It's no secret that in recent years we are increasingly listening to hip-hop, scrolling through the instagrams of modern MCs, e.g. M.I.A., and watch as Azealia Banks methodically clashes with Iggy Azalea and her other colleagues. To better understand the charm of today's hip-hop divas, we decided to look back 30 years and talk about the pioneers of the genre, who paved the way for millions of followers and set the trends that today's pop culture is based on.
In a series of posts, we will talk about representatives of the three periods of the formation of hip-hop culture and how female MCs made their way into the world of male rap. Today we will talk about the heroines of the late 70s and early 90s, some of whom started out as the only members in male rap groups, earned the first Grammys in the history of hip-hop and shamelessly used sex as a weapon in the fight for a place under the sun.
Sonya Batovrina
M.C. Sha Rock
In April 2013 Sha Rock Appointed Chief Curator of the Hip Hop Literature Collection,
at Cornell University Library.
Lady Sha Rock, aka Sharon Green, is considered the first female MC and one of the icons of female hip-hop, setting the standard for rapping for future recitative divas for years to come. In the mid-70s, when rap culture was still in its infancy, Sha Rock debuted on stage as the only girl in the boy group Funky 4 + 1. By the way, the team became the first rap group to appear on American national television on the air. Saturday Night Live, and the first rap group to sign a record label. Another creative success Funky 4 + 1 became the 9-minute track "That's the Joint", which was awarded the title best song 80s by The Village Voice music critic Robert Christgau.
In addition to her high-profile musical career, Sha Rock is known for social achievements: she worked for many years in the US criminal justice system, including doing educational work and mentoring among teenagers.
Roxanne Shante
The founder of diss as a full-fledged rap genre and the initiator of the longest chain of reciprocal diss, called "Roxanne Wars". As a 14-year-old girl from Queens, Shante recorded "Roxanne's Revenge" (1984) - a diss for the song of the UTFO hip-hop group Roxanne, Roxanne, popular in the 80s. The guys sang about a lyrical heroine named Roxanne, who Shante responded to UTFO with a calculated and biting improvisation on behalf of Roxanne, harshly commenting on the guys' success in music, their appearance and mental abilities. diss as part of Roxanne Wars. For Roxanne Shante herself, Roxanne's Revenge became not just a debut track that marked the beginning of a loud but fleeting popularity, but also a major hit in her entire short musical career. In any case, it is impossible not to admit that without Shante's bold performance for its time, we might not be watching Azealia Banks and Iggy Azalea publicly hide each other now. Rap divas stopped being afraid to be cocky back in the 80s, and thank God.
Today Roxanne Shante - practicing psychologist.
Among other things, she advises patients to release their
internal MC and shout out loud everything that is on their mind
J. J. Fad
In 2006, singer Fergie used a fragment from the main hit
J. J. Fad "Supersonic" on his track "Fergalicious"
This East Coast trio made rap music history as the first all-female hip-hop group to earn a single Grammy nomination and reach platinum status. J. J. Fad's "Supersonic" from the self-titled album stayed on the Billboard chart for four months, but proved to be the trio's first and last success. The group owes its short-term popularity to producers Dr. Dre and DJ Yella, who diversified the sound of J. J. Fad with electropop motives typical of the 80s and understandable for a mass audience. The fact that the main hit of the trio is still relevant today is evidenced by the fact that you can arrange a dance battle under it in the video game Dance Central 3 along with the tracks of Missy Eliot and Nicki Minaj.
MC Lyte
Last year MC Lyte launched a non-profit
the Hip Hop Sisters Foundation, through which helps
hip hop beginners
MC Lyte (Lana Michelle Moorer) is one of the most influential and respected rap artists in the history of music. Daring and straightforward, she was one of the first to cover social problems in her songs. So, the debut track “I Cram to Understand U” (for a minute, 1986!) MC Lyte dedicated to the impossibility of a relationship with a guy who sits on crack. During her former glory, the rapper was a worthy competitor to popular male hip-hopers like the guys from Run DMC. Very quickly won recognition from music critics and consolidated its position with several successful albums. Moreover, MC Lyte was one of the first to notice the talent of Missy Eliot and in the mid-90s recorded the track “Cold Rock a Party” with her.
The rapper still occasionally releases new songs, simultaneously acts in films and TV shows, and also successfully works as a voice-over announcer: for example, she became the official voice of the Starz cable channel.
Queen Latifah
A multi-talented woman who began her career as a beatboxer in 1998 and became the first rap artist to be nominated for an Oscar (for Chicago). Musical career Queen Latifah took off in 1993 with her Grammy-winning single "U.N.I.T.Y." This protest song against the disrespectful treatment of women in the phallocentric world of rap music and in society in general was played by radio stations without censored bleeps to emphasize the importance of the artist's message, although Latifa ended each verse with the line "Who you calling a bitch?". Since then, the artist has been considered one of the main role models for the black rap community. Given that Queen Latifah is due to air her own daytime TV show in the fall, at this rate, she will sooner or later push Oprah.
In the 2000s, Queen Latifah earned"Golden Globe"
and the Screen Actors Guild Award for the role of an HIV-positive
single mother battling drug addiction in TV movie
HBO Life Support
Salt N Pepa
This summer at Salt-N-Pepa takes a nostalgic mini-tour of the USA
Salt-N-Pepa are rappers Salt (Cheryl James) and Pepa (Sandra Danton), as well as DJ Spinderella (Deirdre Roper), together they are one of the first female and truly successful hip-hop groups of their time. The girls hit the international charts and the history of rap music thanks to the hit "Push It" - a catchy song about sex with a characteristic dance, which the members of the trio performed on stage and which faithful listeners still imitate, but to completely different tunes. In their work, Salt-N-Pepa did not hesitate to raise topics that were forbidden for other rappers. So, the second major hit of the group “Let's Talk About Sex” was released in 1991 and was banned from many American radio stations, despite the fact that all the funds earned on the recording went to the AIDS Foundation. However, this did not stop the song from getting a nomination at the Grammys, and Salt-N-Pepa won the award, however, a few years later and already for a different track, but with the indicative name "None of Your Business".
The group’s active and even by today’s standards successful career continued until the early 2000s, after which the girls took up family life, writing memoirs and delighting old fans by appearing on TV shows, musical and not so, and at events dedicated to nurturing hip-hop legends .
Moni Love
An MC from the UK, Simone Gooden is better known as stage name Moni Love. Today, describing her contribution to the development of hip-hop culture, she calls herself "the first commercially successful imported rapper in the history of hip-hop." And in general, it is not cunning. A protégé of Queen Latifah, Love received two Grammy nominations and was one of the first British rap artists to sign to a major label and achieve worldwide recognition. In the late 80s and early 90s, Moni Love was part of the influential Native Tongues (Queen Latifah, the guys from De La Soul and A Tribe Called Quest, etc.) - jazz rap pioneers who were positive and open and turned it into his attitude to music and life into a full-fledged mainstream genre. Love is still embarrassed when she is put on a par with such pillars of hip-hop culture as Roxanne Shante and Sha Rock, but then proudly reveals that Nicki Minaj, Da Brat and Left approached her with gratitude for the inspirational example. Eye from TLC.
Nene Cherry
Sweden's Neneh Cherry earns a place on our list of hip-hop pioneers with her talent for mixing street style and designer clothes in life and music videos. We're joking. Cherry's main contribution to the development of hip-hop culture in the 80s is, of course, the song "Buffalo Stance" - a clear example of how an explosive hit can be born at the intersection of rap and pop music, equally loved by hip-hop fans and admirers dance rhythms. At the same time, the mix of fashion and music characteristic of Nene Cherry in “Buffalo Stance” is perfectly observed: the track refers to the group of Buffalo photographers, models and stylists, of which the artist was a part, and at the same time beats the term “stance”, which describes the characteristic pose of fashion models from the pages of fashion magazines London of that time. It should be noted that from the point of view of aesthetics, the first videos of Nene Cherry, for example "Manchild", today organically fit into the same row with the videos of modern seapunk artists. In a kind of foresight of the future trend lies Cherry's gigantic merit: we are not talking about seapunk now, but about how hip-hop elements in just five years will become an integral part of the sound of a whole galaxy of female pop groups like All Saints and Spice Girls.
