Tuesday, October 18, 2011

A Quick Glance At Jamaican Vs. American Urban Music

By Rashad Brown


There are four areas which Jamaican 'toasting' and American rap music have in frequent. 1st, both types of music relied on pre-recorded sounds. Second, each varieties of music relied on a strong beat by which they either rapped or toasted. American rap music relied on the powerful beat of hard funk and Jamaican "toasting" relied on the beat from the Jamaican rhythms. Third, in both styles the rapper or toaster spoke their lines in time with the rhythm taken from the records.

The last major similarity is the content material of the lyrics of the toasting or rapping. Accordingly, you'll find diverse sorts of raps and toasts. As an example, there are message raps/toasts, party raps/toasts and so on. There are extremely many popular rap toasters such Duke Reid and Prince Buster.

Clive Campbell was a Jamaican who immigrated towards the Bronx, New York. He brought with him his experiences of the Jamaican mobile discos named 'sound systems' along with the toasting method. In the Bronx he would acquire the stage name of KoolHerc.

Campbell received the nickname Hercules whilst he was attending Alfred E. Smith High School in 1970 by a friend. His friend called him Hercules due to his physique. Clive was into weight lifting. Clive didn't like the name Hercules so he shortened it to Herc.

When Herc became a graffiti writer he took the tag name KoolHerc. KoolHerc began to DJ in 1973 once he had amassed an excellent sound method. The Jamaican influence of having a huge sound method was not lost on Herc. Herc realized that in order for big crowds to dance to his music they needed to hear the beat.

He rarely played a complete song while DJ'ing. He selected the parts of the songs that his audience liked. It was about a half a minute period named a 'break' in which the beat was at its' simplest form through the drums, guitar and so on.

Campbell produced what has come to be known as "beats' or "break-beats" in the DJ'ing field. He did this by using two turn-tables, every having exactly the same record. He would play the record repeatedly giving specific attention towards the break of the song.

Like with graffiti, in DJ'ing style is essential, and needs to be copied if it really is excellent sufficient. What set KoolHerc apart from his colleagues was that he didn't wear headphones to identify the breaks. DJ's who copied him would have to wear headphones.

He also utilised the toasting approach that he had learnt in his native Jamaica. He would speak simple statements over his music. But, since it was a lot more complex working with two turntables, Herc stopped toasting and began utilizing dancers. These dancers would perform to his music in the club. They had been referred to as 'break-dancers'.




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