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TOP
RnB AND HIP HOP MUSIC RINGTONES
We keep track of the Top Ten R&B and Hip Hop Ringtones downloaded
every week and we break it down for you fast and easy. Stay on top of
the latest tones from the best Rhythm & Blues and Hip Hop artists
to hit Motown and beyond!
R&B / Hip Hop Music Lyrics @ GleeLyrics.com
TOP 10 RnB AND HIP HOP MUSIC TONES
FOR
THE WEEK OF
DECEMBER 12, 2009
Papers ringtone - Usher Papers
Empire State Of Mind ringtone - Jay-Z + Alicia Keys Empire State Of Mind
I Invented Sex ringtone -Trey Songz Featuring Drake Ready
Money To Blow ringtone - Birdman Featuring Lil Wayne & Drake Money to Blow
It Kills Me ringtone - Melanie Fiona It Kills Me
Baby By Me ringtone - 50 Cent Featuring Ne-Yo Before I Self-Destruct
Bad Habits ringtone - Maxwell BLACKsummers'night
Say Aah ringtone -Trey Songz Featruing Fabolous Ready
Pretty Wings ringtone - Maxwell BLACKsummers'night
Forever ringtone - Drake Featuring Kanye West, Lil Wayne & Eminem Forever
TOP 10 RnB AND HIP HOP MUSIC TONES
FOR
THE WEEK OF
NOVEMBER 9, 2009
Pretty Wings ringtone - Maxwell BLACKsummers' night
Empire State Of Mind ringtone - Jay-Z + Alicia Keys The Blueprint 3
Forever ringtone - Drake Featuring Kanye West, Lil Wayne & Eminem Forever
Papers ringtone - Usher
Wasted ringtone - Gucci Mane Featuring Plies Or OJ Da Juiceman The State vs. Radric Davis
I Invented Sex ringtone - Trey Songz Featuring Drake Ready
Bad Habits ringtone - Maxwell BLACKsummers' night
Regret ringtone - LeToya Featuring Ludacris Lady Love
Number One ringtone - R. Kelly Featuring Keri Hilson Untitled
Under ringtone - Pleasure P The Introduction of Marcus Cooper
TOP 10 RnB AND HIP HOP MUSIC TONES
FOR
THE WEEK OF
NOVEMBER 19, 2007
Bed ringtone - J. Holiday
Can't Help But Wait ringtone - Trey Songz
Duffle Bag Boy ringtone - Playaz Circle featuring Lil Wayne
Good Life ringtone - Kanye West featuring T-Pain
I'm So Hood ringtone - DJ Khaled featuring T-Pain, Trick Daddy, Rick Ross & Plies
Kiss Kiss ringtone - Chris Brown featuring T-Pain
No One ringtone - Alicia Keys
Shawty Is A 10 ringtone - The-Dream
Shoulda Let You Go ringtone - Keyshia Cole introducing Amina
Until The End of Time ringtone - Justin Timberlake
TOP 10 RnB AND HIP HOP MUSIC TONES
FOR
THE WEEK OF
NOVEMBER 12, 2007
Bed ringtone - J. Holiday
Can't Help But Wait ringtone - Trey Songz
Duffle Bag Boy ringtone - Playaz Circle featuring Lil Wayne
Good Life ringtone - Kanye West featuring T-Pain
I'm So Hood ringtone - DJ Khaled featuring T-Pain, Trick Daddy, Rick Ross & Plies
Kiss Kiss ringtone - Chris Brown featuring T-Pain
No One ringtone - Alicia Keys
Shawty Is A 10 ringtone - The-Dream
Shoulda Let You Go ringtone - Keyshia Cole introducing Amina
Until The End of Time ringtone - Justin Timberlake
TOP 10 RnB AND HIP HOP MUSIC TONES
FOR
THE WEEK OF
NOVEMBER 5, 2007
Bed ringtone - J. Holiday
Can’t Help But Wait ringtone – Trey Songz
Duffle Bag Boy ringtone - Playaz Circle featuring Lil Wayne
Good Life ringtone - Kanye West featuring T-Pain
I'm So Hood ringtone - DJ Khaled featuring T-Pain, Trick Daddy, Rick Ross & Plies
Kiss Kiss ringtone - Chris Brown featuring T-Pain
No One ringtone - Alicia Keys
Shawty Is A 10 ringtone – The-Dream
Teachme ringtone - Musiq Soulchild
Until The End of Time ringtone - Justin Timberlake
TOP 10 RnB AND HIP HOP MUSIC TONES
FOR
THE WEEK OF
OCTOBER 29, 2007
When I See You ringtone - Fantasia
Bed ringtone - J. Holiday
Duffle Bag Boy ringtone - Playaz Circle featuring Lil Wayne
Good Life ringtone - Kanye West featuring T-Pain
Kiss Kiss ringtone - Chris Brown featuring T-Pain
Let It Go ringtone - Keyshia Cole featuring Missy Elliott & Lil Kim
No One ringtone - Alicia Keys
Shawty ringtone - Plies featuring T-Pain
Teachme ringtone - Musiq Soulchild
Until The End of Time ringtone - Justin Timberlake
TOP 10 RnB AND HIP HOP MUSIC TONES
FOR
THE WEEK OF
OCTOBER 22, 2007
When I See You ringtone - Fantasia
Bed ringtone - J. Holiday
Duffle Bag Boy ringtone - Playaz Circle featuring Lil Wayne
Good Life ringtone - Kanye West featuring T-Pain
Kiss Kiss ringtone - Chris Brown featuring T-Pain
Let It Go ringtone - Keyshia Cole featuring Missy Elliott & Lil Kim
No One ringtone - Alicia Keys
Shawty ringtone - Plies featuring T-Pain
Teachme ringtone - Musiq Soulchild
Until The End of Time ringtone - Justin Timberlake
TOP 10 RnB AND HIP HOP MUSIC TONES
FOR
THE WEEK OF
OCTOBER 15, 2007
Bed ringtone - J. Holiday
Crank That (Soulja Boy) ringtone - Soulja Boy Tell'em
Duffle Bag Boy ringtone - Playaz Circle featuring Lil Wayne
Good Life ringtone - Kanye West featuring T-Pain
Kiss Kiss ringtone - Chris Brown featuring T-Pain
Let It Go ringtone - Keyshia Cole featuring Missy Elliott & Lil Kim
No One ringtone - Alicia Keys
Shawty ringtone - Plies featuring T-Pain
Teachme ringtone - Musiq Soulchild
Until The End of Time ringtone - Justin Timberlake
TOP 10 RnB AND HIP HOP MUSIC TONES
FOR
THE WEEK OF
OCTOBER 8, 2007
Bed ringtone - J. Holiday
Crank That (Soulja Boy) ringtone - Soulja Boy Tell'em
Duffle Bag Boy ringtone - Playaz Circle featuring Lil Wayne