In the mid-2000s, Nene Cherry performed on stage
New York's Apollo Theater with Gorillaz, with whom
recorded a joint track "Kids With Guns"
IT IS NO SECRET THAT IN RECENT YEARS we are increasingly listening to hip-hop, scrolling through the instagrams of modern MCs, e.g. M.I.A., and watch as Azealia Banks methodically clashes with Iggy Azalea and her other colleagues. To better understand the charm of today's hip-hop divas, we decided to look back 30 years and talk about the pioneers of the genre, who paved the way for millions of followers and set the trends that today's pop culture is based on.
In a series of posts, we will talk about representatives of the three periods of the formation of hip-hop culture and how female MCs made their way into the world of male rap. It was about the pioneers of the genre - the first MC girl, the founder of diss, etc. Today we are talking about the heroines of the second wave - the mid-90s and the first decade of the 2000s. They skillfully interfered with hip-hop and pop music, they were the first to flirt with the Internet audience, and in ordinary life often behaved like boys and waved their fists right and left.
Sonya Batovrina
DA BRAT
Chicago rapper Shanti Harris, aka Da Brat, rose to fame in the early 90s with her debut album, Funkdafied, which instantly sold millions of copies around the world and earned her the title of the first solo hip-hop artist to reach platinum status. The second factor that made Da Brat a star was her image as an explosive, aggressive and deliberately unfeminine artist, who was nicknamed "Snoop Dogg in a skirt". Harris is from that caste of rappers who read about real problems and life on the streets. When, in the 2000s, in pursuit of elusive popularity, Da Brat decided to bring more sex into her image - she abandoned baggy shirts in favor of short shorts and deep necklines - this did not help her much. In addition, changing a character is much more difficult than an outfit: Harris regularly got involved in squabbles that ended in physical injuries for her opponents, for which she was sentenced to three years in prison in 2008. Da Brat's release was accompanied by a web series Brat Chronicles: In Transition about how the artist adapts to normal life. And yes, she's back to her bad girl look in pants and a three-size-fits-over t-shirt.
bahamadia
Soft beats, low tones, thoughtful lyrics - that's the whole Bahamadia. Antonia Reid (real name of the hip-hoper) started out as a DJ in her native Philadelphia but rose to prominence as an MC and member of the Gang Starr Foundation. By the end of the 90s, Bahamadia had built a strong fan base around the world, and her work became a clear example of how hip-hop turned from a purely American subculture into the mainstream. The reputation of a popular and respected performer Bahamadia secured long list collaborations with representatives of a wide variety of musical genres, from countrymen The Roots and rapper Talib Kweli to British drum and bass producer Rony Size and trip-hoppers Morcheeba.
In an interview with Bahamadia admitted that 85%
cases she is inspired by pure rhythm, plus sometimes
individual lines from the Bible and all sorts of books.
Lil Kim
Mid 90s Didi (aka Puff Daddy) refused to take Lil Kim under
wing of his label, Bad Boy Records, because he didn't believe women were capable of
release successful hip-hop albums. Lil' Kim later proved him wrong
three platinum records.
Lil' Kim was introduced to hip-hop by the rapper Notorious B.I.G., whose lover she was until his tragic death and whose Junior M.A.F.I.A. debuted in the mid-90s. At the same time, it cannot be argued that Lil Kim became famous at the expense of someone. To become role model for future generations of hip-hop divas, she was more than smart and charismatic. Bold lyrics, extravagant style (for example, her love for colored wigs should be noted) and caustic statements on any occasion have become the artist's trademarks. Lil Kim's debut album "Hard Core" (1996) immediately hit the 11th line of the American Billboard 200 - before that, no record of any rap artist had entered the chart with such success, and this is not to mention the fact that " Hard Core was certified platinum twice. With no less success, the public accepted the next two albums of Lil Kim. However, the commercial achievements of the artist fade before the influence that she had on the collective image of the hip-hop diva - the way she was then and is represented today by millions of listeners, including those who are little familiar with the history of rap music. As is usually the case, most of the followers of Lil Kim's aesthetic failed to reproduce her image to the fullest and simply slid into gross and overexploitation of sexuality. In 2011, Lil Kim called the same Nicki Minaj on the forehead a “plagiarism” of her style and even dedicated it to her diss rival Black Friday- By the way, this is one of Kim's best songs in a long time.
Foxy Brown
In the mid-2000s, Foxy Brown experienced hearing loss, but even in the most difficult moments she refused to wear a hearing aid and preferred that someone just tap the rhythm on her shoulder: so the artist could record songs.
Lil' Kim's once best friend turned rival and then enemy. Kim belonged to the Notorious B.I.G. camp, Foxy Brown belonged to the Jay-Z group, the conflict between the clans eventually quarreled with the rappers, who still do not talk to each other. Inga Marchand (real name Foxy) is considered one of the followers of Lil Kim in terms of provocatively sexual image, but is definitely inferior to her in creative plan. However, Brown's debut album "Ill Na Na" brought the rapper platinum, and the follow-up album "Chyna Doll" - the first line of the Billboard 200, making Foxy the second hip-hop artist in the history of music (the first was Lauryn Hill) to reach top of the chart. The rapper's last LP was released in 2001, and since then, most of the news about Brown has been about her problems with the law. The rapper regularly attacks people for some ridiculous reasons: a neighbor asked to turn down the music - she got a BlackBerry in the eye, the maids at the hotel did not give an iron - the rapper spat in their face. As a result, in 2007, Foxy ended up behind bars for a fight with two Manhattan manicurists, and unfortunately, this is the last bright news from the rapper for many years.
Missy Eliot
Singer, songwriter, producer, actress, trendsetter - Missy Eliot's talents can be listed until you're blue in the face, and few will dare to argue with them. One of the brightest female MCs in music history, before singing on her own, Missy wrote lyrics for other artists (like Alia) and excelled at it like no other. Eliot worked with Timbaland for a long time, thanks in large part to joint achievements, both turned into real hip-hop mastodons. The artist's debut album "Supa Dupa Fly" shot in 1997 not only musically, but also as a visual product. Clips for Missy were shot by Hype Williams, who at that time had already established himself as one of the main directors of hip-hop clips of the 90s. Five Grammy statuettes, five platinum albums and more than 30 million copies of records sold in the USA alone speak of the scale of Missy Eliot's success and influence. We, perhaps, will not go into details, because we are sure: Missy will still do so many things that our children will have to edit her biography on Wikipedia more than once.
In 2004, Eliot voiced one of the characters
"Underwater Tale", and also wrote and performed for a couple
with Christina Aguilera the song "Car Wash"
for the soundtrack of the cartoon.
Yves
Formally, Eve won her first Grammy in 2000. as one
collaborator on The Roots track "You Got Me", but nominally a rapper
did not receive an award: Eve was not listed on the statuette's nameplate.
The first popularity came to Eve thanks to the rapper DMX, who noticed the aspiring artist and brought her to the Ruff Ryders label. Subsequently, they became the main big stars of the company. Eve with her short haircut, platinum blonde and tattooed with her own name on her chest, she was given the title of "First Lady of Ruff Ryders" and was considered a tough artist who made sure that she was perceived primarily as a musician, and not as another pretty girl rapping. Both albums, released by Eve on Ruff Ryders, were an incredible success and quickly reached platinum status. However, the singer will forever remain in musical history thanks to the single "Let Me Blow Ya Mind", recorded in a duet with No Doubt lead singer Gwen Stefani and produced by Dr. Dre. The song brought Eve a Grammy statuette, an award for the best female video at the MTV Video Music Awards, and today it can easily stand in line with the recognition, for example, with the Blur hit "Song 2". In recent years, Eve has been more passionate about releasing her own clothing line and filming movies. In 2013, after a long break, the artist released the album "Lip Lock", which received good reviews from critics, but, unfortunately, could not return the rapper to its former level of popularity.
