Timeline of hip hop - Definition and Overview

1970s

New musical style arrives with first major rap record. Rap had been a growing force on the streets of The Bronx, New York City for several years with funk, soul and disco coinciding with new technology and social upheaval. Led by a revolutionary collective of poets and writers, The Last Poets laid the foundations for the emrgence of hip hop. But it had been confined to parties in parks, schools and nightclubs until one entrepreneur put together The Sugarhill Gang. They put a rap Rapper's Delight onto vinyl and it became the first rap single to hit the charts and airwaves taking the new musical style to a wide audience for the first time.

• Kool DJ Herc, one of the generation of Jamaicans who brought dub to New York City, starts to play other genres in the place of reggae.
• DJ Grandmaster Flash develops cutting.
• Grand Wizard Theodore develops scratching.
• 1979 - Early hip hop singles by the Fatback Band and The Sugarhill Gang are released. In December, The Sugarhill Gang's Rapper's Delight enters the British charts.

1980s

• 1980 - Rap began to reach a wider audience as the scene's pioneers shifted focus from performing live to making records. Kurtis Blow was the first rapper to be signed to a major label and his track The Breaks was the first rap single to go gold while Blondie singer Debbie Harry introduced the concept to a new crowd by rapping on their single Rapture.
• 1981 - In 1981 The Funky 4 Plus One became the first rap act to perform on a US network TV show Saturday Night Live.
• 1982 - More groundbreaking records were released led by Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five's stark "The Message" which moved the scene on from party lyrics to rapping about economic and social problems. Afrika Bambaataa fused hip hop with electro in his landmark album Planet Rock - The Album. The first hiphop film Wild Style featured some early stars and showcased the whole scene including breakdancing and graffiti, inspiring a new generation of artists.
• 1983 - Rapping no longer had a disco beat, more so a rock beat and the first "beatboxing" was heard. Run-DMC appeared in 1983 ushering in a new era of hardcore blunt and stark beats and lyrics incorporating heavy guitars as well as hip hop beats. Their uncompromising stance extended to their visual image staying true to the style of the streets with gold chains and sportswear and shunning the costumes and stage routines of their predecessors. The first gangsta rap comes out of the West Coast while Herbie Hancock has a hit with jazz fusion single Rockit.
• 1984 - Run-DMC vocalist Joseph Run Simmons brother Russell formed the Def Jam record label with student Rick Rubin. A 16 year-old LL Cool J was its first artist. It went on to sign future stars including Run-DMC, the Beastie Boys, Public Enemy and Ja Rule and became the most powerful and influential label in rap.
• 1986 - The first gangsta rap records were released. Rap more was popular than ever before and was only percussion, no instruments. Run-DMC's third album Raising Hell and single Walk This Way made them the first rap act to fully cross over into the mainstream, appealing to rock and hip hop fans alike and becoming the first rap act embraced by MTV. White ex-punks the Beastie Boys similarly mixed rap and rock on their debut album Licensed to Ill the first rap album to hit number one and the bestselling rap album of the 1980s but were dismissed as phoney and unauthentic by some purists.
• 1987 - Public Enemy releases Yo! Bum Rush the Show. Because of their political subject matter, Public Enemy is regarded as one of the most influential rap groups.
• 1988 - Two landmark albums pushed rap in an aggressive and controversial direction. Public Enemy's political and powerful It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back was a manifesto for revolution in both rap and the wider world. And NWA epitomised gangsta rap with a celebration of the violence crime and misogyny of the Los Angeles ghetto in Straight Outta Compton. It shocked middle class America and caused an FBI investigation. MTV's first regular rap show, Yo! MTV Raps, started.
• 1989 - N.W.A. releases Straight Outta Compton, popularizing gangsta rap. The late 1980s hip hop scene was not all combative as was proved by a positive psychedelic and jazzy movement led by De La Soul whose classic debut 3 Feet High and Rising came out. They proclaimed the dawning of the Daisy Age and led a loose collective of artists called the Native Tongues Posse which also included A Tribe Called Quest and Queen Latifah. The Grammy Awards also handed out their first ever rap award to DJ Jazzy Jeff and The Fresh Prince.

