too hard to do that before there existed a way to store and replay music as many times as a song writer would need
 
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98Ntu

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Sukairain said:
I would say the musical element is what defines hip-hop. The poetry part, every single culture in the world has had rhyming verse since the beginning of time. There's nothing new about the lyrical side of it. But the beauty of hip-hop is putting that to an instrumental track and the artist synchronising their voice and their words with the music. That's what's unique and original, and also what makes it so much better than plain old poetry.

What makes you say that poetry over music has been around forever? I fail to see how that's possible, it couldn't have happened until the 20th century at the very earliest, because until then there was no way to record music except to write down notes and have an orchestra play it live. And you can't get your lyrics to synchronise with the music unless you practice a lot. You have to listen to the music a lot first to figure out it's rhythm and speed, and then tailor each line of your verse to match that. It's too hard to do that before there existed a way to store and replay music as many times as a song writer would need
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Your perspective is a fascinating one my brother. One I didn’t consider.

My perspective is that poetic devices and spoken word over music has been prevalent in the oral literature (orature) of various cultural groups globally. Not all poetry was written.

For example, the Shona of Zimbabwe have a style of vocalizing called kutaura which literally means speaking or talking. When playing the mbira/sanza (African “thumb-piano”), some vocalists sing poetry about the ancestors, community, royalty, war and the spirit world. The same devices can be found in innumerable African cultures. Yet, it isn’t just Africans. I’ve heard Indonesian gamelan music utilize spoken verse and poetic speech patterns in conjunction with singing and shouting.

The art forms of gamelan music and mbira music are ancient. With both having roots that go back millennia. The reason we know this is because of archeology which gives us insight into the linguistics and aesthetics of the time of when these art forms developed. For example, early poetry of the Shona people’s Bantu migrant ancestors discusses encountering the indigenous San and KhoeKhoe peoples of Southern Africa during the Bantu migrations from West into Southern and Eastern Africa. Fascinating stuff. Poetry over music has always existed in my understanding. African Americans also have a rich history of poetry over music pre-Hip hop with some work songs and styles of blues relying more on spoken word than on singing.

However, Hip hop is a unique case to me. Hip hop makes poetry over music a whole culture in and of itself instead of being a subculture of dominant culture imo. Hip hop utilizes specific rhyme schemes, cadences and flows which are unique to that culture. Hip hop instrumentation is also based heavily on sampling and breakbeats. The breakbeat is product of jazz and funk ie AA percussive ideology. Poetry over music isn’t particularly unique imo by what Hip hop does and what Hip hop came from make it very unique! Hip hop is African American music that takes elements and integrates them unique ways and forms unlike previously seen.

Your comments about the study of music are fascinating too. Perhaps, it is the way that AAs conceptualize music that makes you think the way you think. AAs gave the world Jazz music which is heavily conceptual and progressive music that relies on rehearsal, but also has elements of improvisation and deep experimentation. Also, the rhythmic identity of AA music is unique comapred other cultures. AA music is a rich field of study.

Good discussion breh. I humbly await your response.
 
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