Lauryn Hill
« I have problems with speed. I often
I linger and am often late. It is very important for me to do it right
choose what to wear. So the woman in me speaks, ”admitted
singer in an interview with Esquire.
In Russia, rap appeared only in the late eighties - late nineties. The so-called first wave of Russian rap was formed. The groups that were created then were the purest underground, based only on their own ambitions and the desire to promote the Hip-Hop culture in Russia. The Bad Balance group was formed precisely at that time, and is one of the oldest domestic rap groups. Bad B, in to some extent, can be considered the founding fathers of Russian rap, as such ...
:: History of the band's name::
The history of the Bad Balance group begins its countdown in the summer of 1989, when Vlad Valov (better known now as Master SheFF) came to St. Petersburg from the glorious Ukrainian city of Donetsk to enter the University of the Humanities. It should be said that before that Vlad was a member of the break-dance team "White Gloves", with which he traveled to various festivals held in the country. So, in St. Petersburg, Vlad met with LA "he, they met, had a good drink of strong St. Petersburg beer and, seeing common interests decided to create dance group, which would be able to remove everyone in the country by break dancing. It must be recalled that at that time this dance was very popular and serious breaking battles often took place, about once every two months, in almost all cities of the country and neighboring countries. SheFF and LA soared over the name for a month, many books were read dictionaries and old scriptures were leafed through.Thus, on September 20, 1989, the name of the group was coined...
And the legend, in fact, is this: SheFF bought himself high-top sneakers from New Balance, which were simply impossible to get at that time. LA "I liked them too, and when SheFF's second slippers of this company appeared, LA muddied them on his down jacket. But these slippers turned out to be just a fake and literally fell apart before our eyes, and after a few days they were completely killed. Based on these events, the name of the group was coined. SheFF "generally liked the word" balance "(Balance), and LA" I had a completely different word about this - Bad. And then everything immediately fell into place. Today, many streets of the country know the name Bad Balance, which has already become legendary among Hip-Hop fans ...
:: This is how the style was born, the first layouts::
“This is how the style was born, the first layouts. It’s necessary to remember more often, it won’t hurt ...”, - such words were uttered by Vladi from the Rostov group Casta in one of his songs. Incidentally, very Right words. After all, in order to understand what is happening now with the group, you need to know the history, feel all the subtleties and stages of development of the team.
So, let's begin. End of 1989. The team is gathering. Laga and Swan were the first to join, so the first production number called "Cossacks" was made. It was a complex locking dance that immediately set the bar high for Bad B. This was followed by a series of performances at various break-dance festivals held throughout the country, where she took only first places, giving her superiority to no one. A few months later, Skalia and Barmaley joined the team and together with them two more invincible numbers of high (at that time, of course) quality were made: "Leningrad Cowboys" and "Lalybai". From that moment on, all the breakers in the country went to festivals with one hope, to remove Bad Balance, but no one succeeded.
In early 1990 Bad Balance comes new person Wolf, known as the country's first DJ, who made a scratch machine from an old Vega and a pile of scrap metal. The first experiments of the group in rap music and with their instruments began. In the spring of the same year, the group's first musical hit, "Leningrad", was written. By the summer of 1990, the first album based on a home studio was completely ready, which was called "Seven do not wait for one", which, by the way, was never released (now this album is in SheFF "and in the cache, someday the time will come and for this the album, at least, I want to believe in it.) This album contained exclusively instrumental compositions that were written exclusively for break-dance performances, i.e. it was music that was convenient to dance a broken dance to. about the name.This name for the album ("Seven do not wait for one") was invented for the reason that Mikhey (R.I.P.) planned to join the group, but could not decide to move from Donetsk to St. Petersburg, and the fame of Bad B. meanwhile was gaining turns, this played a decisive role in the arrival of Micah.
In the summer of 1990, Micah, as well as SheFF a year earlier, entered the University of the Humanities with all the other members of the group, because. The rector of the university gave the go-ahead for preferential admission to the university. The rector saw the future for these guys, he understood that these guys are really talented and will be able to achieve a lot. He promised to make concerts of the group in the USA, as a cultural exchange between the university. Everyone wanted to get a higher education, so the decision to enter this university was made instantly. Meanwhile, the development of the Bad Balance team as a dance group continued. By October 1, 1990, Russia's first 45-minute costumed dance program was ready. There were now seven people in the group.
:: Recording of the first album::
1990 Perestroika was booming all over the country, there was nothing to eat, the culture was dying, and in the meantime the group was trying to get documents to travel to the United States for concert performances. At that time, it was extremely problematic to go abroad, so the Foreign Ministry easily wrapped up the case and threw it in the trash. But the group, despite everything, tried to continue to work. In early autumn, only the leader of Bad Balance, SheFF, managed to leave for America, where he stayed for almost three months, trying in vain to re-invite the group. shrugged. SheFF managed to get a serious invitation from a major Washington production company, with which he returned to Russia. By this time, Wolf left the group and took up his solo project - "The Name is Protected", which included Marama and Kefir. Despite this, the decision was made to continue writing a full rap album. Everyone earned as much as they could and brought their savings to the general cash register for recording. It was a very difficult time then. Recording of the album began at the DDT studio, and later continued at the studio of Edita Piekha. The first recorded composition - "Donetsk Territory", gave off real, now Russian rap.
At the end of the year, the first domestic rap festival took place - Rap-PIK "90, where Bad Balance took first place with this composition. The following groups also participated in the St. others.It was obvious that rap was definitely taking over breakdance and it was necessary to look for new ways to instill Hip-Hop culture.By early 1991, the Foreign Ministry finally gave permission for the group to leave the United States, but this time the American consulate did not give despite this, Bad Balance were busy working on the album "Above the Law", which is essentially the first domestic rap album.The name of this album was coined after the group was repeatedly refused to travel abroad.The last carts for the album were The complete misunderstanding of the studio staff seriously annoyed the members of Bad B, so at one fine moment they filled the face of the sound engineer and demanded to replace him with another. It was difficult to refuse them, the director was replaced, but a wave of rejection of rap music in general swept through the St. Petersburg environment of pop artists. Do not forget that at that time pop music ruled the country, and rock music was too far from new culture and in no way wanted to make contact. A vacuum or the so-called Leningrad blockade formed. The end of the recording of the album coincided with the fifth refusal of the authorities to leave the group abroad. The album was released only on audio cassettes (of course, because CDs were simply not observed at that time, and records seem to be a thing of the past) in a limited edition and thrown onto the market through a pirate network, because. official distribution in the country did not work at all. So the group got its first fans who understood what real rap was and had been waiting for the appearance of domestic rap heroes for a long time, which the boys from the Bad Balance group became.
For the first time in the country, the group created a collection of clothes, which was expressed only in tishets and kangaroos with the Bad Balance logo - Abowe the low. It is worth noting that there are two errors in English spelling that were made specifically to differ in spelling from the name of the famous American rap group from Los Angeles "Above the law". The first three hundred tishets scattered among friends and acquaintances. In the same 1991, a new character Monya appeared in the group, and then the new line-up of the group was completely determined: LA (DJ), SheFF, Mikhey (MC "s), Skalia, Laga, Bogdan, Swan and Monya (dancers).