I Get Money ringtone - 50 Cent
Let It Go ringtone - Keyshia Cole featuring Missy Elliott & Lil Kim
No One ringtone - Alicia Keys
Shawty ringtone - Plies featuring T-Pain
Teachme ringtone - Musiq Soulchild
Until The End of Time ringtone - Justin Timberlake
When I See You ringtone - Fantasia
TOP 10 RnB AND HIP HOP MUSIC TONES
FOR
THE WEEK OF
OCTOBER 1, 2007
Bed ringtone - J. Holiday
Crank That (Soulja Boy) ringtone - Soulja Boy Tell’em
Do You ringtone - Ne-Yo
I Get Money ringtone – 50 Cent
Let It Go ringtone - Keyshia Cole Feat. Missy Elliott & Lil Kim
No One ringtone – Alicia Keys
Shawty ringtone - Plies Feat. T-Pain
Teachme ringtone - Musiq Soulchild
Until The End of Time ringtone - Justin Timberlake
When I See You ringtone – Fantasia
TOP 10 RnB AND HIP HOP MUSIC TONES
FOR
THE WEEK OF
SEPTEMBER 24, 2007
Bed ringtone - J. Holiday
Crank That (Soulja Boy) ringtone - Soulja Boy Tell’em
Do You ringtone - Ne-Yo
I Get Money ringtone – 50 Cent
Let It Go ringtone - Keyshia Cole Feat. Missy Elliott & Lil Kim
No One ringtone – Alicia Keys
Shawty ringtone - Plies Feat. T-Pain
Teachme ringtone - Musiq Soulchild
Until The End of Time ringtone - Justin Timberlake
When I See You ringtone – Fantasia
TOP 10
RnB AND HIP HOP MUSIC TONES
FOR
THE WEEK OF
SEPTEMBER 17, 2007
Bed ringtone - J.
Holiday
Crank That
(Soulja
Boy) ringtone - Soulja Boy
Do You ringtone - Ne-Yo
Let
It Go ringtone -
Keyshia Cole
Make Me Better ringtone - Fabolous Feat. Ne-Yo
Shawty ringtone -
Plies Feat. T-Pain
Teachme ringtone -
Musiq Soulchild
Until The End of Time ringtone - Justin
Timberlake
When I See You ringtone - Fantasia
ABOUT HIP HOP
MUSIC
Hip hop music is a style of popular music. It is usually composed of two
elements: rapping (also known as emceeing) and DJing.
When combined with breakdancing and graffiti
art, these are the four components of hip hop,
a cultural movement which began in New
York City in the 1970s, predominantly by African Americans and Latinos.
The term rap music is sometimes used synonymously with hip
hop music, though it is also used to refer specifically to the
practice of rapping, which is one component of hip hop.
Typically, hip hop music
consists of one or more rappers who chant semi-autobiographic tales,
often relating to a fictionalized counterpart, in an intensely rhythmic
lyrical form, making abundant use of techniques like assonance, alliteration, and rhyme.
Though rap may be performed a
capella, it is more common for the rapper(s) to be accompanied by a
DJ or a live band providing an appropriate beat. This
beat is often from the percussion of a different song, usually rock, funk,
or soul,
and is sometimes sampled. In addition to the beat, other
sounds are often sampled, synthesized, or performed. Though rap is
usually an integral component of hip hop music, instrumental and
non-rap Electro acts such as Planet
Patrol are also defined as hip hop music groups.
Hip hop arose in New York City
when DJs began isolating the percussion break from funk or disco songs. The role of the emcee (MC) arose to introduce the DJ and the
music, and to keep the audience excited. The MCs began by speaking
between songs, giving exhortations to dance, greetings to audience
members, jokes and anecdotes. Eventually, this practice came to be more
stylized, and was known as rapping. By 1979, hip hop had
become a commercially recorded music genre, and began to enter the
American mainstream. It also began its spread across the world. In the
1990s, a form called gangsta rap became a major part of American music, causing
significant controversy over lyrics which were perceived as promoting
violence, promiscuity, drug use and misogyny. Nevertheless, by the
beginning of the 2000s, hip hop was a staple of popular music charts
and was being performed in many styles across the world.
Origins of Hip Hop
Music
The roots of hip hop are found in West
African and African-American music. The griots of
West Africa are a group of traveling singers and poets, whose musical
style is reminiscent of hip hop. Within New York City, griot-like
performances of poetry and music by artists such as The Last Poets and Jalal Mansur Nuriddin had a great
impact on the post-civil rights era culture of the 1960s and 1970s. Hip hop arose during the 1970s when block
parties became common in New
York City, especially the Bronx.
Block parties were usually accompanied by music, especially funk and soul
music. The early DJs at block parties began isolating the percussion breaks to hit songs, realizing that these were the most dance-able and
entertaining parts; this technique was then common in Jamaica (see dub
music) and had spread via the substantial Jamaican immigrant
community in New York City, especially the "godfather" of hip hop, DJ
Kool Herc. Dub had arisen in Jamaica due to the influence of
American sailors and radio stations playing R&B.
Large sound systems were set up to accommodate poor
Jamaicans, who couldn't afford to buy records, and dub developed at the sound systems (refers to both the system and the
parties that evolved around them).
