Hip-hop started off as block party entertainment in New York’s poorest cities, It has grew to become a global phenomenon that dominates the music society and has created an industry that generates hundreds of millions of dollars a year and has changed music culture forever.Hip hop took to the global stage for the first time in 1979 when The Sugar Hill Gang released Rapper’s Delight; it became a top 40 hit and remained on the Billboard for 12 weeks. In the beginning hip hop was about having fun, but in 1982 Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five released The Message, an early example of socially-conscious hip hop. The raps were about social issues like poverty, crime and the stress of living in a dangerous city. Hip Hop was evolving. Instrumentals were being created in studio settings, and drum machines, synthesizers, and samples from old funk and disco records began to be seen as normal in the genre. Hooks also started to become popular.
The 90s introduced Gangster rap to the world with artists like 2Pac, Nas, Jay-z, Wu-Tang Clan, NWA, Ice-T, Notorious B.I.G. and many others. It emerged as a reflection and product of the often violent lifestyle of American inner cities afflicted with poverty and the dangers of drug use and drug dealing. In the 2000s, an alternative form of hip-hop developed headlined by Kid Cudi, Mos Def and The Roots, who embraced hipster and electro influences, as well as more complex and philosophical subjects and lyrics. Even today Hip Hop continues to expand and change. Hip Hop artist have collaborated with Pop and R&B artist to make new sounds. It as also created sub-genres such as Trap music which is dominated the music industry today.