:: Subsequent development of the group::
In August 1991, Bad Balance receives the Grand Prix at the All-Russian Rap Festival, which was made by Studio Klass and Artemy Troitsky in the Park of Culture. Mr. Troitsky later said that these guys know what real rap is and in terms of energy they can be safely compared with the American group Public Enemy. This conclusion, for sure, was made after the first version of the composition "Children of Satan" was performed. Yes, indeed the text corresponded to reality, but the production (music) was no good. In any case, everyone who saw this action on stage came up and paid their respects to the group. It was after this festival that many started talking about the fact that rap in Russian is impossible, that this is just an imitation of black African Americans, whose lifestyle is very different from ours. People did not want to accept that the country was changing and saw the Bad Balance group as enemies or special agents from the West. Therefore, they completely ignored and did not allow the development of a living street culture. But all the same, clowning, synthetically invented, some smart people began to push through. So Bogdan Titomir and the Malchishnik group were preparing for the stage. But that's all in the future...
Upon returning to his hometown, several filming took place on St. Petersburg television and a promo was held on local radio stations. Thus, all progressive St. Petersburg knew that in their city, as in the whole world, there is rap, and not just rap, but the best rap in the country. It was after this that a person was found who said that he was ready to support the group with finances. His name was Andrei Berezhnoy, his business was a factory for sewing raincoats that were fashionable at that time. He made a lot of money doing things that didn't bring him satisfaction, and so he was looking for even the smallest opportunity to change the world of identical raincoats. A. Berezhnoy negotiated the shooting of a documentary film about the group. The film was scheduled for next spring. From the second half of autumn until the spring of next year, about 20 concerts took place in St. Petersburg and other cities. One member of the team took up graffiti and design seriously, and paid less and less attention to dance. One day he felt he had better find himself in design. All the guys gave him great respect for what he did for Hip-Hop in his years and gave him a great send-off. This man's name was Bogdan. In the meantime, with the money earned from concerts, fashionable sweatshirts, tishets, windbreakers and baseball caps, fashionable at that time among American rappers, the Riders team, as well as heaped Nike sneakers, were ordered abroad. At the same time, black slacks and raincoats were sewn for the group for free on the basis of the first sponsor of domestic rap. Now the group looked serious and began to scare the pop artists little by little.
:: Album "Bad B Raiders." ::
In the spring of 1992, the decision was made to record a real rap album with a quality sound and more street lyrics. The team was already finally divided into two parts: one was responsible for the dance (Laga, Swan, Skalia, Monya), and the other for rap (LA, Mikhey, SheFF). Andrey Berezhnoy introduced SheFF "and to the master of sports of international class in kickboxing Alexander Savinov, who trained the best kickboxers in the city at his school and prepared them for international competitions. Having penetrated the essence of Hip-Hop, he offered his Bad Balance rehearsal room and also gave the guys kickboxing lessons. a short time the group made friends with great athletes, and in turn got them hooked on rap music. Now the "roof" for the group was not needed, because all the athletes of the city were ready to tear anyone for Bad B. The truth of the streets began to emerge. It's time to split up, half of the band was on their way to write an album; their path lay in Moscow City, to the GALA Records studio (the highest quality and most prestigious studio at that time). The money for recording the album was received from Andrey Berezhny.
Recording began at the end of April. The guys in SheFF "a, LA" me and Mikheya stayed at the Izmailovskaya hotel and every day for two months they were working on a new album "Bad B Raiders", after the release of which in 1993 the group was finally able to prove that rap was in Russian language is not only possible, but also has a number of advantages over the Western one. In the studio, we met Bogdan Titomir, who at that time was thundering all over the country with his unfounded fiction "High Energy". The meeting was sharp, like in street action movies, because. Bad B. did not welcome anything that could harm their cause. But after talking with Bogdan, the guys realized that it would be more correct to unite and turn the history of development street music in the normal direction. He could give them the opportunity to convey their ideas to more people, and they could tell him what real rap is. Since then, a friendship began between BO (as Bogdan was later called by the "Balancers") and the Bad Balance group, which continues to this day. A rumor spread around Moscow that the St. Petersburg guys are doing a real thing, which is starting to gain momentum around the world. So, the well-known Moscow promoter Igor Seleverstov, sensing a gold mine, invited the group to perform in his club - Jump. All of Moscow knew about this club and getting there was very prestigious for any layman or fashionista. The guys signed a contract for four months to perform at the club - three times a week and therefore received $ 1200 per month. The first real rap business was starting. After returning to St. Petersburg, it turned out that two fighters from the detachment wanted to go left, supposedly into serious business. No matter how hard SheFF and LA tried to keep the guys, nothing happened. Swan and Laga left the group. Now the composition of Bad B. looked like this: SheFF, Mikhey, LA, Skalia and Monya. One more dancer was missing. And exactly two days later, Timir appeared, a native of St. Petersburg and a representative of a new wave of breakdance. It was accepted because had a high prestige in the dance St. Petersburg. The group has acquired a new halo. Suits were sewn from working fabric, in the style of St. Petersburg prisoners. By the way, the well-known clothing line RocaWear only at the beginning of 2000 began to produce similar models from the same fabric. There were performances at the Jump club, the group was really recognized. With the proceeds, SheFF offered to buy the first command car - a Zhiguli (four). This car really became an infantry fighting vehicle, because. everyone learned to drive. Everyone is talking about the band...
:: Group trip to Germany::
At the end of October 1992, Bad Balance blew up all the youth of Moscow in the Luzhniki Sports Complex, and the first general wave of domestic rap began. Then in 1993 comes the album "Bad B Raiders", which is the effect of an exploding bomb. I would like to repeat myself, saying that this album completely broke the boundaries of Hip-Hop in our country, because before "Raiders", the whole country listened to what was prepared for them in advance; everyone knew only the group "Bachelor Party" and Bogdan Titomir. I would also like to repeat, and about the fact that the album "Bad B Raiders" is truly a cult album, and is also considered the first album in which traditional Slavic rap was presented. Then rap music led people for the first time, thousands of people. The proper development of Hip-Hop culture began.
In 1993-1994, the culture continued to develop competently, the people began to stick, Bad Balance gathered large, at that time, halls. Bogdan Titomir invited the guys to travel with him around the country as part of a joint tour, to perform at various concerts. In 1994, the guys decided to leave for Germany, spit on everything, packed, as they say, bigger backpacks and left. Arriving at the place, they settled in a squat (moreover, it was a whole three-room apartment with furniture and amenities. Although the guys, of course, did not pay for the apartment. They earned money by dancing on the streets, dancing on the square in the center of Berlin. When it started to get cold, yes and got tired of beating my knees, they started washing the windows of cars at intersections.It was, in general, quite easy money. lucky days business gave 100-120 marks per hour per person. After a short period of time, when the guys had already settled down normally, they began to perform in clubs. Having received a huge response in German clubs, Bad Balance began to perform professionally on tours of many famous rap teams. The boys found connections with people who later helped them to rise. Once a man came up to them, gave his business card and said: "Come to me, let's talk!". So everything started. They were invited to the Berlin Hip-Hop Festival, where the group was noticed by the promoters. One of the European firms signed a contract with the group for concert activity, and Bad B. began to travel and perform everywhere. Bad Balance played shows all over Europe with famous rap teams: "Poor Righterours", "London Pose" and "Urban Speices". There were six tours in total within the framework of the "Hip-Hop Against Violence" campaign in Austria, France, Belgium, Holland, Germany.