Herc was one of the most popular DJs in early 70s New York, and he
quickly switched from using reggae records to funk, rock and, later, disco, since the New York audience
did not particularly like reggae. Because the percussive breaks were
generally short, Herc and other DJs began extending them using an audio mixer and two records. Mixing and
scratching techniques eventually developed along with the breaks. (The
same techniques contributed to the popularization of remixes.)
Later DJs such as Grandmaster Flash refined and
developed the use of breakbeats, including cutting. As in dub, performers began
speaking while the music played; these were originally called MCs;
Herc focused primarily on DJing, and began working with two MCs, Coke
La Rock and Clark Kent—this was the first emcee
crew, Kool Herc & the Herculoids. Originally, these early rappers
focused on introducing themselves and others in the audience (the
origin of the still common practice of "shouting out" on hip hop
records). These early performers often emceed for hours at a time, with
some improvisation and a simple four-count beat, along with a basic
chorus to allow the performer to gather his thoughts (such as "one,
two, three, y'all, to the beat, y'all"). Later, the MCs grew more
varied in their vocal and rhythmic approach, incorporating brief
rhymes, often with a sexual or scatological theme, in an effort at
differentiating themselves and entertaining the audience. These early
raps incorporated similar rhyming lyrics from African American culture
(see roots of hip hop music), such as the
dozens. While Kool Herc & the Herculoids were the first hip
hoppers to gain major fame in New York, more emcee teams quickly
sprouted up. Frequently, these were collaborations between former gang members, such as Afrikaa Bambaataa's Universal Zulu Nation (now a large,
international organization). Melle
Mel, a rapper/lyricist with The Furious
Five is often credited with being the first rap lyricist to call
himself an "MC." During the early 1970s, breakdancing arose during block parties, as b-boys and
b-girls got in front of the audience to dance in a distinctive,
frenetic style. The style was documented for release to a world wide
audience for the first time in Beat
Street.
The term
"Hip Hop"
Coinage of the term hip
hop is often credited to Keith Cowboy, a rapper with Grandmaster Flash & the Furious
Five. Though Lovebug Starski, Keith Cowboy, and DJ
Hollywood used the term when the music was still known as disco rap,
it is believed that Cowboy created the term while teasing a friend who
had just joined the US Army, by scat
singing the words "hip/hop/hip/hop" in a way that mimicked the rhythmic cadence of marching soldiers.
Cowboy later worked the "hip hop" cadence into a part of his stage
performance, which was quickly copied by other artists; for example the
opening of the song "Rapper's Delight" by The Sugarhill Gang.
Former Black Spades gang member Afrika Bambaataa is credited with first
using the term to describe the subculture that hip hop music belongs to, although it is also suggested that the
term was originally derisively used against the new type of music.
HIP HOP IN THE 21ST CENTURY
In the year 2000, The Marshall Mathers LP by Eminem sold over nine million copies in the United States, and Nelly's
debut LP, Country Grammar, sold over six
million copies. In the next several years, a wave of increasingly
pop-oriented R&B crossover acts, like Ja Rule and Destiny's Child, dominated American
popular music. It was not until the sudden breakthrough success of the
hard-edged 50 Cent that hardcore hip hop returned to the pop
charts. The United States also saw the rise of alternative hip hop in
the form of moderately popular performers like The
Roots, Dilated Peoples and Mos Def,
who achieved unheard-of success for their field.
Some countries, like Tanzania, maintained popular acts of their own in
the early 2000s, though many others produced few homegrown stars,
instead following American trends. Scandinavian,
especially Danish and Swedish, performers became well known outside of
their country, while hip hop continued its spread into new lands,
including Russia, Egypt and China.
HIP
HOP IN THE 1990S
In the 90s, gangsta rap became
mainstream, beginning in about 1992, with
the release of Dr. Dre's The
Chronic. This album established a style called G Funk,
which soon came to dominate West Coast hip hop. Later in the decade,
record labels based out of Atlanta, St. Louis and New Orleans gained
fame for their local scenes. By the end of the decade, especially with
the success of Eminem, hip hop was an integral part of popular
music, and nearly all American pop songs had a major hip hop component.
In the 90s and into the following
decade, elements of hip hop continued to be assimilated into other
genres of popular music; nu soul, for example, combined hip hop and soul
music and produced some major stars in the middle of the decade,
while in the Dominican Republic, a recording by Santi Y Sus Duendes and Lisa M became the first single of merenrap,
a fusion of hip hop and merengue.
In Europe, Africa and Asia, hip hop
began to move from an underground phenomenon to reach mainstream
audiences. In South Africa, Germany, France, Italy and many other countries, hip hop stars rose to prominence and
gradually began to incorporate influences from their own country,
resulting in fusions like Tanzanian Bongo Flava.
Hip Hop's
West Coast Rise
After N.W.A. broke up, Dr. Dre (a former member) released The
Chronic (1992), which peaked at #1 on the R&B/hip hop
chart and #3 on the pop chart and spawned a #2 pop single in "Nothin'
But a 'G' Thang". The Chronic took West Coast rap in a new
direction, influenced strongly by P funk artists, melding the psychedelic funky beats with slowly drawled
lyrics—this came to be known as G funk,
and dominated mainstream hip hop for several years through a roster of
artists on Death Row Records, including most
popularly, Snoop Doggy Dogg, whose Doggystyle included "What's My Name" and "Gin and Juice", both Top Ten pop hits.
Though West Coast artists eclipsed New
York, some East Coast rappers achieved success. New York became
dominated in terms of sales by Puff
Daddy (No Way Out), Mase (Harlem
World) and other Bad Boy Records artists, in spite of often
scathing criticism for a perceived over-reliance on sampling and a
general watered-down sound, aimed directly for pop markets. Other New
York based artists continued with a harder edged sound, achieving only
limited popular success. Nas (Illmatic), Busta Rhymes (The
Coming) and The Wu-Tang Clan (Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers)),
for example, received excellent reviews but generally mediocre or
sporadic sales.
The sales rivalry between the East Coast and the West Coast eventually
turned into a personal rivalry, aided in part by the music media. Many
reporters were not aware that MC battles were an integral part of hip
hop since its inception, and that, generally, little was meant by open
taunts on albums and in performances. Nevertheless, the East Coast-West Coast rivalry grew, eventually resulting in the still unsolved deaths of Tupac
Shakur and Notorious B.I.G..
