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British hip hop
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British Hip Hop is a genre of music, and a culture that covers a variety of styles of rap music made in the United Kingdom.[1] It is sometimes known as Brithop,[2] and is generally classified as one of a number of styles of urban music.[3] British hip hop was originally influenced by the New York hip hop scene, with British rappers often adopting American accents in the early years.
In 2003, The Times, a UK newspaper, described British hip hop's broad ranging approach:
"...'UK rap' is a broad sonic church, encompassing anything made in Britain by musicians informed or inspired by hip-hop's possibilities, whose music is a response to the same stimuli that gave birth to rap in New York in the mid-Seventies.[1]
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Following an initial flurry of interest from major record labels in the 1980s, by the early 1990s the scene had moved underground after record companies pulled back, disappointed by the genre's lack of vital sales in the USA.[citation needed] In the mid-1990s hip hop in the UK started to experiment and diversify - often mutating into different genres entirely, such as trip hop, UK garage or Drum n Bass - and began making inroads into the US market.
The growth of British hip hop was given a boost when in 2002, the BBC launched a digital radio station 1Xtra devoted to "new black music" including hip hop, R&B, UK garage, dancehall, and drum and bass,[4] however 1Xtra does not play exclusively British hip hop.
The cable and satellite, Channel U has also enhanced the profile of British hip hop and grime.
As in the US, British hip hop emerged as a scene from graffiti and breakdancing, and then through to DJing and rapping live at parties and club nights, with its supporters predominantly listening to and influenced by American hip hop.
Cross pollination through migrating West Indians (who were influential in the growth of New York hip hop) helped develop a community interested in the music. There were, however, British tunes starting to appear - the first ever British hip hop tune released on record was "London Bridge" by Newtrament and released on Jive records in 1984,[5] though prior to this British artists were rapping live or recording amateur tapes.
There were earlier pop records which dabbled with rap - such as Adam and the Ants' "Ant Rap" from the Prince Charming (CBS, 1981) LP, Wham's "Wham Rap (Enjoy What You Do)" (Inner Vision, 1982) or Malcolm McLaren's "Buffalo Gals" (Charisma, 1982) - but these are often considered pop appropriations of US rap, rather than the dawn of British hip hop culture[citation needed].
Over the next few years, more UK hip hop and electro music was released: Street Sounds Electro UK (Street Sounds, 1984), which was produced by Greg Wilson and featured an early appearance from MC Kermit, who later went on to form the Wilson produced Ruthless Rap Assassins; The Rapologists' "Kids Rap/Party Rap" (Billy Boy, 1984); DJ Richie Rich's "Don't Be Flash" (Spin Offs, 1985). Releases were still few and far between, and the scene remained predominantly underground.
Although record labels began to take note of the underground scene throughout the 1980s and 1990s, radio play and publicity were still a difficulty in helping the fledgling scene to grow, and the scene only managed to survive through word of mouth and the patronage of pirate radio stations around the country. Mainstream radio did play British hip hop on occasion, and instrumental in giving the scene wider recognition were DJs such as Dave Pearce, Tim Westwood, and John Peel.
| Music of the United Kingdom | ||
|---|---|---|
| History | Nationalities | |
| Early popular music | England | |
| 1950s and 60s | Scotland | |
| 1970s | Wales | |
| 1980s | Ireland | |
| 1990s to present | Caribbean and Indian | |
| Genres: (Samples) Classical - Folk - Hip hop - Opera - Popular - Rock - Jazz | ||
| By year: 1999 - 2000 - 2001 - 2002 - 2003 |
||
| Awards | Mercury, BRIT Awards, Gramophone Awards | |
| Charts | UK Singles Chart, UK classical chart, UK Albums Chart | |
| Festivals | Cambridge Folk Festival, Creamfields, Download Festival, Edinburgh International Festival, Eisteddfodd, Glastonbury Festival, Homelands, Isle of Wight Festival, Royal National Mod, The Proms, Reading and Leeds Festivals , T in the Park, V Festival | |
| Media | NME - Melody Maker - The Gramophone | |
| National anthem | "God Save the Queen" | |
| Regions and territories | ||
| Birmingham - Cornwall - Man - Manchester - Northumbria - Somerset
Anguilla - Bermuda - Cayman Islands - Gibraltar - Montserrat - Turks and Caicos - Virgin Islands |
||
The first UK record label devoted to releasing UK hip hop acts was founded in 1986. Simon Harris' Music of Life label was home to rapper Derek B - the first UK rapper to achieve chart success.