:: "Urban melancholy" - urban philosophy::
In 1995, the "balancers" decided that it was time to return to their homeland, although they could easily have stayed in Germany, since they were, one might say, in great demand there. There were many proposals for performances, there were decent (at that time, of course) fees. But Bad B. decided to develop street culture in Russia. Returning to Moscow, full of strength and energy, they organize a Hip-Hop Culture Center there, began to show the people what real Hip-Hop is and advertise it in every possible way. A branch of the Hip-Hop Culture Center was also organized in St. Petersburg. With his support, the first radio program dedicated to Hip-Hop culture called Hip-Hop Info was organized on Katyusha Radio. Later, this name was transferred to the magazine, which began to be published by Valov and the company, dedicated to the 10th and 10th culture, respectively. Later, a company and a recording studio with the same name was opened. By the way, the Hip-Hop IN4 studio was at that time the only professional studio, where high-level figures could sign up X-X culture. The creation of the Center became the starting point for the start of the Rap Music festival, and the organizing committee was also created there. The desire to create an unprecedented action attracted the first sponsors and patrons. As a result, in December 1994, a fire was kindled under the name RAP Music, which still warms the hearts of millions of people! Bad Balance, having absorbed all the new tricks and tricks they saw in Europe, tried to make a joint project with live musicians and began writing the album "Bad B. Pro." Three compositions were recorded with live musicians, where the first searches for a combination of rap music and hard rock(a striking example is the carts "Tick Your Mother Tuck" or "Lullaby"). But in the middle of recording the album, Bad Balance go to America, to the city of Los Angeles, in order to fully understand the difference. European music from the American. In other words, try to study their cuisine. In America, there were performances in small clubs and acquaintance with street MCs, who gave new ideas of how Russian rap could develop correctly. Upon arrival from the States, the group recorded the cult composition "Urban Longing", which changed people's perception of Russian rap. The first clip of the group was also filmed for this song, after the release of which all the advanced heads of the country got hooked on Hip-Hop culture. A real wave of domestic rap began, now thousands of people knew the words by heart and learned to rhyme correctly so as not to fall into the mud in front of their friends. When the album was completely finished, tours began throughout the country and neighboring countries. After touring around the country, Bad B. received an invitation to perform in New York, Los Angeles, Germany, etc. The guys immediately got a contract, performed in medium clubs with very famous people from Method Man "a to Run-DMC, also participated in such a feature as Samart Jam. After a tour of America, Bad Balance was looking for a new breath that would help make the album unique.
:: Jungle city, I love you like stars::
This breath was found in Asia, namely in Thailand, where the group gave a number of concerts for an international audience. The sun, the ocean, the sand, the vegetation, and the inner peace provided explanations for why rap couldn't be created in such an environment. Rap from Bad B. is, first of all, a protest and disagreement with generally accepted norms that lead a person as a person to a dead end. It was there that the longing for our wild reality began. Returning to Russia, the guys settled down at Gala Records and began writing the album "Jungle City", which also became a classic of the genre. This album was the last full-length LP of the group, on which Micah took part. Later, Micah decided to leave the group and stir up a solo project that had been in preparation for a long time (well, not quite a solo project, of course, according to the original idea, there should have been Mr. Bruce, but fate decreed otherwise) called "Micah and Jumanji". The title track of the album became a new urban philosophy, gave a new understanding of this philosophy. Each line in the song is an encrypted code that only the Chosen One can decipher, a person who really understands XX culture. Two unique clips shot for songs from this album - "Like a dream" and "Everything will be fine", performed by professional directors and cameramen, showed that the time has come for big changes, a new era began, it was time to enter a new qualitative level.
:: Education Bad B. Alliance::
Mid 1998. SheFF and Legalize, then already estranged from the DOB Community group, invented a new scheme that could really take domestic Hip-Hop to a certain level. Thus began the formation of a new formation called "Bad B. Alliance", the foundation of which was taken by the main composition of the Bad Balance group. Micah had already left Bad B. and began to stir up his own project"Micah & Jumanji", whose music was based on funk and reggae motifs. The first joint carts with Legalize were already recorded under the title "Are You Ready?", Which was included in the album "Jungle City", and the song "War", recorded together with BO after the NATO bombing of fraternal Yugoslavia. There was a new scheme, scheme " Alliance". First, the team Legal Business $$ (Legalize, N "Pans), a solo project of SheFF" was created; then DeTsl was found in the depths of the stone jungle, after which they created the girlish rap project "White Chocolate", focused mainly on the club a new time has begun, the time of "Alliance" A qualitative rise in domestic rap music has begun.
Now, I think we should delve into what was the idea of SheFF "and Legalize; what did they want to do, what to achieve by creating the Alliance? And the Bad B. Alliance scheme is actually very simple. Initially, it was planned to launch DeTsla, whose raps were supposed to introduce the culture of high school students (aged 12 to 15. Then LB (Legal Business $$) should have appeared, which should have been aimed at older people, for whom rap was no longer just fashion music, but the meaning of life.Bad Balance is just "rap for rappers", this music is focused on those who can no longer exist without rap, who started listening to rap back in the days of the "first wave" in Russia... It is also worth mentioning about three (or rather, four) projects that were also part of the Alliance. These are Three DJs, White Chocolate, Tommy and AlcoFunk. So, the Three DJs project: DJ TO№1K, LA and Shooroop, the composition was based not on its own music, but on pieces of many songs by other artists. But this was also the reason why the project stalled. After all, it was necessary to release an album so that the masses would know about it, and in order to release an album, it was necessary to obtain the consent of all the authors, pieces whose creations were used by DJs in their project. And this, by the way, is not an easy task ...
Project Tommy is a solo project, everyone now famous girl Tamara (Tommy Girl), the most technical (in the sense, reading) girl in Russian rap; but that's just my opinion. Several compositions were recorded, but due to the poor health of the girl, it was decided to exclude the project from the Alliance. The White Chocolate girls were responsible for club-oriented Hip-Hop. The AlkoFunk project didn't work at all, because funk music is not well received in Russia. In short, okay, we sort of figured out the scheme of the now former Alliance, let's move on ...
So, Bad B. The Alliance began full-fledged functioning. The implementation of the scheme invented by SheFF "and the League at the beer tent began; tough touring activities began, recording at the studio, creating new material. A clip of Legal Business $$" was shot, where DeTsl was first exposed (before that, he was trained breakdance at Monya's school). Then the first clip of DeTsla was released - "Friday". By the way, this song has quite interesting story. SheFF decided to give the writing of the first cart for Decl (or rather, the text for it) to the famous rhymer of Moscow streets, Legalize. Not long before the recording of this track was to be carried out, SheFF called the League and asked how things were going with the text, because after all, DeTsl needed to at least rehearse it before recording. The League said that everything was fine, but in fact he didn’t even think to write the text for Decl (I probably forgot). So, the text for the song "Friday", which actually began the formation of DeTsl, as an MC, the League wrote a few hours before recording this composition, in a half-drunk state, in the subway, heading home from some private party. Well, DeTsl is quite good (no, well, you must admit that it’s not bad for the very first time;)) managed to read out this text. Following "Friday", the well-known super-hit by DeTsl "Tears" was launched, in which music and words from the composition of the MAD DOG group were used. Next comes the song and video of Bad B. Alliance (as part of SheFF "a, DeTsla and Legalize) called "Hope for Tomorrow." It was this song that turned the minds of millions of people, really hooking them on rap. Then in the summer of 1999 DeTsla's album was released " Who are you?". After the album of Legal Business$$"a. Tours begin around the cities of our vast mother Russia, where groups and performers who are members of the Alliance perform both together and separately. Almost at all performances of the Alliance and the groups that were part of it, the audience greeted with a bang. For the "Balances" themselves, one of the most memorable concerts was the performance in the city of Baku. Concert activity interspersed with recording tracks in the studio. This continued until about the end of 1999. The annual RAP Music takes place this December, followed by the Voice of the Streets award ceremony in early January. And after these two events, the group with a renewed line-up (SheFF, LA, Mr. Bruce, Malay and Legalize) leaves for America, New York City, to record tracks for the sixth album Bad B.
