hip pop

Origin of the term

Coinage of the term hip hop is often credited to Keith Cowboy, a rapper with Grandmaster Flash and The Furious Five.^[3] Though Lovebug Starski, Keith Cowboy, and DJ Hollywood used the term when the music was still known as disco rap, it is believed that Cowboy created the term while teasing a friend who had just joined the U.S. Army, by scat singing the words "hip/hop/hip/hop" in a way that mimicked the rhythmic cadence of marching soldiers.^[3] Cowboy later worked the "hip hop" cadence into a part of his stage performance, which was quickly copied by other artists; for example the opening of the song "Rapper's Delight" by The Sugarhill Gang.^[3] Former Black Spades gang member Afrika Bambaataa is credited with first using the term to describe the subculture that hip hop music belongs to, although it is also suggested that the term was originally derisively used against the new type of music.^[4] The first use of the term in print was in the Village Voice^[5] by Steven Hager, later author of a 1984 history of hip hop.^[6]

Characteristics of hip hop music

Hip hop music may be based around either live or produced music, with a clearly defined drum beat (almost always in 4/4 time signature), presented either with or without vocal accompaniment.^[7] Production may add looped musical segments on top, from either sampled or originally sequenced music.