Terms Used in African American Music
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a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z #
afrocentric
In hip hop, a style and philosophy centered on or derived from the
idea of African heritiage. Identifies Africa as the source for black ideals,
practices and social order. Express their African heritage through beats,
lyrics, and Afrocentric dress and other images. Artists include Jungle
Brothers, A Tribe Called Quest, Queen Latifah, De La Soul, and X-Clan.
b-boys
and b-girls
The first generation of hip hop; dancers (breakers), graffiti artists,
local kids from the neighborhood; sometimes used synonymously with breakers.
backspinning
A DJ technique in which the record is spun on the needle in the opposite
direction.
beat
juggling
Creating a new rhythmical composition by using two records and manipulating
the arrangement of the elements (drum sounds, headnotes, etc.).
black
feminism
(See womanism) White middle-class, feminist activists had racial and
class blind spots, and did, would, could not address the social inequality
experienced by African American women. Black feminism (or womanism, a term
coined by Alice Walker) makes an effort to address racial identity in conjunction
with gender inequality, and responds to a feminism that is read by black
women to mean "white feminism."
Black
Power
The Black Power Movement was inspired by the philosophy of Black Nationalism,
which advocated self-sufficiency, self-control and the full participation
in the decision-making process on issues affecting the lives of black people.
These issues include political participation, economic empowerment, local
school governance, and community control. The Black Power Movement was
spearheaded by the teachings of the Nation of Islam, Malcolm X and Stokely
Carmichael (of the Black Panthers), all of whom promoted the concepts of
Black Pride; Self-awareness; Self-control; National Black unity. The Black
Power movement sought to unify all blacks from southern and northern regions
through a shared philosophy.
blaxploitation
A film genre popular in the early 1970s, made with black performers
and aimed at a black audience. These low-budget films typically glorify
black criminals and typically portray black men as only pimps, pushers,
prostitutes, and gangsters. These films and their stock characters achieved
cult status in the black community. Films include Shaft, Foxy Brown, Superfly.
boasting
An African American verbal art genre in which the performer praises
or brags about personal attributes, material possessions and verbal and
technical skills. Boasting is a subcategory of storytelling and is related
to toasting.
break
Also breakdown; the most percussive or rhythmically complex section
of records that often featured Latin instruments such as congas, timbales,
and cowbells.
breaking
Hip hop dance style; phase one was introduced by African American youth
in the early 70s who adapted a number of dance moves - the shuffle, James
Brown's slide, spins, robotic moves, etc - into a medley labeled "breaking";
phase two was transformed by Puerto Rican youth who made breaking competitive.
Crews emerged (from the urban gang culture), challenging other dancers
to meet on the school ground, subway platform, or street corner, armed
only with cardboard of linoleum. A stylized form of combat.
commercial
Viewed with regard to profit; designed for a large market; suitable,
adequate, or prepared for "commercial success"; as a result, often criticized
for being of an average or inferior quality, producing artistic work of
low standards for quick market success.
cross-over
hip-hop
A broadening of the popular appeal of an artist (as a musician) or
an artist's work that is often the result of a change of the artist's style.
cultural
function
Hip-hop served as a source for social control; a forum for creative
expression; and helped define a cultural and social identity for the urban
youth.
dancehall
music
A Jamaican dance and music with a hard driving beat played through
heavy bass speakers.
diaspora
The breaking up and scattering of a people who had to settle far from
their ancestral homeland.
distortion
Sly Stone was the first to employ devices to alter the spoken and sung
voice and guitars in funk music.For example Sly Stone's film "Sex Machine".
DJ
The DJ form began at live sound system dances, eventually leading to
recordings of toasts on disc. When hip-hop mixing emerged in New York (thanks
in part to native Jamaican Kool Herc), the term was soon transferred to
the urban instrumentalists, not the vocalists. Major innovations by Grand
Wizard Theodore, Grandmaster Flash, and Afrika Bambaataa led to a '90s
generation (see turntablists) who had inherited a mature form of artistic
statement.
dozens, the (doin'
the dozens)
An African American form of verbal dueling. A competitive exchange
of insults involving women special in the lives of males; a game of ritualized
insults.
dub poetry
Instrumental track versions of the A-side vocal track versions consisting
of bass and drum. Dub versions were initially recorded in response to the
growing practice of DJs toasting on microphones at public dances. the heartbeat
of a people, yet not definable.
dub poetry
Poetry imperfectly described as what has been called "Reggae Poetry."