Building on Derek B's success, Music of Life went on to sign groups such as Hijack, the Demon Boyz, Hardnoise (later Son of Noise) and MC Duke. Their Hard as Hell series mixed homegrown talent like Thrashpack and the She Rockers with US artists such as Professor Griff. Music of Life was swiftly followed by other labels such as Mango Records and Kold Sweat.
Moving away from its US roots, British hip hop started to develop its own sounds: acts like Hijack, II Tone Committee, Hardnoise, and Silver Bullet developed a fast and hardcore style, while many other acts took influences from elsewhere.
Caveman and Outlaw Posse developed a jazz influenced style, whilst MC Mell'O' mixed jazz and hardcore. London Posse and Black Radical Mk II were more influenced by Reggae, whilst the Wee Papa Girl Rappers, Cookie Crew and Monie Love achieved chart success with more radio friendly hip hop.
Other acts and styles developed from the hip hop scene, resulting in new genres to describe them - for example Massive Attack[6] with trip hop, or Galliano with Acid Jazz.
Despite the chart success of some British born hip hop artists - for example Slick Rick, Young MC and Zev Love X, who all moved to the US at an early age - the majority of the scene was still underground and small scale.
A mindset began to develop - typified by the Gunshot tune "No Sell Out",1991 or Son of Noise's tune "Poor But Hardcore", 1992 - that distrusted successful artists who did not utilise the hardcore style most associated with the scene. Silver Bullet's chart success was applauded due to an uncompromisingly rapid delivery, whereas Derek B and Rebel MC were scorned when their more pop influenced styles earned them success. Such artists were often branded "sell outs".
Hip Hop Connection - the first major British hip hop magazine - was founded in 1989 and by the early 1990s the British hip hop scene seemed to be thriving. Not only was there a firm base of rappers in London - such as Blade, Black Radical Mk II and Overlord X - but many distinct scenes developed nationally.
Bristol's scene (specifically, the St. Pauls area) produced The Wild Bunch (later better known as Massive Attack), and major crews like the Scratch Perverts and Smith & Mighty, and later became the home of trip hop.
Nottingham was the birthplace of the Stereo MCs, whilst Leeds spawned Braintax and Breaking the Illusion (who both founded Low Life Records) as well as Nightmares on Wax.
Greater Manchester gave birth to the Ruthless Rap Assassins, Krispy 3 (later Krispy), the Kaliphz and MC Tunes.
As the scene grew, it became less common for British rappers to imitate American accents (those that did were often ridiculed) and British rap became more assured of its identity.
Caveman signed to a major label - Profile Records, the label home of Run DMC - and Kold Sweat came into their own, discovering groups like The SL Troopers, Dynametrix,Unanimous Decision and Katch 22, whose "Diary of a Blackman" was banned by Radio 1 for using a sound clip from the National Front.
In 1991, Hijack released The Horns of Jericho (Rhyme Syndicate Records, 1991) on Ice-T's recently formed Rhyme Syndicate label. The first single, "The Badman is Robbin'", was a top 40 hit and they went on sell more than 30,000 albums.
The predicted UK hip hop boom never achieved its predicted success. The Horns of Jericho (Rhyme Syndicate Records, 1991) was never released in the US, while record companies dropped artists, citing poor sales and lack of interest. Mango Records closed down, and the British public began to turn their affections to drum n bass (jungle), a fusion of hip hop and ragga.
