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British hip hop

Music of the United Kingdom
History Ethnicities
Early British popular music English
1950s and 60s Scottish
1970s Welsh
1980s Irish
1990s to present Jamaican and Indian
Genres Classical and Opera - Folk - Popular - Rock
Timeline and Samples
Awards Mercury
Charts UK Singles Chart, UK classical chart
Festivals Glastonbury festival
Media NME - Melody Maker
National anthem "God Save the Queen" (Wales-"Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau", Scotland-"Scotland the Brave", "Flower of Scotland")
Regions and territories
Anguilla - Bermuda - Cayman Islands - Cornwall - Man - Manchester - Montserrat - Northumbria - Turks and Caicos - Virgin Islands

British hip hop is an umbrella term for English hip hop, Welsh hip hop and Scottish hip hop . Hip hop is a cultural movement which began among African Americans in New York City. Hip hop is composed of four parts: breakdancing, graffiti art, DJing and rapping. All four elements had arrived in the United Kingdom by the early 1980s. There were well-known graffiti artists in 1981, and recorded hip hop music began in 1984 with DJ Newtrament and his band, Kew , who released "London Bridge".

Contents

1980s

There was some success for hip hop-influenced music in the UK during the 80s. The Art of Noise's 1983 "Beat Box" and Malcolm McClaren 's "Buffalo Gals" and "Duck Rock". Novelty tunes from the UK sometimes featured rapping. In the early 80s, these included Steve Ignorant's "Rat Rap Rock" and "Wikka Wrap" by The Evasions , both released in 1981. Though still not hip hop, rapping was used by some mainstream performers, like George Michael, Adam Ant and Captain Sensible.

In 1983, Street Sounds Records began released electro hip hop compilations, releasing music from influential artists like Broken Glass , Zer-O , The Rapologists , Forevereaction and Syncbeat . This began the UK's long tradition of mixing hip hop with various kinds of electronic music, as in drum n bass and trip hop.

It was not until 1984, however, that electro records began to grow in popularity. Records included The Rapologists' "Kids Rap"/"Party Rap", Newtrament's "London Bridge Is Falling Down", Team 3 B 's "Closer to You"/"Machine Rap"/"Murderation Style (Dub Mix)" and Broken Glass' "Style of the Street".

In 1985, Jump 's "Feel It", DJ Richie Rich 's "Don't Be Flash" and D.S.M. 's "Warrrior's Groove", City Limits Crew 's "Fresher Than Ever" and Dizzi Heights Quartet 's "The Gospel! (Tell It Like It Is)".

British DJs were internationally renowned during this period. Beginning with the inaugural DMC DJ Championship in 1984, British DJs were the winners in 1984 (Roger Johnson ), 1985 (Chad Jackson ), 1986 (C. J. Mackintosh ), 1988 (DJ Pogo ) and 1990 (Cutmaster Swift ).

Music of Life

The late 80s saw some British artists combine hip hop and rock and roll. Music of Life , the first British hip hop label, released rock-rap fusions by Thrashpack as early as 1987 ("Kinda Cool in the First Place") and 1988 ("Trigger Happy"). In 1986 Music of Life executive Derek Boland recorded "Rock the Beat" and became known as Derek B. His "We Got the Juice" peaked at #16, and Doug B. became only the third rap crew to be on Top of the Pops (after Break Machine and Doug E. Fresh ). Doug B. quickly became the most prominent British rapper, and released a series of charting singles.

In 1987, Kamachi Sly won a Tim Westwood MC competition and threw the prize money into the audience, shouting "It's not about money, but about art". Derek B. got Sly's crew signed to Music of Life", and they soon recorded as Hijack for the revolutionarily hard-edged "Style Wars". Inspired by the intensity of Hijack, new crews like Gunshot and Silver Bullet arose with a similar sound.

Diversification

In the late 1980s, Mell'O' became one of the most famous British rappers. He worked with artists like D to the K and Monie Love, and eventually switched from using an American accent to his own dialect. His "Open Up Your Mind" was released in 1991 on the Rebirth of Cool compilation published by Island Records; this recording helped break British hip hop internationally. The rise of Mell'O', along with Behind the Beat , a hip hop programme on Def II , helped move hip hop towards larger audiences.

As with Mell'O' dialectic innovation, abandoning American English, other late 80s acts began to do the same. The London Posse included the Censored page rapper Rodney P and the reggae-styled toaster Bionic . It was in the last two years of the 80s that hardcore British hip hop had its greatest critical success. Overlord X 's Weapon Is My Lyric and London Rhyme Syndicate 's London Rhyme Syndicate are perhaps the best-remembered of the era.

