Comparison essay on rock vs rap Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Comparison on rock vs rap - Essay Example Thus the hybrid forms arrived; later rock 'n' roll incorporated Country and Western, Swing, Classical, Big Band, Folk, and even Tin Pan Alley musical elements. By the 1940s, the term was used as a double entendre, referring to dancing, but with the hidden subtextual meaning of sex (it's Roy Brown's 'Good Rocking Tonight'), that was usually related to 'race music' and was rarely heard by white audiences. [Townsend, 2001] Rock appeared at a time when racial tensions in the United States came to their surface, as a combination of elements of white and black music. On March 21, 1952 in Cleveland, Alan Freed (Moondog) organized the first rock and roll concert, titled 'The Moondog Coronation Ball'. By the end of the decade it had spread throughout the world. The 'Fabulous Fifties' were the Happy Days of rock. In the late 1970s new forms of music, particularly punk rock and rap and hip-hop (in the late 1980s) emerged to fill the shocking and offending role of music in society. The influence of rap started in the Jamaica, then New York City, eventually getting to the west coast. [Hagar, 1984] Rap music, rooted in the tradition of Afro-American storytelling, it the early 1980's was popular among black people, and less acceptable among whites. Rap and hip-hop is a culture, a way of life for a society of people who identify, love and cherish rap music, break dancing, DJing and graffiti. It started with Jamaican born DJ Kool Herc who moved to New York in the late 1960's and brought the Jamaican tradition of 'toasting' which involved improvised rhymes over instrumental sections of reggae records. This trend became popular at discos, where the presence of MC was obligatory. Grand Wizard Theodore was the first DJ to scratch. Gangsta rap as the most controversial style of the rap music genre, originated in New York in the late 1970s. In the early 1980s go go, emerged as a reaction against disco, mixed with hip hop, and it developed in a more complex form. In the 90s it became mainstream, beginning with the release of Dr.Dre's 'The Chronic' (1992). From 1997 with Bad Boy Records it began to be merged with teen pop, when Eminem, Jay-Z and Nelly became very popular. [Nelson, 2000] 2. Music Lyrics Rock as a from of music usually features vocals (often with vocal harmony), electric guitars and strong back beat. Other instruments, such as the saxophone, are very common in its some styles. Early rock and roll combined elements of blues, boogie woogie, jazz, rhythm and blues, and was influenced by traditional Appalachian folk music, gospel and country and western. Bill Haley and His Comets' 'Rock Around the Clock', released in 1954, became a smash, the best selling record of the entire year across America and then in England; Bo Diddley's album, released early 1955, 'perked up the ears of many young listeners'. The Platters' 'Only You', released mid-1955, was totally preferred by teenagers in the fifties; Chuck Berry's 'Maybellene', recorded May 1955, indicated how 'rapidly things were changing'; Little Richard's 'Tutti Frutti', recorded September 1955, 'still hold its own against the hardest hitting rock of any era'; Carl Perkins' 'Blue Suede Shoes' (Dec 1955), and Elvis Presley' s 'Heartbreak Hotel' created the real rock 'n' roll revolution. [Townsend, 2001] Sixties are know by Dylan's records