Rap has entered the history of American art over a century ago. The people who have laid the foundations for rap as we know it today were the two big ethnical groups of the American society: African Americans and people from the Caribbean Islands. Folk artists of the mentioned origins were telling rhymed stories with the accompaniment of rhythmic music (drums and sparse instrumentation). This music already existed years before hip-hop was developed and became popular.
Rapping is actually reading or chanting of rhythmic lyrics that were designed to set a beat. Many specialists are of the opinion that rhythmic reading used by rap artists is one of the most sophisticated poetry styles. A particular feature of rap is the topic of the songs: usually, they involve expressing opinion about such objects as violence, racism, sex, social relationships and political issues.
In the 1970s rap in the US gained popularity, especially among teenagers that were adopting the street culture. But 1979 is known to be a definable year in the history of American rap. The Sugarhill Gang has released their first famous hit called Rapper’s Delight that was a manifest of a completely new style noticed by the musical producers. After this hit was discovered, numerous rap artists began to be recognized an popular, and rap started to become a trend in the society, forming a specific culture around itself. In 1980s rap became more diverse, and, while the original rap culture was still a discovery of the African Americans and people from The Caribbean, white rap bands began to gain popularity, such as Beastie Boys. Also, there was a popular female rap band called Salt-n-Pepa.
Nowadays, Eminem is still a popular rap artist, along with the modern rap stars like Ludacris, 50 Cent and Jay-Z.
The word rap itself has different meanings, such as “to strike, especially with a quick, smart, or light blow”, as well “to utter sharply or vigorously: to rap out a command” (Shorter Oxford Dictionary). By the late 1960s when rap started emerging in the US the verb to rap was used as a slang term denoting a speech, an oration, but it had no relation with music at that time.
Spoken art forms, for example rhythmic word jazz poetry, and specific spoken comedy records are known to be the factors that also influenced the development of the new music style. A comedy artist Rudy Ray Moore has created two albums in 1960 and 1970 with songs the lyrics of which were close to the one of modern rap: sexually explicit content the main characters of which were gangs, prostitutes and players. Later, this artist was called the “Godfather of Rap”. A musician and jazz poet Gil Scott-Heron is known to have influenced such rap artists as KRS-One and Chuck D. Scott-Heron, as he told, was also influenced by another artist called Melvin Van Peebles, who described his style as the “old Southern style” which he became affected with growing up on the streets of South Chicago, and the old forms of African-American music. In the 1920s the music of The Caribbean Islands was flourishing, influenced by the trends in the American music. In 1956 there was coined the term deejay describing a singer who has read the lyrics over the dubbed Jamaican beats. This art was first called “rap” and began to denote the informal debate or discussion.
At that time there was a common practice to make rhymed announcements in the microphone at different parties. Later, the music beat was supporting such announcements, making them a specific form of art. In the end of 1970s the so-called hip-hop’s first DJ became famous. His pseudo was DJ Kool Herc. This man was a Jamaican immigrant that started a practice of delivering simple rap lyrics at parties.
However, what is nowadays commonly known as rap originates from Manhattan. Pete DJ Jones has said that at first he has heard rap in Harlem, performed by DL Hollywood. He was known to adapt the lyrics of the existing songs to the music beat of rap. Later, in the beginning of 1970s such artists as Kurtis Blow and the abovementioned Sugarhill Gang started to attract more and more attention to rap, making it popular beyond the limits of New York City. Leon Russell and the Shelter People with their song “Stranger in a Strange Land” that was released in 1971, and Blondie’s “Rapture” were the first songs to be included into the Billboard’s Hot 100 chart.
There is a special notion in rap called “flow”, referred to as rhythms and rhymes and their interaction. For making a good flow, it is important to stay “on the beat”, meaning the way rappers stress the syllables in accordance with the beat. “The lyrics of rap are written to be enacted in an accompaniment that underlines the metrical structure of the verse” (Attridge 35). He says rap lyrics are made up of, "lines with four stressed beats, that are divided by other syllables that can vary in number and may include other syllables. The distinctive beat of the accompaniment is supported with the other stressed beats of the verse, and the rapper makes the rhythms of the cooperating syllables to deliver variety and surprise".