Hip Hop Styles Diverge
In the wake of declining sales
following the deaths of both superstar artists, the sounds of hip hop
were greatly diversified. Most important was the rise of Southern
rap, starting with OutKast (ATLiens)
and Goodie Mob (Soul Food), based out of Atlanta.
Later, Master
P (Ghetto D) built up an impressive roster of
popular artists (the No Limit posse) based out of New
Orleans and incorporating G funk and Miami bass influences, and distinctive regional
sounds from St. Louis, Chicago, Washington D.C., Detroit (ghettotech)
and others began to gain some popularity. Also in the 1990s, rapcore (a fusion of hip hop and heavy metal) became popular among
mainstream audiences. Rage Against the Machine, Linkin
Park and Limp Bizkit were among the most popular
rapcore bands.
Though Caucasian rappers like the Beastie
Boys (Paul's Boutique), Vanilla
Ice (To the Extreme) and 3rd Bass (The Cactus Album) had had some
popular success and/or critical acceptance from the hip hop community, Detroit-native Eminem's
success, beginning in 1999 with the triple platinum The Slim Shady LP, came as a
surprise to many. Like most successful hip hop artists of the time,
Eminem came to be criticized for alleged glorification of violence,
misogyny, and drug abuse, as well as homophobia and albums laced with
constant profanity.
In South Africa, pioneering crew Black
Noise began rapping in 1989, provoking a ban by the apartheid-era
government, which lasted until 1993. Later,
the country produced its own distinctive style in the house fusion kwela.
Elsewhere in Africa, Senegalese mbalax fusions continued to grow in
popularity, while Tanzanian Bongo
Flava crews like X-Plastaz combined hip hop with taarab, filmi and
other styles.
In Europe, hip hop was the domain of
both ethnic nationals and immigrants. Germany,
for example, produced the well-known Die Fantastischen Vier as well as
several Turkish performers like the controversial Cartel. Similarly, France has produced a number of native-born stars, such as IAM and the Breton crew Manau,
though the most famous French rapper is probably the Senegalese-born MC
Solaar. The Netherlands' most famous rappers are The Osdorp
Posse, an all-white crew from Amsterdam, and The
Postmen, from Cape Verde and Suriname. Italy found its own rappers, including Jovanotti and Articolo 31, grow nationally renowned, while
the Polish scene began in earnest early in the decade with the rise of PM
Cool Lee. In Romania, B.U.G.
Mafia came out of Bucharest's Pantelimon neighborhood, and their brand of gangsta rap underlines the parallels
between life in Romania's Communist-era apartment blocks and in the
housing projects of America's ghettos. Israel's
hip hop grew greatly in popularity at the end of the decade, with
several stars emerging from both sides of the Palestinian (Tamer
Nafer) and Jewish (Subliminal)
divide; though some, like Mook E., preached peace and tolerance, others
expressed nationalist and violent sentiments.
In Asia, mainstream stars rose to
prominence in the Philippines, led by Michael
V., Rap Asia, MC Lara and Lady Diane, and in Japan, where underground
rappers had previously found a limited audience, and popular teen
idols brought a style called J-rap to the top of the charts in the middle of the
90s.
Latinos had played an integral role in the early development of hip
hop, and the style had spread to parts of Latin America, such as Cuba,
early in its history. In Mexico, popular hip hop began with the success of Calo in the
early 90s. Later in the decade, with Latin rap groups like Cypress
Hill on the American charts, Mexican rap rock groups, such as Control Machete, rose to prominence in
their native land. An annual Cuban hip hop concert held at Alamar in Havana helped to popularize Cuban hip hop, beginning in 1995. Hip
hop grew steadily more popular in Cuba, due to official governmental
support for musicians.
Alternative Hip Hop Music
Though mainstream acceptance has been
almost entirely limited to gangsta rap, isolated alternative rap artists, with a socially
aware and positive or optimistic tone, have achieved some success. In 1988 and 1989, albums
like De La Soul's Three Feet High and Rising, Gang Starr's No More Mr. Nice Guy and the Jungle Brothers' Straight Out the Jungle are
usually considered the first albums in this genre, with jazz-based
samples and intelligent lyrics (see jazz rap)
strongly influenced by the Afrocentric messages of Bambaataa's Zulu
Nation collective. Later alternative artists, many of whom were
members of the Native Tongues Posse, including Tribe Called Quest (The Low End Theory), Mos Def (Black on Both Sides) and The
Roots (Things Fall Apart), also
achieved some mainstream success, though the influence of jazz grew
less pronounced (with some exceptions, most notably Guru's Jazzmatazz project). Jazz rap went on to influence the development of trip hop in the United Kingdom, which fused hip hop, jazz
and electronic music; it is said to have been started by Massive Attack's Blue
Lines (1991).
HIP HOP IN THE 1980S
The 1980s saw intense diversification
in hip hop, which developed into a more complex form. The simple tales
of 1970s emcees were replaced by highly metaphoric lyrics rapping over
complex, multi-layered beats. Some rappers even became mainstream pop
performers, including Kurtis
Blow, whose appearance in a Sprite commercial made him the first
hip hop musician to be considered mainstream enough to represent a
major product, but also the first to be accused by the hip-hop audience
of selling out. Another popular performer among
mainstream audiences was LL
Cool J, who was a success from the release of his first LP, Radio.
Hip hop was almost entirely unknown
outside of the United States prior to the 1980s. During that decade, it
began its spread to every inhabited continent and became a part of the
music scene in dozens of countries. In the early part of the decade, breakdancing became the first aspect of hip hop culture to reach Germany, Japan and South Africa, where the crew Black
Noise established the practice before beginning to rap later in the
decade. Meanwhile, recorded hip hop was released in France (Dee
Nasty's 1984 Paname City Rappin') and the Philippines (Dyords Javier's "Na Onseng Delight" and Vincent Dafalong's "Nunal"). In Puerto
Rico, Vico
C became the first Spanish language rapper, and his recorded
work was the beginning of what became known as reggaeton.