1990s

• 1990 - Rap was now more about political issues and more emotional. Rap moved into pop territory more than ever before with two huge hits: MC Hammer's U Can't Touch This and Vanilla Ice's Ice Ice Baby. Both artists were sneered at by some rap fans for being too watered down and commercial, but the pair were the most successful rap acts yet. MC Hammer's second LP sold more than 10 million copies and remains the biggest selling rap album of all time.
• 1992 - West coast takes over as gangsta rap rules. The Los Angeles scene with its violence and glamour became the dominant force in rap attracting acclaim and notoriety in equal measure. Former NWA producer Dr Dre founded Death Row Records with Marion "Suge" Knight. Dr. Dre releases his seminal funk-inspired album, The Chronic, influencing musicians for years to come and creating the style known as G-funk, the dominant style of West Coast Rap for most of the decade. Ice T scandalised the US with his rock song Cop Killer while other artists demanding attention included Tupac Shakur and Cypress Hill. Rage Against the Machine incorporates rap vocals in their music, showcasing how popular rap had become.
• 1993 - Rap was no longer underground with uncompromising tunes reaching the pop charts and a new breed of artists shooting straight from the streets to superstardom. It was obvious many knew about the crime and violence of their lyrics. Snoop Dogg's Doggystyle was the first debut album to enter the US chart at number one, but he was arrested for involvement in a driveby shooting and later cleared. Nas the Wu Tang Clan and Notorious BIG also appeared around this time.
• 1994 - The Notorious B.I.G. releases Ready to Die, putting East Coast Rap back on the map.
• 1995 - Rhythm and blues was now more popular and rap was mixed with it.
• 1996 - East Coast versus West Coast feud erupts into bloody battle. The violence of rap lyrics became all too real the fatal shooting of Los Angeles based superstar Tupac Shakur, followed six months later by the murder of New York artist Notorious BIG. Shakur was the first US artist to have a number one album while in prison but rivalry between rappers and labels on the East and West Coasts hit new depths when he was killed in 1996. BIG was implicated and his death seemed to be proof to many of a gang war but both murders remain unsolved. Tupac Shakur is shot in Las Vegas. He dies several days later in the hospital.
• 1997 - Violence did not diminish the public's appetite for rap and the sound was dominated by producer and mogul Sean Combs aka Puff Daddy aka P Diddy. He was head of the Bad Boy label and lent his production skills to other acts including Aretha Franklin, Mariah Carey, and TLC. His songs topped the US rap chart for 36 consecutive weeks. Other hiphop producers such as Timbaland and The Neptunes also broke through giving a hiphop edge to pop and rap acts alike. The Notorious B.I.G. is shot and killed in Los Angeles, ending the West Coast vs. East Coast War.
• 1998 - Puff Daddy releases No Way Out and begins a new era of flash in rap.
• 1999 - Rap's great white superstar Eminem bursts onto scene, Eminem emerged to become the first rapper to eclipse rock and pop idols as the nation's biggest music star. His lyrics were compared to Shakespeare's and his background helped him connect with middle America like no rapper before. He had his share of controversy but that only propelled his fame and his second album sold 1.8 million copies in its first week in 2000 helping him rule a rap scene above other big names like Jay-Z, DMX and Ja Rule.

2000s

• 2004 - The assimilation rap is the mainstream, still relatively young, fresh and exciting rap's sound image and culture are now at the heart of the mainstream. Rap's collisions with other urban styles like RampB have produced further innovations and urban music now accounts for a quarter of all CDs sold in the US, the same proportion as rock. Pop stars (including Beyoncé Knowles and Sir Elton John) have had high profile collaborations with rappers and new stars (including 50 Cent and OutKast) regularly dominate charts and awards.

External link

• Timeline: 25 years of rap records (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/music/3734910.stm) - from the BBC website