The Old School flows of rap were relatively simple and involved only a few syllables to be stressed for every beat. A rapper called Melle Mel was famous to change the way rappers followed the flow "from 1970 to 1978 we have rhymed one way [then] Melle Mel, in 1978, presented us with the new cadence we used from 1978 to 1986” (Kool Moe Dee 325). A considerable majority of rappers nowadays still use the flow developed by Melle Mel, although such famous artists as Eminem, Notorious B.I.G. and Rakim have their own complicated flow. Actually, the difference in the flow is what separates the rap artists of the Old School from the New School representatives. It also explained why most of the rap hits of 1990s became more fast and complex. Koll Moo Dee also says that at present, Eminem’s flow is the most complex and developed, and dominant.
The delivery of the performance is also of great importance. Rap artists must develop vocal presence, enunciation, and good breath control. Vocal presence indicates how distinctive is the performer’s voice over the record. Enunciation must be clear. Some artists use exaggerated enunciation to produce a comic effect. A rapper with bad breath control will be unable to deliver complex rhymes in a fast rhythm.
Sometimes rap is delivered more melodically. A rapper from West Coast called the Egyptian Lover was first to create the so-called “sing-raps”.
There are different literary techniques that are used extensively in rap. These are, for example, double entendres, alliteration, and different other forms of literary devices. Some forms of wordplay can also be found in classic poetry. Similes and metaphors are used very often. Such famous rappers as Fabulous and Lloyd Banks have written rhymes containing similes in every single line. Lay-Z, Rakim and GZA are known to use a lot of metaphoric content in their rhymes.
Rap also has an extensive vocabulary. It uses a lot of specific slang words developed in the rap lyrics themselves. While some rappers used a lot of metaphors, especially expressing their opinions on the political issues, Tupac was famous for saying everything in straight words.
There are also two notions essential for modern rap culture: freestyle and battle. Freestyling is referred to unscripted creation of rap lyrics right while performing, which is usually a proof of distinctive skill and talent of the rapper. A rap battle is a competition between two rappers in front of the audience. The winner of the battle is decided by the crowd. Rappers use improvisation and Freestyling in battles, although sometimes they prepare several rhymes for the battle. After the movie 8 Mile was released portraying the personal story of Eminem, rap battles gained huge popularity and are nowadays translated on radio by some of the rap radio stations. The strongest form of rap battling is when the rapper concentrates on the weaknesses of the opponent, sometimes in a comic way.
Marshall Bruce Mathers was born on October 17, 1972, in St. Joseph, Missouri. Marshall is an American rapper, record producer, songwriter and actor. Is a member of his group D12 and Bad Meets Evil. More known as Eminem (EMINƎM) or Slim Shady.
Eminem has recorded 8 albums and currently is a rap artist, whose works sold most in the world.
He gained popularity in 1999, after he has released of the album «The Slim Shady LP», which later has won a Grammy for "Best Rap Album". The pace of sales of his next album «The Marshall Mathers LP» has become a record - 1.76 million copies sold in a week. This record is still unbeaten. The album gained great popularity for Eminem and his own label Shady Records.
For the third album «The Eminem Show» he also received a Grammy. Eminem became the first artist who their three consecutive albums received three Grammy Awards in a row. 2002 Eminem won the "Oscar" award for most popular song "Lose Yourself", the main theme of the movie "8 Mile," in which he starred. The song «Lose Yourself» ranked 12 weeks first in the US charts. His next album «Encore», as the previous albums, too, was a commercial success, but did not win Grammy Awards. 2005, after the tour, Eminem stopped musical career until 2009, when he issued the album "Relapse", which also won a Grammy Award in the category "Best Rap Album".