The Politics of
Hip Hop
The first rap records (Fatback
Band's King Tim III, Grandmaster Flash's "Super Rappin'" and The Sugarhill Gang's Rapper's Delight) were actually
recorded by live musicians in the studio, with the rappers adding their
vocals later. This changed with DJ records such as Grandmaster Flash's "Adventures on the
Wheels of Steel" (known for pioneering use of scratching,
which was invented by Grandwizard Theodore in 1977) as
well as electronic recordings such as "Planet Rock" by Afrika Bambaataa and Run DMC's
very basic, all electronic "Sucker MC's" and "Peter Piper" which
contains genuine cutting by Run DMC member Jam Master Jay. These early innovators were
based out of New York City, which remained the capital of hip hop
during the 1980s. This style became known as East Coast hip hop.
Grandmaster Flash &
the Furious Five released a "message rap", called "The Message", in 1982;
this was one of the earliest examples of recorded hip hop with a
socially aware tone. In 1984, Marley
Marl accidentally caught a drum machine snare hit in the sampler;
this innovation was vital in the development of electro and other later types of hip hop.
Hip Hop Gains in Popularity
The mid-1980s saw a flourishing of the
first hip hop artists to achieve mainstream success, such as Kurtis
Blow (Kurtis Blow), LL
Cool J (Radio) and especially Run-D.M.C. (Raising Hell), as well as influences in
mainstream music, such as Blondie's Debbie
Harry rapping in the first non-black hit to feature rapping,
"Rapture". LL Cool J's Radio spawned a number of singles that
entered the dance charts, peaking with "I Can Give You More" (#21). 1986 saw two
hip hop acts in the Billboard Top Ten; Run-D.M.C.'s
"Walk This Way" collaboration with Aerosmith,
and the Beastie Boys "(You Gotta) Fight for Your
Right (To Party!)". The pop success of both singles was unheard of for
the time; "Walk This Way" has proved especially memorable for its early
mixture of hip hop and rock (though it was not the first such mixture),
and it peaked at an unheard of #4 on the pop charts. Also, the
mid-1980s saw the rise of the first major black female group, Salt-N-Pepa,
who hit the charts with singles like "The Show Stoppa" in 1985. Ice-T's
seminal "6n' Da Mornin'" (1986) is one of the first nationally successful West Coast hip hop singles, and is
often said to be the beginning of gangsta
hip hop (along with Schoolly
D, LL Cool J and N.W.A.).
In 1987, Public
Enemy brought out their debut album (Yo! Bum Rush the Show) on Def Jam - one of hip hop's oldest and most important labels, and Boogie Down Productions followed
up in 1988 with By All Means Necessary; both
records pioneered wave of hard-edged politicized performers. The late
1980s saw a flourishing of like-minded rappers on both coasts, and
Public Enemy's It Takes a
Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back became surprisingly
successful, despite its militant and confrontational tone, appearing on
both the club and rap charts, and peaking at #17 and #11, respectively.
Aside from the lyrical innovations, Public Enemy's Terminator X (along with Eric B.,
of Eric B. & Rakim) pioneered new
techniques in sampling that resulted in dense, multi-layered sonic
collages.
The Rise of Gangsta Rap
The first gangsta rap album to become
a mainstream pop hit, selling more than 2.5 million copies, was N.W.A.'s Straight Outta Compton (1988).
N.W.A.'s controversial subject matter, including drugs, violence and
sex, helped popularize what became known as gangsta
rap (said to have begun with Ice-T's
"6N' Da Morning"). Specifically, the song "Fuck Tha Police" earned the
foursome the enmity of law enforcement, resulting in a
strongly-worded letter of discontent from the FBI. N.W.A.'s most lasting
impact, however, was placing the West Coast on the hip hop map.
Diversification of Hip Hop in the 80s
Though women, whites and Latinos had
long been a part of the hip hop scene, it was not until the 1980s that
groups other than young African American males began creating popular,
innovative and distinctive styles of hip hop music.
The first rap recording by a solo
female was Philadelphia-based Lady B.'s
"To the Beat, Y'All" (1980), while The
Sequence became the first female group to record. It was, not,
however, until Salt-N-Pepa in the middle of the decade that
female performers gained mainstream success.
The first groups to mix hip hop and heavy metal included 1984's "Rock
Box" (Run-D.M.C.) and "Rock Hard" (Beastie
Boys). Later in the decade, Ice-T and Anthrax were among the most innovative
mixers of thrash metal and hip hop. These fusions
helped move hip hop into new audiences, and introduced it to legions of
new fans in the States and abroad.
Latin Hip Hop Music
In Puerto
Rico, Vico
C became the first mainstream Spanish language rapper, and his recorded
work was the beginning of what became known as reggaeton.
Hip hop had always had a significant connection to the Latino community in New York City including the first Latin DJ DJ Disco Wiz, and hip hop soon spread amongst
Latinos. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, most Latin rap came from
the West Coast of the United States. In 1989, Cuban-American Mellow Man Ace became the first Latino
artist to have a major bilingual single. Mellow Man, referred to as the
"Godfather of Latin rap", brought mainstream attention to Spanglish
rhyming with his 1989 platinum single "Mentirosa". In 1990, fellow West
Coast artist Kid Frost further brought Latinos to the rap
forefront with his single "La Raza." Cypress
Hill, of which Mellow Man Ace was a member before going solo, would
become the first Latino rap group to reach platinum status in 1991.
Ecuadorian born rapper Gerardo received heavy rotation on video and radio
for his single "Rico, Suave." As a result of the success of these
artists, countries throughout Latin America such as Cuba, the Dominican
Republic and Mexico created their own Hip Hop scenes.
Electro Music
While Run DMC laid the groundwork for
East Coast rap, "Planet Rock" (Afrika Bambaataa) was one of the first electro tracks. Based on a sample from
German rock group Kraftwerk (Trans-Europe Express), "Planet
Rock" inspired countless groups, based in New
Jersey, New York City and Detroit,
among other places, to make electronic dance
music (called electro) that strongly influenced techno and house music, and especially the burgeoning electro music scene in northern England, the Midlands and London.