Recited over on insterted on instrumental tracks.
Feminism
The theory of the political, economic, and social equality of the sexes;
organized activity on behalf of women's rights and interests. See black
feminism, womanism.
feminist
hip-hop
Introduced feminist perspectives to the hip-hop tradition. Female rappers
address a range of topics, including their, verbal skills, relationships,
and social and political issues; often includes a black feminist ideology
to empower black women. Some artists include - McLyte, Salt 'n Pepa, &
Queen Latifa.
filtering
Sifting high end and mid-range sounds (they are not removed, but are
compressed) and boosting up the bass.
Five-Percent
Nation
An offshoot of the Nation of Islam and guided by the teachings of Clarence
13 X. The Five Percent Nation espouse the philosophy that 85% of the world's
population is uncivilized, 10% are rich slave owners, and 5% are the poor,
righteous teachers whose mission is to spread awareness. Their teachings
are partly based on a Supreme Alphabet, a Supreme Mathematics, and metaphysical
novelties. The Five Percenters or Five Percent rappers included artists
such as Brand Nubian, C.L. Smooth, Poor Righteous Teachers, and Wu Tang
Clan.
folktale
A characteristically anonymous and timeless tale circulated orally
among a people.
funk -A musical genre characterized by group singing, complex polyrythmic structures, percussive instrumental and vocal timbres and featured horn section. James Brown and Sly Stone were the godfathers of funk. See Funk Glossary
fusion
A merging of diverse, distinct, or separate elements into a unified
whole; in popular music, combining different styles (as rap and jazz formed
New Jazz Swing)
gangsta
A style of hip hopdistinguished by a raw edgy, raucous sound and gritty
tales about urban life. The lyrics were an accurate reflection of reality;
other times, they were exaggerated comic book stories. The most commercially
successful form of hip-hop in the late '80s and early '90s that gangsta
rap caused considerable controversy.
gender
duels
The tradition of "dissing" and ritualized insult games between men
and women. UTFO's
Roxanne, Roxanne", Roxanne Shanté's "Roxanne's Revenge", and
The Real Roxanne "The Real Roxanne" popularized verbal dueling, or signifyin',
between genders.
gospel
hip-hop
The fusion of contemporary gospel and hip-hop elements. Integrates
gospel lyrics and Christian religious themes with hip-hop lyrical rhymes
and beats to create inspirational songs of faith. Artists include - "Nu
Nation" and "DC Talk"
gospel
style
Improvised and melismatic vocal style characterized by a strained,
full-throated sound, often pushed to guttural shrieks and rasps suited
to the extremes of emotional-laden lyrics. Vocal timbres extend from lyrical
to percussive and syncopated polyrhythms are accentuated with heavy, often
hand-clapped accents on beats 2 and 4.
graffiti
An inscription or drawing made on some public surface (as a subway
car or wall); a way to pass on unconventional views, mark turf, or for
artful expression.
hardcore
A style of hip-hop marked by confrontation and aggression, whether
in the lyrical subject matter, the hard, driving beats, braying sampling
and production, or any combination thereof. The musical style of hardcore
hip-hop is aggressive, polytextured, polyrhythmic, and polysonic. Hardcore
rap is tough, streetwise, and intense. Hardcore comprises conscious or
nationalist hip-hop style as well as gangsta and x-rated.
hip-hop
Competitive cultural expressions of urban youth, consisting of graffiti
artists, mobile deejays, breakers (breakdancers, b-boys, b-girls), and
MC's (later known as rappers). Hip-hop provided both entertainment for
inner-city youth and a new forum for competitive, non-violent gang warfare.
