Hip Hop and Electronic Music Composition
The hip hop music is well known for its strong beats and rhythms, which are similarly the outcome of creative experimentation with both live and electric sounds. Although the drum beats are the pivot of Hip Hop music, it has transformed into an electronic representation through creative use of music engineering technology (Morris, 2015).Electronic music makes use of various electronic musical instruments along with electronic music engineering to come up with a unique production. A good blending of duplication and layering of sampled sounds and drum beats, with critical elements of volume, density, and quality of controlled sound frequencies, the hip hop music is quite distinct from other popular music genres. Having originated from African Americans of United States in 1970s, Hip Hop has become one of the most popular music genre globally (Morris, 2015).
One of the most influential figure in Hip Hop and Electronic music was Afrika Bambaataa. Afrika Bambaataa, commonly referred to as Kevin Donovan, is one of the most influential, dynamic and creative artists who has been quite instrumental in the development stage of Hip Hop music throughout the 1980s and credited with naming “Hip Hop”. He is considered one of the three pioneers of break-beat deejaying, and prestigiously known as the “Godfather” and the originator of the Electro Funk Sound (Hess, 2007). Through his contributions and co-opting of the street gang the Black Spades into the music, he is icon behind the spreading of rap and hip hop culture globally and helping build a multi-million dollar giant of a music genre. In his endeavors, he blended electronic music and created “Planet Rock,” which became famous and produced an entire school of “electro-boogie”, a combination of rap and dance music (Hess, 2007). He is the man behind popularization of Hip Hop worldwide. Many famous artist in Hip Hop music owe a lot to Afrika Bambaataa.
References
Hess, M. (2007). Icons of hip hop: An encyclopedia of the movement, music, and culture. Westport, Conn: Greenwood Press.
Morris, J. W. (2015). Selling digital music, formatting culture. University of California Press.