"Planet Rock" influenced hip hop
outside of New York as well, such as Latin
hip hop (also Latin freestyle or freestyle)
such as Expose and The Cover Girls, as well as Los Angeles-based electro
hop performers like the World Class Wreckin' Cru and Egyptian Lover.
Hip Hop's Further Spread in the US
By the end of the 1970s, hip hop was
known in most every major city in the country, and had developed into
numerous regional styles and variations. Outside of New York City, New
Jersey and Philadelphia, where hip hop had long been well-established,
the 1980s saw intense regional diversification.
The first Chicago hip hop record was the "Groovy Ghost Show" by Casper,
released in 1980 and a distinctively Chicago sound began by 1982, with Caution and Plee Fresh. Chicago also saw the development of house music (a form of electronic dance
music) in the early 1980s and this soon mixed with hip hop and
began featuring rappers; this is called hip
house, and gained some national popularity in the late 1980s and
early 90s, though similar fusions from South Africa, Belgium and
elsewhere became just as well-known into the 90s.
Los Angeles hardcore rappers (Ice-T) and electro hop artists (Egyptian Lover) began recording by 1983, though
the first recorded West Coast rap was Disco Daddy and Captain
Rapp's "Gigolo Rapp" in 1981. In Miami, audiences listened to Miami
bass, a form of sultry and sexually explicit dance
music which arose from Los Angeles electro; it frequently included rapping.
In Washington D.C. a hip hop-influenced form
of dance music called go go emerged and incorporated rapping and DJing.
Hip Hop's International Spread
Beginning in the early 1980s, hip hop
culture began its spread across the world. By the end of the 1990s,
popular hip hop was sold almost everywhere, and native performers were
recording in most every country with a popular music industry. Elements
of hip hop became fused with numerous styles of music, including ragga, cumbia and samba, for example. The Senegalese mbalax rhythm became a component of hip hop, while the United Kingdom and Belgium produced a variety of electronic music fusions of hip hop, most
famously including British trip hop.
Hip hop also spread to countries like Greece, Spain and Cuba in the
1980s, led in Cuba by the self-exiled African American activist Nehanda Abiodun and aided by Fidel
Castro's government. In Japan, graffiti art and breakdancing had
been popular since the early part of the decade, but many of those
active in the scene felt that the Japanese language was unsuited for
rapping; nevertheless, by the beginning of the 1990s, a wave of rappers
emerged, including Ito Seiko, Chikado Haruo, Tinnie Punx and Takagi Kan. The New Zealand hip hop scene began in
earnest in the late 1980s, when Maori performers like Upper Hutt Posse and Dalvanius Prime began recording, gaining
notoriety for lyrics that espoused tino rangatiratanga (Maori
sovereignty).
ABOUT RHYTHM AND BLUES (R&B)
MUSIC
Rhythm and Blues (also known as R&B or RnB) is a popular
music genre combining jazz, gospel, and blues influences, first performed by African American artists. The term was
coined as a musical marketing term in the United
States in 1947 by Jerry
Wexler at Billboard magazine. It
replaced the term race music (which originally came from within
the black community, but was deemed offensive in the postwar world) and
the Billboard category Harlem Hit Parade in June 1949. The
term was initially used to identify the rocking style of music that
combined the 12 bar blues format and boogie-woogie with a back
beat, which later became a fundamental element of rock
and roll. In 1948, RCA
Victor was marketing black music under the name Blues and Rhythm. The words were
reversed by Wexler of Atlantic Records, the leading label in
the R&B field in the early years.
Writer/producer Robert Palmer defined
"rhythm & blues as a catchall term referring to any music that was
made by and for black Americans. He has
the term R&B as a synonym for jump
blues. Lawrence Cohn, author of Nothing but the Blues,
writes that rhythm and blues was an umbrella
term invented for industry convenience. According to him, the term
embraced all black music except classical music and religious music, unless a gospel song sold
enough to break into the charts. By the 1970s, rhythm
and blues was being used as a blanket
term to describe soul and funk. In the
2000s, the acronym R&B is almost always used
instead of the full rhythm and blues, and mainstream use of
the term refers to a modern version of soul and funk-influenced pop
music that originated as disco became less favorable.
History of R&B Music
In its first form in the late 1940s, rhythm and
blues was played by small combos of four or five musicians; usually a
bass, drums, one or two saxophones,
and possibly a rhythm guitar or piano. In
1951 it was also being called rock
and roll. It was strongly influenced by jazz, jump
blues and black gospel
music. It also influenced jazz in return. Rhythm and blues, blues, and
gospel combined with bebop to create hard bop.
Several musicians recorded both jazz and R&B, such as the swing
bands of Jay McShann, Tiny
Bradshaw and Johnny Otis. Count
Basie had a weekly live rhythm and blues broadcast from Harlem.
Bebop icon Tadd Dameron arranged music for Bull Moose Jackson and spent two years
as Jackson's pianist after establishing himself in bebop. Most of the
R&B studio musicians were jazz musicians, and
many of the musicians on Charlie Mingus' breakthrough jazz
recordings were R&B veterans. Lionel Hampton's big band of the early 1940s — which produced the classic recording Flying
Home (tenor sax solo by Illinois Jacquet) — was the breeding
ground for many of the bebop legends of the 1950s. Eddie
"Cleanhead" Vinson was a bebop saxophonist and a blues
shouter.
In the 1950s, overlapping with other genres such as
jazz and rock and roll, R&B developed regional variations. A
strong, distinct style straddling the border with blues came out of New
Orleans, and was based on a rolling piano style first made famous
by Professor Longhair. In the late 1950s, Fats
Domino hit the national charts with the songs "Blueberry Hill" and "Ain't That a Shame". Other artists who
popularized this Louisiana flavor of R&B included Clarence "Frogman" Henry, Frankie
Ford, Irma Thomas, The Neville Brothers and Dr. John.
The first rock and roll hits consisted of R&B songs such as "Rocket
88" and "Shake, Rattle and Roll", which
appeared on popular music charts as well as R&B charts. The song "Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin On",
the first hit by Jerry Lee Lewis, was an R&B cover
song that reached number one on the pop,
R&B and country and western charts.