hip-hop
ballad
Softer beats and lyrical themes of love and romance. Some artists that
exemplify this genre are LL Cool J and PM Dawn.
human
beat box
The incorporation of rhythmic vocal effects that became the trademark
of the comic hip-hop group, The Fat Boys.
hustler
Initially associated with the main characters in the toasting tradition
and foundational to the characters of gangsta rap. The two types of hustlers:
(1) the trickster who lives by his wits, constantly scheming and manipulating
others; (2) The badman (also, the baadman) who rules by force and intimidation
and feels justified in "beating" the system, making ends meet illegally
or outside conventional paths, which often are not available to him (sometimes
her).
imitation
A process of production by which the intent is to reproduce expressions
of cultural tradition. The final product reflects in varying ways the sensibilities,
aesthetics, cultural values, and musical perspectives of the appropriating
culture.
inner
city
The usually older, economically-impoverished, and more densely populated
central section of a city.
MC (emcee,
rapper)
The percussive lyricist of hip hop. "Rapper's Delight" gave the MCs
a new name, rapper, a label that continues to trouble old-schoolers.
message
hip-hop (conscious hip hop)
In the latter half of the 1980s, message hip-hop became a viable form
for addressing the problems faced by the black community and suggesting
possible ways to solve those problems. The voices of message hip-hop in
the late 1980s-early 1990s express concern for: forging a positive Black
identity; encouraging unity among African Americans; liberating African
Americans from long history of oppression. See nationalist/social conscious
rap, Five-percent Nation rap, and Afrocentric rap. Some examples are Kurtis
Blow and KRS-One.
mobile
deejay/DJ
The DJ form began at live sound system dances, eventually leading to
recordings of toasts on disc. When hip-hop mixing emerged in New York (thanks
in part to native Jamaican Kool Herc), the term was soon transferred to
the urban instrumentalists, not the vocalists. Major innovations by Grand
Wizard Theodore, Grandmaster Flash, and Afrika Bambaataa led to a '90s
generation (see turntablists) who had inherited a mature form of artistic
statement.
nationalist
hip-hop
(Also conscious hip hop) Nationalist hip hop is rooted in the ideology
of black nationalism and guided by the teachings of Malcolm X and the political
activism of the Black Panthers. These hip-hop artists aim to help make
African Americans self-sufficient, to learn their history and to acknowledge
their past. Artists include Public Enemy, Paris, Boogie Down Productions,
KRS-One, Sister Souljah, and the Roots, Mos Def, and dead prez.
new
jazz swing
(Also Jazz-rap) fuses jazz and hip hop. The rhythms of New Jazz Swing
come almost entirely from hip hop, the samples and sonic textures were
drawn mainly from cool jazz, soul-jazz, and hard bop. New Jazz Swing styled
itself as a more positive alternative to the hardcore/gangsta movement
taking over rap's mainstream at the dawn of the '90s. Groups like A Tribe
Called Quest, the Jungle Brothers, Digable Planets and Gang Starr were
notable early artists.
new
school
Marking the period of rap music's transition from the inner city into
mainstream popular culture, becoming more diverse, musically and culturally.
New School rappers, such as Run-D.M.C. and Boogie Down Productions, kept
the beats minimal, expanded lyric themes and varied traditional rhyming
patterns. They occasionally added hard-rock guitars or harder-sounding
samples, and replacing live instruments with a battery of synthesized instruments
and later samples. They paved the way for Public Enemy, whose edgy, political
rhymes and dense, sample-heavy beats were the trailblazing sound of the
late '80s and early '90s. Some rap groups, such as N.W.A., responded with
gangsta rap. N.W.A. adopted PE's hard aggressive sound but concentrated
on tales of violence, crime and sex.
old
school
Old School rap is the style of the very first rap artists who emerged
from New York City in the late '70s and early '80s. Old school is easily
identified by its emphasis on simply having a good time (party rap). Aside
from the socially conscious material of Grandmaster Flash and Kurtis Blow,
which greatly expanded rap's horizons, most old school rap had the fun,
playful flavor of the block parties and dances at which it was born. Old
school rap's recorded history begins with two 1979 singles, Fatback's "King
Tim III" and the Sugarhill Gang's "Rapper's Delight," although the movement
had been taking shape for almost a decade prior. Sugarhill Records quickly
became the center for old school rap, dominating the market until Run-D.M.C.