He is the only child in his family. His parent are Marshall Bruce Mathers older (born in 1951) and Deborah "Debbie" Nelson (born 1955). Eminem has German, English, Swiss and Scottish origins. Deborah met 18-year elder Bruce when she was 14 and she nearly died during the birth of Eminem. By twelve, Marshall and his mother often moved from one city to another Missouri (eg, they lived in Savannah, St. Joseph and Kansas) until they settled in Warren (Detroit suburb). When Marshall was a teenager, he heard the album Beastie Boys “Licensed to Ill”, after which he became interested in hip-hop, and the age of fourteen began rapping under the name «M & M» and organized the group «Bassmint Productions», which released her first little album ”Steppin 'Onto The Scene”. They have later changed the name to «Soul Intent» and during 1995 released her first single «Fuckin' Backstabber» produced by the label Mashin' Duck Records. He went to Lincoln High School in Warren name, where he took part in freestyle battles, and Osborn neighboring high school, winning them and gaining popularity. Marshall left three times in grade 9, and after frequent omissions expelled from school when he was 17. The first contract signed with Marshall FBT Productions, led by Bass brothers (Jeff and Mark). Also, while Marshall received the minimum wage, and cleaning dishes in the Hunting Lodge Gilbert restaurant In 1996 his first Infinite album was recorded at Studio Bass brothers and released under their independent label Web Entertainment. Eminem was often criticized for copying styles reading rap other artists. Eminem later explained, "It's obvious, I was young and was influenced by other artists, and many said that I sound like them. Infinite was an attempt show that rap style I would have. It was awkward age". (The story put behind the Infinite included various attempts to make a better life of his little daughter Hailey Jade and attempts to become rich). Making his first career steps, Eminem collaborated from Detroit MC Royce that used a stage pseudo Bad Meets Evil. With the release of The Slim Shady EP Marshall was accused of forgery style from the rapper Cage. Promoting their mini-album, Marshall turned to Joseph Bruce, a member of Insane Clown Posse, and gave him a flyer in which it was written that the group is invited to a party in honor of the release. Bruce refused to come to that party for Marshall previously asked permission to use the name of their group in the invitation. Having received the answer of Bruce as an insult, bad marshal remembered it in a radio interview.
Jimmy Ayovin, CEO of Interscope Records, requested a demo tape Eminem in 1997, after he took 2nd place at the Rap Olympics. Ayovin gave the tape to listen to the founder of Aftermath Entertainment and producer Dr. Dre. And with Dr.Dre Eminem began recording songs for their debut album Eminem's The Slim Shady LP. Eminem also invited to record a couple of songs on the album Devil Without a Cause by Kid Rock.
The next year after the contract with Aftermath Entertainment / Interscope Records in 1999, Eminem released their first studio album called The Slim Shady LP, most of the songs in which were produced by Dr. Dre. The album became one of the most popular in 1999 and was certified as triple platinum by RIAA association. Until now in the United States it is sold in more than 4 million copies.
Eminem was often criticized for lyrics in his album. The song «'97 Bonnie and Clyde», he describes a walk with his newborn daughter to the lake to drop the body of his wife. The song «Guilty Conscience», he persuades a husband to kill his wife with her lover.
«Guilty Conscience» has started a close collaboration between Dr. Dre and Eminem. Later they will work together on such songs as «Forgot About Dre» and «What's the Difference» album Dr. Dre 2001, «Bitch Please II» from the album The Marshall Mathers LP, «Say What You Say» album The Eminem Show, «Encore / Curtains Down» album Encore and «Old Time's Sake» and «Crack a Bottle» album Relapse.
As of June 2004 the album sold in the world nine millionth edition.
Eminem received thirteen Grammy Awards. He was praised for "verbal energy", lyricism of high quality and ninth ranking on the list MTV «The Greatest MCs of All Time». 2003, he took thirteenth place on MTV in the category "22 greatest musical voices "and number 82 in the category “Immortal” in the magazine Rolling Stone. In 2008, the readers of Vibe Magazine voted him the nomination «The Best Rapper Alive». After a survey of music lovers at Vibe called it "the best rapper of all time."
Ironically, the song «The Real Slim Shady» from his second album «Marshall Mathers LP», which received Grammy Awards, Eminem expressed their opposition to this award (in the second verse), and the idea of negative feelings about receiving any material rewards.
Works Cited
Attridge, Derek. Poetic Rhytm. Web. 3 May 2016.
Kool Moe Dee. Biography. Web. 3 May 2016.
Shorter Oxford English Dictionary, 3rd edition, Revised, 1970, p.1656. Print.
"Poetic Rhythm: An Introduction - Derek Attridge". Web. 3 May 2016.