By the early 1960s, rhythm and blues had taken on more
gospel-influenced elements, as pioneered by artists such as Ray
Charles, Sam Cooke, James
Brown and Aretha Franklin. This newer style was
given the name soul music. Barry Pearson has written that this
was "a name imposed on the industry by the black community. A little
more than a decade later, however, rhythm and blues made a comeback."[2] The early and mid 1960s saw the rise of young white bands whose music was labelled R&B or blue-eyed soul; such as The
Yardbirds, The Rolling Stones, The Pretty Things, The Small Faces, The
Animals, Dr. Feelgood, Deep
Purple, The Spencer Davis Group and The Who.
Those bands all played covers of songs by of established black
performers, in addition to their own material.
Click here to visit the Rhythm and Blues Foundation.
CONTEMPORARY RHYTHM AND BLUES
Contemporary R&B is a music
genre of American popular music, the current
iteration of the genre that began in the 1940s as rhythm and blues music. Although the
acronym "R&B" originates from its association with traditional
rhythm and blues music, the term R&B is today most often
used to define a style of African American music originating after
the demise of disco in the 1980s. This newer style combines
elements of soul, funk, pop,
and, from 1986 on, hip hop.
The abbreviation R&B is almost always
used instead of the full rhythm and blues term, although some
sources refer to the style as urban contemporary (the name
of the radio format that plays hip hop and
contemporary R&B) or urban pop.
Contemporary R&B has a slick, electronic record production style, drum
machine-backed rhythms, and a smooth, lush style of vocal
arrangement. Uses of hip hop-inspired beats are typical, although the
roughness and grit inherent in hip hop is usually reduced and smoothed
out.
History of Contemporary
R&B
With the transition from soul to R&B in the early to
mid 1980s, Luther Vandross and new stars such as Prince and Michael Jackson rose in popularity.
Jackson's Thriller repopularized black music
with pop audiences after a post-disco backlash among United States
mainstream audiences.
Female R&B singers such as Whitney Houston and Janet
Jackson became very popular during second half of the 1980s, and Tina
Turner came back with a series of hits with crossover appeal. Also
popular was New Edition, a group of teenagers who served
as the prototype for later boy bands.
In 1986, Teddy Riley began producing
R&B recordings that included influences from the increasingly
popular genre of hip hop. This combination of R&B style and hip hop
rhythms was termed new jack swing, and was applied to artists
such as Keith Sweat, Guy, Jodeci, BellBivDeVoe, and the popular late
1980s/early 1990s work of Michael Jackson. Another popular, but
short-lived group (with more pronounced R&B roots) was Levert.
In the early 1990s, new jack swing/R&B group Boyz
II Men, the most successful R&B male vocal group of all time,
repopularized classic soul-inspired vocal harmonies, and several
similar groups (such as Shai, Soul for Real, Az Yet, All-4-One,
and Dru
Hill) followed in their footsteps. Boyz II Men and several of their
competitors benefited from producers such as Babyface and Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis. As a
solo artist, Babyface and contemporaries such as Brian McKnight eschewed prominent hip hop
influences, and recorded in a smooth, soft style of R&B termed quiet
storm.
In the early 1990s, more R&B artists began adding
even more of a rap/hip hop sound to their work. The synthesizer-heavy
rhythm tracks of new jack swing was replaced by grittier East Coast hip hop-inspired backing
tracks, resulting in a genre labeled hip
hop soul by Sean Combs.
Hip hop soul artists such as Mary
J. Blige, R. Kelly, Monica, Brandy, Usher and Aaliyah brought more of hip hop slang, style, and attitude to R&B music.
This subgenre includes a heavy gospel influence in terms of vocal
inflections and sounds. The style became less popular by the end of the
1990s, but later experienced a resurgence.
During the mid 1990s, Mariah
Carey, girl group TLC and Boyz II Men brought contemporary R&B to the mainstream. Boyz II
Men and Mariah Carey recorded several Billboard Hot 100 number-one
hits, including "One Sweet Day", a collaboration between both
acts which became the longest-running number-one hit in Hot 100 history.
Mariah Carey, Boyz II Men and TLC released albums in
1994 and 1995 — Daydream, II and CrazySexyCool,
respectively — that sold over ten million copies, earning them diamond RIAA certification. Other top-selling
R&B artists from this era included Toni
Braxton, Mary J. Blige, Brandy, Monica, Usher and R. Kelly,
and groups En Vogue, BLACKstreet, Salt-N-Pepa and Destiny's Child in the late 1990s.
In the late 1990s, neo soul (which added 1970s soul influences to the hip hop soul blend) arose,
led by artists such as D'Angelo, Lauryn Hill, and Maxwell. Artists such as Missy
Elliott further blurred the line between R&B and hip hop by
recording both styles.
In the late 1990s and early 2000s, the influence of
R&B on pop could be heard in the work of several pop artists, such
as Jennifer Lopez, *NSYNC and 98 Degrees. *NSYNC's lead singer, Justin Timberlake, and Nelly
Furtado released recordings with heavy influences from both R&B
and hip hop music. Other pop stars who performed heavily
R&B-influenced pop music (sometimes referred to as dirty pop, urban pop, or hip pop)
include Britney Spears, Gwen
Stefani, Christina Aguilera, Rihanna and Pink.
In the United Kingdom, R&B found its way into
the UK
garage subgenre of 2-step,
typified by R&B-style singing accompanied by breakbeat/drum
and bass rhythms. Among the most notable 2-step acts are Mis-Teeq, Jamelia and Craig
David, who crossed over to American R&B audiences in the early
2000s.
R&B IN THE 21ST CENTURY
By the 2000s, the cross-pollination between R&B and
hip hop had increased to the point where, in most cases, the only
prominent difference between a record being a hip hop record or an
R&B record is whether its vocals are rapped or sung. Mainstream
modern R&B has a sound more based on rhythm than hip hop soul had,
and lacks the hardcore and soulful urban "grinding"
feel on which hip-hop soul relied. That rhythmic element descends from
new jack swing. R&B began to focus more on solo artists rather than
groups as the 2000s progressed. Between 2000 and 2004, the most
prominent R&B artists included Mariah
Carey, Brandy, Monica, Beyoncé, Ashanti, Craig David, Usher, Mary J.