upped the ante in 1983-84. Their sound and style soon took over the rap
world, making old school's party orientation and '70s funk, Latin and 1960s
and 1970s R&B influences seem outdated.
parody
A literary or musical work in which the style of an author or work
is closely imitated for comic effect or in ridicule; a feeble or ridiculous
imitation
polyrhythms
layers of different rhythmic patterns;
practice some African
polyrhythms online.
polytextured
layering of different sound qualities
punk
A mid-1970s genre that returned rock & roll to the basics: three-chords
and a simple melody, but played louder, faster, and more abrasively. Punk
remained as part of the underground music scene in the United States, spawning
the hardcore and indie-music scene of the 1980s-1990s (including grunge
and rap-metal).Punk bands include artists such as the Ramones, Television,
and the Sex Pistols.
R
& B hip-hop
In the 1990s, rap artists began to team up with R&B and funk artists
and producers and/or employ the R&B verse-chorus and funk song structure.
Evolved in the late '80s, when urban contemporary soul artists began incorporating
hip-hop rhythms, samples, and production techniques into their sound. Some
songs simply had hip-hop beats, others had rapped sections and sung choruses.
Artists include Bobby Brown, TLC, Heavey D and the Boyz, Montell Jordan,
etc.
rappin'
A term originally used to describe the art of verbal engagement designed
to persuade listeners. Rhyming schemes were not necessarily employed.
rap music
The product of inner-city African-American and Puerto Rican communities,
which were plagued by poverty, community decay, and the proliferation of
drugs and gang violence during the 1960s and early 1970s. Early rap records,
commonly called "old school," were made by DJs scratching records and playing
drum loops, with MCs rapping over the resulting rhythms; improvised, street
poetry accompanied by a montage of well-known recordings.
rap-metal
Fuses the most aggressive elements of hardcore rap and heavy metal,
and has become an extremely popular variation of alternative metal during
the late '90s and typically the domain of white musicians and white audience.
Much of rap-metal focuses on the cathartic intensity that is performed
by shout-rapping the lyrics instead of the applying the linguistic and
rhythmic complexity of traditional rap. Rap-metal always features a rapper
as frontman. Limp Bizkit became rap-metal's most popular band during the
late '90s; Rage Against the Machine, its most political.
recycling
process
The process of introducing new elements to a musical production that
re-enters the market place as a new version, to which other innovations
are added to produce yet another different version.
reinterpretation
The process of localizing foreign musical styles by introducing and
intertwining new cultural values, resources, and familiar musical elements
with those from foreign sources. The resulting style is distinguished by
a blending of features from two and sometimes three cultural traditions.
The various international hip-hop styles illustrate this process in various
production stages.
rock
the house (also known as rockin')
Denoted the MC's power and control of crowds; to generate positive
audible reaction and kinetic response
satire
Involves the use of humor and irony to make a point that is often critical
of real situations. Most often used in humorous rap, novelty rap, comic
rap or comedy rap, it was designed to amuse and entertain. Frequently,
it is the raps themselves that are humorous, but the music itself - particularly
in the case of Biz Markie, arguably the greatest comedy rapper to date
- can be clever and funny, as well. Comedy rap flourished in the '80s,
when hip-hop was itself was lighter than it was in the '90s (when gangsta
rap kept the music somber).
scat
Jazz vocal improvisation; singing in which the singer substitutes improvised
vocalized syllables for words in a song, may try to sound like a musical
instrument.
scratching
Cueing a record back and forth against the needle.
signifyin'
An African American verbal art genre; signifying refers to a form of
commentary that employs double meaning and hidden references; indirect
insults exchanged during verbal dueling or a way of subtly implying indirect
messages intended as insults.