So, on January 5, 2000, the most significant event (well, at that time) in the history of the group takes place: the guys go to NY City. When they arrived, they were met by a minibus, which drove through Manhattan to a house that was specially rented for the guys. By the way, two more guys from Italy lived in this house, who had done something illegal at home and illegally settled in the States, as well as a girl from Riga, who was brought by an American businessman for an internship in his cafeteria. The next day after arriving in New York, the guys went looking for a studio where they could record an album of high quality and, sort of, they found it. But there they were met by one of the musicians Lenny Kravitz and broke them off a little, saying that only rock music is written at this studio. The guys were upset, but this musician understood what was the matter and decided to help. He started calling all his known producers to help them find a good studio for the guys. Meanwhile, Malay called all his American rap stars he knew: Ice-T, Run DMC and former producer broadcast "Yo! MTV Raps" - Gabe Tolliver. By joint efforts, in a day, the guys receive the entire card file of normal studios in which Hip-Hop is "brewed". And, after spending a few more days evaluating these studios, everyone understands that the best option would be "East-West Music Studio", which houses the great music producer from Jamaica - Roc Isaac (aka Rad Roc). It was there that "Balances" subsequently came, giving their ready-made material to Rad Roc for audition. He listened to it and said that he was ready to work, and when he found out how much the boys were ready to spend money on the album, he just giggled, because these grandmas By New York standards, only two songs could be recorded, but Roc said this: we will record three songs, and if I find something suitable from this material for my new collection, then I will let the whole album be completed. and started...
The tight deadlines allotted for work on the compositions did not allow the guys to relax. The first four days at the studio were spent by LA to work out music program, which he specially brought from Moscow to Steitsy. The well-known American beatmaker from the R.Kelly team helped a lot with the arrangements. The real work has begun.
While the guys (SheFF, LA, League, Mr. Bruce) worked at the studio, Malay hired a lawyer for the group, and now everything was done only on paper. Soon the first two carts were recorded, after which Roc told the guys that he was taking one of them for his compilation and giving them the opportunity to finish the American version of "Stone Forest". After that, Bad Balance was invited to perform at some Russian émigré party. The performance was paid, but there was a terribly poor organization of the concert. Despite this performance of the "Balances" everyone really liked it and there were immediately offers to perform at other venues and New York Russian-language radio, several journalists from various publications took contact numbers from the guys to write articles about them. But "Balances" did not forget about their main mission, about why they actually came to NY City - the development of an international rap market. A lot of well-known characters from the world of X-X culture began to look into the studio where Bad B was written. Thus, the first joint cart was recorded together with American rap heroes. The theme was called "Moscow - New York" and represented the beginning of the fusion of two cultures, East and West. The cart was produced by Rad Roc, and featured MC Trenger (known to many for his work in the Wu-Tang Clan) and Doc. Who (one of the MCs, also recorded at East-West Studio). After this cart, another one was recorded cart along with Trenger, which was called "Don Baron". Then two more carts with backing vocalist Mary J.Blige - Carla W. One, respectively, for the Bad B album - Clear Sky - very positive theme, which comes as the end to the album. If you draw parallels with the album "Jungle City", you can see that both albums end quite positively (remember, in "Jungle City": "Everything will be fine, you just believe; All Right - says a new day..."). The second cart with Carla W was recorded for SheFF's solo album, they called it "Stars" (by the way, it is also distinguished by its special romance and positiveness). In both carts, Carla W worked 100%, fit perfectly into the lyrics of "Balances" , organically complementing the reading of SheFF "a and Legalize.
The guys also managed to record with the rising star of the New York R "n" B - Jimmy. The cart "Lady Storm" was made with him, the only composition on the album dedicated to love, but love inside the urban melancholy, inside the urban. Jimmy has excellent vocal abilities, he perfectly performed his part in this song. Well, and, finally, a truly cult cart was recorded the very last, thoroughly saturated with hard New York sound. It's called "I Know Ya Style". The producer of the composition was Rad Roc, who managed to combine five completely different styles of reading, two voices from Russia (SheFF and Legalize) and three from USA (B.Ricks famous X-X nations by the Cypress Hill group, MC Rocsigar - the hope of the East-West Studio and the aforementioned MC Trenger from Wu-tang "a). Production" for the composition was handled by LA. "I Know Ya Style" really expressed the fusion of two cities, rather than even two continents, two completely different cultures. It was already a real real International. It is worth noting that all MCs were written from the first take, at a time. Then another LP thundered across the country, now a solo one, from SheFF "a, which was called" Name - SheFF ". This disc was a small excursion into the inner world of SheFF"a; after listening to this disc, one could get reliable information about SheFF "e as a person. SheFF himself in one of his interviews called this album a "stone of street philosophy", Especially in this regard, I would like to highlight the "Give fire" cart, where each phrase has a solid foundation, that is, it carries a very deep meaning.The album "Name - SheFF" received very good ratings among the X-X nation, and now everyone is looking forward to the second solo album. ... Almost simultaneously with the release of SheFF's album and DeTsla are invited to New York to receive the International MTV Awards for DeTsla's video "DeTsla's Party". SheFF won in the nomination "Best foreign hip-hop producer", and DeCl, respectively, in the nomination "Best foreign hip-hop performer". The awards ceremony was accompanied by performances by world stars, and Moby himself called the awardees to the stage. Representatives of other countries during the presentation of awards behaved rather sluggishly, limiting themselves to the most banal "Thank you, very much". When SheFF and DeTsla were announced, they went on stage and also greeted the audience in English, but it was street slang. The hall simply exploded with applause! After the performance, everyone began to take autographs from SheFF and DeTsla, even Moby himself did not stay aside. There, in New York, SheFF met with his old acquaintances of rappers; they were people from the Wutang Clan and Cypress Hill. Vlad introduced them to DeCl (by the way, he was met quite well, everyone liked him). And the most important thing is that, despite the fact that SheFF and Decl were there (in New York, that is) in the position of foreigners, they were accepted as their own. This once again confirms that Hip-Hop is an international culture...
Having returned to Russia as a winner and charged with the new energy of the streets in New York, SheFF decides to further promote high-quality Hip-Hop in Russia ...
In honor of the great artists who changed music forever, as well as in honor of their success, the Billboard magazine team has published a list of the best hip-hop/rhythm and blues singers and female singers of the last 25 years.
The list is based on the weekly Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs and Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums charts from January 5, 1985 to November 6, 2010. Positions are ranked according to the number of weeks spent in first place.
Here you can see those artists who are still successful to this day, as well as performers who have already become classics, and rhythm and blues divas whose records are distributed in millions of copies around the world, and modest geniuses who, with their talent, turned the idea of contemporary music. Each performer, each voice - they are all unique, and without them it is impossible to imagine show business today.
50. Tevin Campbell
49. En Vogue
48. Joe
47. Brandy
46. Kanye West
45. Chris Brown
44. Maxwell
43. Patti LaBelle
42. Destiny's Child
41. Ne-Yo
40. Music Soulchild (Musiq Soulchild)
39. Nelly
38. Eminem
37. Snoop Dogg
36 Bobby Brown
35. Tony Toni Tone
34. Sade
33. Kenny "Babyface" Edmonds
32. Gerald Levert
31.LeVert
30.Jodeci
29. Keyshia Cole
28.50 Cent
27. Aaliyah
26. Stevie Wonder
25.TLC
24. Monica
23. New Edition
22. Anita Baker
21. Lil Wayne
20. T.I.
In 2001, after 27th place in the R&B / Hip-Hop Albums with the album I "m Serious, rapper T.I. broke the contract with the record company Arista Records and organized his own label Grand Hustle Entertainment. The first Trap Muzik album, released independently, took second an album chart spot in 2003. It was followed by even more successful chart-topping records, 2004's Urban Legend, 2006's King, 2007's T.I. vs. T.I.P., and 2008's Paper Trail, which spent a record five weeks at number one. Of course, the musician's incredible success in recent years has been somewhat overshadowed by his problems with the law: T.I. spent a year behind bars due to federal court charges, and in March 2010, after his release, he became embroiled in even more loud scandal with drugs.