Blige, R. Kelly and Alicia Keys.
Soulful R&B continues to be popular, with artists
such as Keys, Fantasia, Faith
Evans, Anthony Hamilton and D'Angelo showcasing classic influences in their work. Some R&B singers have
also used elements of Caribbean music in their work, especially dancehall and reggaeton.
Quiet storm, while still existent, is no
longer a dominant presence on the pop charts, and is generally confined
to urban adult contemporary radio. Most of the prominent quiet storm
artists, including Babyface, Miki
Howard and Gerald Levert, began their careers in the
1980s and 1990s, although newer artists such as Kem also record in the quiet storm style.
In addition, several producers have developed specialized styles of
song production. Timbaland, for example, became notable for his
hip hop and jungle based syncopated productions in the late-1990s,
during which time he produced R&B hits for Aaliyah, Ginuwine,
and singer/rapper Missy Elliott. By the end of the decade, Timbaland's
influences had shifted R&B songs towards a sound that approximated
his own, with slightly less of a hip hop feel. Lil'
Jon became famous for a style he termed crunk & B, deriving its influences from the Southern hip hop sub-classification of
crunk music. Jon gave R&B artist Ciara the
title of "The First Lady of Crunk
& B", and Brooke Valentine and Usher have recorded
R&B songs with strong crunk influences.
TOP SELLING R&B ALBUMS
This is a list of best-selling R&B/Hip Hop albums in
the United States according to the Recording Industry Association of
America.
- Michael Jackson - Thriller (Epic, 1982) - 27 times
platinum
- Whitney Houston - The Bodyguard (Arista, 1992) - 17
times platinum
- Whitney Houston - Whitney Houston (Arista, 1985) - 13
times platinum
- Prince - Purple Rain (soundtrack) (Warner Bros.,
1984) - 13 times platinum
- Boyz II Men - II (Motown, 1994) - 12 times platinum
- TLC - CrazySexyCool (LaFace, 1994) - 11 times platinum
- OutKast - Speakerboxxx/The Love Below (LaFace, 2003)
- 11 times platinum
- Mariah Carey - Music Box (Columbia, 1993) - 10 times
platinum
- MC Hammer - Please Hammer Don't Hurt 'Em (Capitol,
1990) - 10 times platinum
- Mariah Carey - Daydream (Columbia, 1995) - 10 times
platinum
- Norah Jones - Come Away With Me - 10 times platinum
- Stevie Wonder - Songs in the Key of Life (Motown,
1976) - 10 times platinum
- Eminem - The Eminem Show (Aftermath, 2002) - 10 times
platinum
- The Notorious B.I.G. - Life After Death - (Bad Boy,
1997) - 10 times platinum
- 50 Cent - The Massacre
(Shady,Aftermath,G-Unit,Interscope, 2005) - 9 times platinum
- Mariah Carey - Mariah Carey (Columbia, 1990) - 9
times platinum
- Boyz II Men - Cooleyhighharmony (Motown, 1991) - 9
times platinum
- Eminem-The Marshall Mathers LP (Aftermath\Interscope
2000)- 9 times platinum
- Whitney Houston - Whitney (Arista, 1987) - 9 times
platinum
- 2Pac - All Eyez On Me (Death Row, 1996) - 9 times
platinum
- Will Smith - Big Willie Style (Columbia, 1997) - 9
times platinum
- 2Pac - Greatest Hits (Death Row, 1998) - 9 times
platinum
- Usher - Confessions (LaFace, 2004) - 9 times platinum
- Toni Braxton - Secrets (LaFace, 1996) - 8 times
platinum
- Toni Braxton - Toni Braxton (LaFace, 1993) - 8 times
platinum
- Destiny's Child - The Writing's On The Wall
(Columbia, 1999) - 8 times platinum
- Lauryn Hill - The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill
(Ruffhouse, 1998) - 8 times platinum
- Michael Jackson - Bad (Epic, 1987) - 8 times platinum
- Nelly - Country Grammar (Universal, 2000) - 8 times
platinum
ARTISTS WITH THE MOST #1 R&B HITS
1.Aretha Franklin - 20
2.Steve Wonder - 19
3.Louis Jordan - 18
4. James Brown - 17
5. Janet Jackson - 15
6. The Temptations - 14
7. Marvin Gaye - 13 (tie)
7. Michael Jackson - 13 (tie)
9. R.
Kelly - 11
10. The O'Jays - 10 (tie)
10. Mariah Carey - 10 (tie)
12. Freddie Jackson - 9
13. Usher - 8 (tie)
13. Prince - 8 (tie)
13. Earth, Wind and Fire - 8 (tie)
13. Whitney Houston - 8 (tie)
17. Commodores - 7 (tie)
17. The Supremes - 7 (tie)
17. Luther Vandross - 7 (tie)
17. Lil'
Kim - 7 (tie)
20. Al
Green - 6 (tie)
20. Monica - 6 (tie)
20. Mary J Blige - 6 (tie)
20. The Isley Brothers - 6 (tie)
20. The Jackson 5 - 6 (tie)
20. Bobby Brown - 6 (tie)
20. En
Vogue - 6 (tie)
20. Keith Sweat - 6 (tie)
20. The Spinners - 6 (tie)
29. Aaliyah - 5 (tie)
29. Stephanie Mills - 5 (tie)
29. Diana Ross - 5 (tie)
29. Jodeci - 5 (tie)
29. Boyz II Men - 5 (tie)
29. New Edition - 5 (tie)
29. Tony! Toni! Tone! - 5 (tie)
29. The Gap Band - 5 (tie)
37. Tevin Campbell- 4 (tie)
37. Destiny's Child - 4 (tie)
37. Karyn White - 4 (tie)
37. Perri "Pebbles" Reid - 4 (tie)
37. Beyoncé - 4 (tie)
37. Johnny Gill - 4 (tie)
37. Nelly - 4 (tie)
37. Alicia Keys - 4 (tie)
37. Missy Elliott - 4 (tie) |