British hip hop was also affected by the record industry clamping down on sampling, beginning to charge for the use of samples and prosecuting those who used them without permission. Larger US acts could afford to licence samples and still turn a profit for their labels, a luxury not available to many smaller UK artists.
As the old rappers left the scene, a new generation, raised on hip hop and electronica, was coming of age: The Herbaliser released Remedies (Ninja Tune, 1995), Mr Scruff released the "Frolic EP Pt 1" (Pleasure Music, 1995), Mark B released "Any More Questions?" (Jazz Fudge, 1995) and DJ Skitz released "Where My Mind Is At/Blessed Be The Manor" (Ronin Records, 1996) featuring a young rapper called Roots Manuva on guest vocals who had previously released the single "Next Type of Motion" (Sound of Money, 1995).
Record labels that attempted to merge British hip hop style and sensibilities with modern dance music began to emerge, like Mark Rae's Grand Central (home to Aim, Rae & Christian, and Fingathing, among others) or DJ Vadim's Jazz Fudge. Increasingly, these artists managed to avoid the issues surrounding sampling by making music themselves (bands such as the Stereo MCs began playing instruments and sampling their own tunes) or searching out more obscure records where a most cost effective licensing deal could be arranged.
British hip hop began to go through a renaissance,[7] its style shifting from the hardcore template of its youth and moving into more melodic territory.
In 1998 Mark B and Blade released "Hitmen for Hire EP", which featured guest appearances from Lewis Parker and Mr Thing (of the Scratch Perverts). The EP was a success, and led to the successful 2001 album The Unknown. Roots Manuva, Blak Twang, Mud Family, Task Force, Phi Life Cypher, Jeep Beat Collective and Ty all came to the public's attention, while veteran acts Rodney P, Mike J, and MC Mell'O' returned to the scene.
A new generation of artists emerged following the turn of the century, including Nicky Spesh, Foreign Beggars, Klashnekoff, and Jehst. At the same time a new style of electronic music emerging in the early 2000s, influenced heavily by hip hop and UK garage. The new genre was dubbed grime (sometimes called eskibeat or sublow). Notable grime acts include Dizzee Rascal, Lethal Bizzle, J-Dawg, Wiley, Sway DaSafo, Lady Sovereign, Ghetto, and Kano.
There is some controversy over whether grime is a subgenre of British hip hop or a genre in its own right. Early records such as Pow (Forward Riddim) by Lethal Bizzle made numerous references to guns and were subsequently banned from receiving air play.
Further success followed as The Streets released his 2002 album Original Pirate Material, and became one of the first of the new breed of British hip hop artists to gain respectable sales, though his verbal style resulted in him being shunned by many artists in the scene. Such success has caused a surge in media exposure of other British hip hop acts.
Welsh rap group Goldie Lookin' Chain also achieved chart success with their tongue-in-cheek take on hip hop.
In November 2005, BBC News picked up on the growing success of what it terms Brithop, describing the growing number of urban, hip-hop and grime acts emerging in the 21st century.[2] The BBC article followed the success of rapper Sway at the MOBO awards.
The internet has also become a prominent tool in the creation, promotion and distribution of British hip hop music.
- ^ a b Batey, Angus. "Home grown - profile - British hip-hop - music", The Times, 2003-07-26.
- ^ a b Youngs, Ian (2005-11-21). BBC News website: Is UK on Verge of Brithop boom. Retrieved on 2006-11-01.
- ^ BBC Website - Music: Urban. Retrieved on 2006-11-01.
- ^ BBC Website: 1xtra. Retrieved on 2006-11-01.
- ^ Low Life/British hip hop, UK hip hop: the story. Retrieved on 2006-11-02.
- ^ "BBC News website, Massive Attack on the net", 1998-03-29. Retrieved on 2006-11-02.
- ^ Rowntree, Barney. "BBC News website: British hip hop renaissance", 2001-08-10. Retrieved on 2006-11-02.