19. Tupac Shakur
Rapper Tupac Shakur, who tragically died in September 1996, is a true hip-hop icon. During his lifetime, he managed to release only four albums, two of which reached the top of the album chart - released in 1995 Me Against The World(4 weeks at number one) and 1996's All Eyez On Me (3 weeks at number one). Two months after his death, his album Don Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory, where Tupac used the alias Makaveli. The record topped the chart for a full six weeks. Shocking fact: Tupac predicted his demise on this album and was perfectly prepared for it. The musician left a huge creative legacy, many of his albums were released posthumously, four of which became chart leaders.
18. Toni Braxton
Toni Braxton's latest success is her recent release of Pulse, which became an R&B/Hip-Hop Album in 2010. The singer's career has been going on for twenty years, and since 1992 she has been constantly releasing hit singles. The first of the eleven top charts was Give U My Heart from the movie "Boomerang". Her songs You "re Making Me High / Let It Flow and He Wasn" t Man Enough also gained wild popularity.
17. Boyz II Men
The members of this amazing group have never ceased to amaze with their talents since their debut, which happened in 1991 with the song Motownphilly, which reached number four on the R&B / Hip-Hop Songs hit, and continued with It's So Hard to Say Goodbye to Yesterday, which became the first of their five number one hits, three albums from the group's discography were number one, which in 1999 allowed Billboard to name the Boyz II Men the best group of the 90s.
16. LL Cool J
James Todd Smith (real name LL Cool J) is a true hip-hop pioneer. He was one of the first artists to start recording for what has become one of the most respected labels, Def Jam Recordings. His debut album Radio reached number six on the R&B/Hip-Hop Albums in 1986. The next Bigger & Deffer release spent eleven weeks at the top of the chart. More among rap artists, only the albums of MC Hammer (MC Hammer) Please Hammer Don "t Hurt (29 weeks in 1990) and Eminem's Recovery (13 weeks in 2010) were the leaders. this moment the musician became interested in a career in film and television.
15. Beyonce
After the collapse of the singer's alma mater, the mega-successful group Destiny "s Child (42nd position on this list), Beyoncé began a solo career. She has five number one singles, including such hits as Irreplaceable (nine weeks in first place ) and Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It) (12 weeks). Each of her three albums became the leader of the R&B / Hip-Hop Albums. But despite the success in the world charts and the status of one of the most talented artists of our time, this The list is ahead of her own husband - rapper Jay Z (Jay-Z).
14. Ludacris
Rapper and actor Christopher Bridges (real name of the musician) began his career as a DJ on WHTA-FM radio under the pseudonym Chris Lova-Lova Chris Lova Lova. His charisma and discovered talent for excellent rapping were embodied on his first single What's Your Fantasy, which entered the top ten R&B / Hip-Hop Songs in 2000. Ludacris' debut album Back For The First Time in the same year it reached number two on the album chart and marked the beginning of a string of success in the career of a musician - four of her subsequent albums became leaders of the charts
13. Michael Jackson
The King of Pop might as well be called the King of Rhythm and Blues. This title is more than deserved considering his seven R&B/Hip-Hop Albums (five of which have been released in the last 25 years) and countless hit singles. Despite tragic death Jackson, his beautiful music continues to live with us - both on discs and in the charts. In 2009, This Is It - the title track from the documentary "Michael Jackson: That's It" - entered the top twenty of the song chart, and the soundtrack disc became the leader of the album chart.
12 Keith Sweat
Keith Light is one of the most beloved American artists. He is loved by fans of all ages, because his singles became hits in almost every important musical era: in 1988 - I Want Her, his first song to hit the charts; in 1991 - I "ll Give All My Love to You or in 1998 - Come and Get With Me, recorded together with Snoop Dogg. In total, 16 of his songs entered the top ten of the song chart, of which 7 reached the first place. In In 2008, they added another single, Just Me.
11. Prince
Prince's career began long before the designated scope of this list - back in 1978. When one of his first singles, Soft and Wet, hit the R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, Prince continues to reign in the chart for the fourth decade with a seemingly endless stream of albums and hits. Since 1985, he has 30 releases on the album chart, more than any other artist. Nineteen of them were in the top ten. Three of it latest album– 3121 released in 2006, Planet Earth in 2007 and also the 2009 treble disc Lotus Flow3r/MPLSound/Elixr – were becoming leaders.
10 Alicia Keys
Alicia Keys literally burst into show business with the already legendary album Fallin ', released in 2001. Each of the singer's five albums became the leader of the album chart, including the last one, The Element of Freedom, which opened 2010 for five weeks in the first place. Alisha Keys, in addition to her singing talent, has a great talent as a pianist. In the nine years of her career, Keys' albums have sold over 17 million copies in the US.
9 Freddie Jackson
Perhaps, fans of pop music are not too familiar with the hits of Freddie Jackson, since he never crossed the tenth position of the Billboard Hot 100 in his career. But he is very well known in the rhythm and blues charts, being the author of eighteen songs included in top ten: from Rock Me Tonight in 1985 to the 1992 hit I Could Use a Little Love (Right Now). Four of his albums topped the R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart, including 1986's Just Like the First Time, which spent 26 weeks at the top.
8. Jay-Z (Jay-Z)
Sean "Jay Z" Carter went through a long career path to start his own label in 1996 with Damon Dash and Kareem Burke after record company after record company refused to sign him. After his critically acclaimed debut album, Reasonable Doubt, at number three on the R&B/Hip-Hop Albums, and second disc In My Lifetime, Vol. 1, who climbed a line higher, his breakthrough album, Vol. 2 - Hard Knock Life, which topped the chart for six weeks in 1998. In total, the musician has eleven albums number one (including two joint discs with R. Kelly).
7 Luther Vandross
This singer with a unique voice between 1985 and 2007 recorded 36 hits, of which twenty reached the top ten, and six took first place in the R&B / Hip-Hop Songs. Unfortunately, the last two positions happened posthumously - Vandross died in 2005 at the age of 54. The key to the musician's popularity is his ability to find a common language with a young audience. He recorded duets with Janet Jackson, Mariah Carey in the 90s, and in 2004 with Beyoncé. The song Dance With My Father, which he co-wrote and performed with Richard Marx, won a Grammy Award for Song of the Year the same year.
6. Usher
From a humble beginning in 1993 (No. 56 for a song called Call Me a Mack from the film Poetic Justice starring Janet Jackson and No. 25 for his debut album), Usher has achieved a lot - his album sales are more than 22 million copies. In addition to a more than successful career in music and film, Usher has an incredible production flair - it was he who introduced the world to the pop phenomenon Justin Bieber (Justin Bieber).
5. Janet Jackson
The legendary Janet is the owner of the largest number of singles-leaders of the song hit parade. There are fifteen of them: only R. Kelly (R. Kelly) and Usher can come close to this record. Even the singer's brother Michael Jackson, despite all his popularity, recorded only eight number one hits. Between 1985 and 2001, the singer became a real icon. She has more songs in the top ten of the world charts than any other artist: twenty-seven.
4 Mariah Carey
During her twenty-year career in show business, this singer has countless records and awards to her credit. Her songs topped the Billboard's Hot 100 eighteen times - only The Beatles had more. Her song One Sweet Day remained at the top of the charts for 16 weeks. With worldwide album sales of 52.7 million copies, Mariah Carey is the most successful rhythm and blues artist, and the third most popular artist of all genres, after Garth Brooks (Garth Brooks) and the aforementioned The Beatles.
3. Whitney Houston
When Whitney Houston first hit the R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart in 1984 as a guest vocalist on Teddy Pendergrass' Hold Me single, it became clear to many that this girl would become a star. In addition, talent was in her blood: her mother, Cissy Houston, is a respected gospel/rhythm and blues singer, and cousin Dionne Warwick has been a fixture on the Billboard charts for decades. The diva has eight number one singles and five mega-successful albums, including the last one, released in 2009, I Look To You.