social
commentary
Rap styles that are socio-political, expounding aggressively on the
social ills and political issues that adversely affected the critical mass
of African Americans, most of whom lived in inner-city communities. Themes
include critiques of drug abuse, urban decay/neglect, sexism, racism, among
others.
soul
Soul, is a concept, aesthetic and sensibility that embodies the ideology
of Black Power. It echoes the voices of college-aged students who rejected
the integrationist philosophy of the 1950s Civil Rights leaders for the
nationalist ideology of Black Nationalism. Soul came to describe a number
of R&B-based music styles in the 1960s and is rooted in the musical
aesthetic of the gospel tradition: gospel vocal and instrumental stylings,
emotional intensity, and rhythmic complexity. Different regions of America
produced different kinds of soul. In urban centers like New York, Philadelphia,
and Chicago, the music concentrated on vocal interplay and smooth productions.
In Detroit, Motown concentrated on creating a pop-oriented sound that was
informed equally by gospel, and 1960s R&B. In the South, the music
became harder and tougher, relying on syncopated rhythms, raw vocals, and
blaring horns. All of these styles formed soul, which ruled the black music
charts throughout the '60s and also frequently crossed over into the pop
charts. At the end of the '60s, soul began to splinter apart, as artists
like James Brown and Sly Stone developed funk. Other examples are James
Brown, the Isley Brothers and Marvin Gaye.
spirituality
A sensitivity or attachment to religious values often involving a life
of prayer and devotion.
spoken
word performance
Contains poems, stories and sketches as recited by authors and actors,
or they're documents of interviews and speeches with historical figures.
Frequently, they're enhanced with musical backdrops, but throughout it
all, the emphasis remains on the spoken word.
storytelling
The art of narrative performance.
tag
Guerilla art; the flamboyantly painted nicknames graffitists used to
protect their identity and gave their work an air of personalized mystery.
toasts
(African American)
An African American verbal art genre; praises about an anti-authority,
heroic figure; toasts can be an enactment, a recasting or exaggeration
of an actual event
toasts
(Jamaican)
A Jamaican verbal art and musical genre; a DJ's rap over an instrumental
tracks. Rappers (called toasters) would chant lyrics that praised dancers
and addressed topical concerns
transformation
Involves replacing foreign resources and materials with those distinctive
to the appropriating culture. Local cultures introduce new elements that
reflect their social norms, cultural values, and aesthetic principles.
In essence, transformation results in an emergent new style. Sometimes
the emergent style travels back into the originating culture. When this
happens, the production process returns to the imitative component and
may repeat the cycle as illustrated in the emergence of various rock styles.
turntablism
A term popularized by young non-American DJs popularized the term to
describe the current generation's idea of the art of mixing and scratching.
Turntablism showcases the DJ's dexterity and musical inventory in the creation
of sonic combinations.
underground
Underground hip hop falls into two categories: (1) it is either hardcore
hip-hop that pushes musical boundaries and has lyrics that are more inventive
than gangsta clichés; or (2) it is hardcore gangsta rap that wallows
in all of the musical and lyrical clichés of the genre. The two
styles share little regard for mainstream conventions, and they celebrate
their independent status. Examples of underground include - the Jurassic
5, Common, and The X-Ecutions.
verbal
competition
Refers to a rapper's boasts about verbal skills, physical attributes,
material possessions, the technological skills of the DJ, and their ability
to "rock the house" while trading insults among members of the same group
(known as "posse" or "crew") or directing insults at other groups.
verbal riddims
Jamaican Patois for verbal rhythms.
wigger
(wigga)
A nasty slurring of the epithet "white nigger"; the phenomenon of whites
identifying with a faulty idea of being black. Like "nigger lover" during
the civil rights era, the term was first used by whites who objected to
other whites embracing black culture. Now it's also used by whites who
embrace black culture to call out other whites who defame black culture.
x-rated
Also known as dirty rap, is hip-hop that is focused solely on sex.
The fathers of the genre, 2 Live Crew, were one of the leading groups of
the groove-heavy Miami bass sound, and that bass-driven groove remained
at the foundation of dirty rap. Most dirty rap was simply blue party rap,
designed to keep the party rolling.