Bristol

Without support from the mainstream music media, British hip hop developed in regional isolation. Places like Bristol (specifically, the St. Pauls area) became centers of innovation. The Wild Bunch (later better known as Massive Attack) were the first major crew from the Britsol scene, along with UD4 , The Ital Rockers , The MP Crew , 2Bad , The FBI Crew , Mickey Spillane and Martin also gained regional fame.

Bristol remained a center for hip hop for some time, producing major crews like Ples One , Smith & Mighty and the Ruthless Rap Assassins . In addition, cities like Nottingham (Stereo MCs ) developed their own scenes.

Leeds

In Leeds, the first hip hop 12" was Nightmares on Wax 's "Stating a Fact" (1989). Nightmares on Wax, along with Eze E and the Boy Wonder , gained some renown but we much more a part of the techno, house and trip hop scenes than hip hop. A Jamaican-influenced duo, Breaking the Illusion , soon revolutionized the scene by founding Low Life Records .

London

The London scene produced a crew consisting of DJ Richie Rich, Rob Birch , Nick Hallam , Owen Rossitter (from Wales) and DJ Cesare (from Italy), who had a Top 20 hit with "Get Connected" and a #2 album. In 1994, they also won a Brit Award for Best Band and Best Album . London also produced Monie Love, who became the most well-known British female MC by the early 1990s. She was a member of DETT Inc , and later became a successful solo star in New York after working with Queen Latifah and becoming a part of the Native Tongues Posse.

Aside from Monie Love, women were a part of the British scene in the 80s. British rapping teen stars included the We Papa Girl Rappers , while other crews included The She-Rockers and London's hard-edged Cookie Crew . The Laylow Posse produced major crews like Cash Crew .

In 1989, Hip Hop Connection became the first major British hip hop magazine, while Dave Pearce 's GLR became a major hip hop television programme. From this programme's call-in rap competitions came such major performers as Silver Bullet . The Ukrainian rapper Blade arose following the 1989 success of "Lyrical Maniac", which was a great success in the underground scene. That same year saw the release of Monsoon , by Black Radical MK II , who gained prominence for rapping about social and political problems.

1990s

In 1990, BBC began its first entirely hip hop show, National Fresh . Dance music was more popular than hip hop, however. The early 90s saw a number of major performers begin their popular creers. These included Krispy , who began recording in 1989 with "Comin' Thru Clear", but grew famous in the early 90s, eventually touring with people like Naughty by Nature across continental Europe. Caveman became one of the first British hip hop crews signed to a major label when they signed to Profile Records. Their first single, 1990's "Victory", was a major hit, and it was followed by "Fry Like You Fish" and the 1991 LP Positive Reaction . With their popularity peaking after their next album, The Whole Nine Yards, And Then Some , Caveman split, however, and the two members went on to solo careers.

The Kold Sweat record label began prominent in the early 90s, signing crews like The SL Troopers ("Knowledge"/"Put Your Brain in Gear") and Most Dominant ("Pushed to da Limit"), Point Blank ("Planting Semtex"), Unanimous Decision ("Rap Sings the Blues"/"Bomb Diffusal") and Dynametrix ("Keep Da Crowd Dancing"). Son of Noise, formerly of Music of Life, joined with Kold Sweat beginning with 1991's "Master of Menace". With their LP The Mighty Son of Noise (1993), the crew became disgusted by the music industry and decided to work outside the established companies and labels. The Ukrainian rapper Blade later began doing the same thing, and worked outside the system. Perhaps the biggest success for Kold Sweat was Katch 22 , whose "Diary of a Blackman" was banned by Radio 1 for using a sound clip from the National Front.

Artists like Gunshot and Blade continued to grow in popularity as hip hop moved towards the mainstream. In 1993, he released the first double LP of hip hop by a British artists, The Lions Goes From Strength to Strength . The album was recorded while Blade was in need of money, and his fans donated enough for cash him to record.

In 1991, Hijack released Horns of Jericho on Ice-T's recently formed Rhyme Syndicate label. The first single, "The Badman is Robbin", was a top 40 hit and crew went on sell more than 30,000 albums. The group was unable to maintain momentum, however, after Rhyme Syndicate shut down.

By the middle of the decade, however, drum n bass (jungle), a fusion of hip hop and ragga, arose with artists like the Ragga twins , Shut Up and Dance, Reel to Reel and the Blapps Posse . Many hip hop fans began listening almost exclusively to drum n bass.

Nevertheless, hip hop musicians like MC D (Psychological Enslavement ) and (Nu Konshuz) Kaliphz (Seven Deadly Sins) continued performing and recording throughout the middle of the decade.

At the end of the 90s and into the early 2000s, a new wave of musicians arose. These included Lewis Parker ("Shadows of Autumn"), Roots Manuva (Takes Time ) and Blak Twang (Long Time (Live From the Big Smoke) .

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