2. Mary J. Blige
One of the most respected musicians and producers of our time, Sean "Diddy" Combs (Sean "Diddy" Combs) called her the "Queen of Hip-Hop", and this title is not an exaggeration at all. The most popular singles of the performer You Remind Me and Real Love launched her dizzying career as one of the most brilliant singers of her time. Twenty No. 1 hits, eight world chart-leading albums - achievements that hardly anyone will soon be able to overcome.
1. R. Kelly
R. Kelly topped this list, and the place is not in vain. Since January 1985, he has recorded 35 top 10 hits on the R&B/Hip-Hop Songs (more than anyone else), and a total of 84 songs that made the chart at all. Among them are eleven leaders, including Bump N "Grind (12 weeks at the top of the charts) and Down Low (Nobody Has To Know) (7 weeks). 11 albums that have become R&B / Hip-Hop leaders have firmly established his status as one of the leading artists not only of his generation, but of the entire history of show business in general. Legendary performer does not stop there - this year he released his 56 top 40 single When a Woman Loves.
It is unlikely that in our time there is someone who has not heard such a phrase - "hip-hop". They heard something, but not everyone knows for sure what it means. Is it dance or music? Or maybe both? Need to figure it out...
What is hip hop
“Hip-hop is a lifestyle,” say the followers of this direction. And such a definition, of course, fully characterizes it. You can't do hip-hop without living it.
This cultural movement appeared in the early 1970s in America among African Americans. This is the so-called street culture, which, having become popular among blacks, later won the recognition of whites. Initially, only music and dance belonged to hip-hop, but then the “geography” of hip-hop expanded. Social protest - that's what hip-hop was at first. A protest against everything that did not suit the younger generation. However, such notes are preserved in this culture to this day, another thing is that it has become a fashionable (and therefore commercial) direction already at the beginning of our century.
Types of hip hop
There are several directions that help to understand what hip-hop is, since each has its own special meaning. In music it is rap and beatbox, in dance it is breakdance, house, flexing and others, in fine arts it is graffiti, in sports it is streetball. Some refer to street culture, including basketball. It is important to note that a person involved in hip-hop does not have to devote himself to only one direction, he may well combine his passion for rap, and breakdancing, and even “rock art” graffiti.
Peculiarities
The main difference between hip-hop culture is the free style of clothing. It is believed that the beginning of such a fashion was laid by huge prison overalls, where anyone could fit. Also in hip-hop - it is customary to wear things that are a size, or even several, larger than necessary.
The “classics of the genre” here are wide trousers or jeans, sneakers (not sneakers!), baggy sweatshirts with hoods that cover the face, narrow hats, caps with wide visors (for the same cases). Some representatives of the hip-hop movement (mostly African Americans) love various accessories - massive chains (gold, for example), wristlets, pendants and all that. What distinguishes hip-hop from other cultures is the special hairstyles - short hair or dreadlocks, but not too long.
History of dance
Breakdancing is considered to be the main dance of all hip-hop dances. It arose very first, and owes its appearance to a man named Kul Herk. Or rather, breakdancing slowly developed before him, but not in the form that it is known now. The dancers twisted the elements while standing on their feet, not on their heads. It was with Kool Herc that another era of breakdance began. He read the lyrics to the music (later it will develop into rap), and between performances he took breaks (that is, “breaks”, from the English break - break), so that the dancers (“dancers”, from the English dance - dance) could show your skills. This is how breakdance became popular - the first dance in hip-hop culture (however, given culture did not yet have its own name, but more on that later).
Subsequently, one by one, others began to appear dance directions, and then there were battles, the so-called meetings-arguments between teams or individual dancers, when they take turns demonstrating their talents and skills.
The main feature of the dance is improvisation. The speaker does not come up with a movement in advance, he goes out and acts “on a whim”. And if at first hip-hop dance was street dance, now it is being actively studied in dance studios. He gained particular popularity after the release of films dedicated to him (for example, "Step Up" or "Beat Street").
hip hop music
Hip-hop appeared in the music industry around the same time as in dance. The first masters of hip-hop songs called themselves Master of Ceremony (MC for short), that's where the word came from. They were DJs (short for English disk-jokey), who mixed rhymed text read to a certain rhythm. Such music has gained great popularity at parties.
In addition to Kool Herk, who read his own texts in this way, DJ Africa Bambata and Sylvia Robinson can be noted among the "pioneers" in rap culture. It was the latter who was able to make rap sound "out of every iron." At a time when there were no records, studios and other things, she organized a recording studio for rap artists. The first single in this format appeared on the market in 1979 and just blew it up. The song reflected all the main themes of hip-hop culture - independence, freedom, sex, life, rivalry.
Rap gained popularity among whites by the mid-1980s, and in the nineties such prominent representatives of this movement appeared as Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Tupac Shakur, at the end of the decade - Eminem (the only white one listed) and others. Hip-hop, rap go beyond the United States and begin their journey to fame in other countries.
The figures of rap culture received their first award, and therefore the first official recognition, in 2004. Then the prestigious Grammy Award for the best album was given to rap artists.
Graffiti
The origin of the word "graffiti" is connected with Italian (graffito - to scratch) and Greek (graphein - to write) languages. This is a type of fine art on the walls of houses, stairs, garages - in general, self-expression in painting in in public places. Now many people associate graffiti with vandalism, because, unfortunately, some prefer to “express themselves”, in fact, only spoiling cultural, antiquity or memory objects, painting them with obscene words or obscene pictures. However, everything started differently.
The first graffiti is attributed to a certain young New Yorker named Julio, who left his "autograph" with his name and street number on the walls in all areas of the American city. His idea was picked up by another American, who later even gave a detailed interview, where he spoke about the reasons for such an act. Following these two guys, young people across the country began to "sign" on anything. This kind of "flash mob" was called graffiti.
In Russia
Russian hip-hop appeared in Samara in the early eighties. At an ordinary student party, the local Rush Hour team made a half-hour program, which was later released as an album. At the end of the eighties, they became active, like mushrooms after the rain, here and there, various rap teams appeared, and in the early nineties, the rap movement took over the country. "Bad Balance", Mikhey, "Bachelor Party", Dolphin, Bogdan Titomir - these are just a few names from a whole list of artists who appeared in those years.
At the beginning of the 2000s, new performers announced themselves - Decl, Legalize, Guf, Basta. The latter is actively working to this day, having his own label, by the way, he performs under three aliases. Around the same time, they learned in Russian hip-hop what battles are, they originated in our country around 2006 and have gained immense popularity by now. One of the most famous rap artists in Russia today is Oksimirron.
Children's hip hop
If initially hip-hop dances were peculiar only to "street children", now hip-hop is taught in special studios, including children's ones. The direction of breakdancing is very popular among the younger generation. And since they are taught, as a rule, by teachers experienced in this movement, it is doubly fun for children to attend such classes. Hip-hop for children is often organized, including at the base educational institutions. Thus, schoolchildren have the opportunity to self-actualize practically “without interruption” from the educational process.
Hip-hop dance is very useful for children, not only because it gives them the opportunity to express themselves, but also because they have a great effect on all muscle groups, developing the child physically. And if at first it was believed that breakdance was a dance exclusively for boys, now girls are also happy to do it.
- The name "hip-hop" comes from in English as a “lift-jump” (hip - a moving part of the body, rise, hop - jump, jump, movement).
- This name for the emerging culture was coined by DJ Africa Bambata.
- The famous Russian rock artist Konstantin Kinchev, the leader of the Alisa group, began with rap.
- The most expensive album in the history of world music is the album of the hip-hop group Wu-Tang Klan.
- The official birthday of hip hop is August 11, 1973.
You can have different attitudes to hip-hop culture, love it or hate it, understand and accept it or not. However, one cannot but admit that at present this movement is perhaps the leader, especially in the music industry. Pop music and rock are gradually receding into the background, giving way to the "voice of the streets". This means that there is something in hip-hop, since it has been living and flourishing for so many years.
