ROSEWOOD
02-19-2007, 11:31 AM
13 This is London calling
Britain has latched on to hip hop quickly but is slow to develop its own style. Some acts, like Derek B, ape America; female duo Cookie Crew make a hip-house single; and Rodney P's London Posse and Bristol's Wild Bunch start to explore their reggae roots. But by 1988 the dominant UK offshoot of American hip hop isn't reggae-rap but 'Britcore', a hyper-speed blizzard of noise indebted to Public Enemy. Its leaders are Hijack, a south London quartet who wear paramilitary clothing. When Tim Westwood plays their 'Hold No Hostage' on his Capital radio show, studio guest Ice-T signs the group to his Rhyme Syndicate label. The next year, 'The Badman Is Robbin' is the first UK rap single to be released on a US label.
14 1990: 2 Live Crew get horny
The Miami group 2 Live Crew earn the distinction of releasing the first record in America to be deemed legally obscene after a Florida judge studies the sleeve and listens to the lyrics (featuring almost 700 profanities) of their album As Nasty As They Wanna Be . Sales inevitably soar, the group are arrested performing in an adults-only club, liberal America rallies to their cause, and the court decision is overturned on appeal. 2 Live Crew's own career proves shortlived, but misogyny becomes a casual hip hop staple.
15 1989: The West gets attitude
The West Coast's first major stars, NWA, emerge from the suburb of Compton to offend everybody with their trailblazing portrayal of gang culture. Liberals hate their nihilism, parents their violence, reactionaries their licentiousness; but most of all, the FBI loathe their song '**** tha Police', sending a 'cease and desist' letter. The group refuse to do so; rap takes off in the Sunshine State.
16 1992: Hip Hop turns dope
'I don't smoke weed or sess, cause that'll only give a brother brain damage,' rapped Dr Dre on NWA's 'Express Yourself'. Now Dre has mellowed, releasing The Chronic , titled after a potent strain of weed. It features Snoop Dogg, an MC so laid back he'd happily watch ceiling-paint dry, and soon every album carries its own mary-jane eulogy. Before long, rappers even try ecstasy.
17 1993: The Wu-Tang Brand
The nine-strong Wu-Tang Clan challenge industry orthodoxy with a record deal that allows each member to sign a solo contract, letting them develop their own separate styles - it's a hip hop version of the Spice Girls.
Method Man is sexy, GZA brainy, Raekwon scary and Ol' Dirty Bastard - who sadly dies as a result of his drug intake in 2004 - bonkers.
18 1992: Rules of the biz
A landmark legal case as Seventies soft-rocker Gilbert O'Sullivan sues much-loved comedy rapper Biz Markie for sampling his song 'Alone Again (Naturally)' without permission. The court rules that the samples be paid for, Biz's album ( I Need a Haircut ) is withdrawn and his career never recovers momentum. Hip hop's smash-and-grab culture is checked.
19 1994: Dirty down south
The success of OutKast's debut Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik breaks the East and West coast stranglehold on hip hop and paves the way for Master P (from New Orleans) and Nelly (St Louis) - although it's the Atlanta duo again who monopolise the top two slots in the US chart for a record eight straight weeks in 2003 with 'Hey Ya' and 'The Way You Move'.
20 1996-7: Mad at cha
The most infamous chapter in hip hop's history sees its two biggest solo stars murdered within six months of each other. It is the culmination of a feud, the East-West beef, sparked by the rivalry of two record label bosses (Death Row's Suge Knight representing LA and Puff Daddy of Bad Boy in New York) and personal animosity between the two stars, who are former friends.
Although many assume these drive-by shootings are the inevitable conclusion of a conflict that is spilling over from art into life, the truth is more complicated. Biggie and Bad Boy were restrained in remarks about Tupac and Death Row despite the non-stop barrage aimed in their direction. Nick Broomfield's documentary, Biggie and Tupac, implicates Knight in both slayings, but both cases remain unsolved.
21 1991: Introducing Le 'Ip 'Op
French-Senegalese artist MC Solaar becomes the first non-English-speaking rapper to earn critical renown - even if his appeal is restricted to the acid-jazz crowd. France still takes its place at the forefront of international hip hop.
22 2000: Dido says 'Thank you'
Hip hop has changed so much that the world's biggest star is a white rapper, a skinny kid from the trailer parks of Detroit who brilliantly marries an attitude and style borrowed from black culture with the angst of Kurt Cobain. And when Eminem lands a huge hit with 'Stan' by sampling Dido's 'Thank You', it is the hitherto unknown MOR chanteuse whose career suddenly takes off rather than vice versa.
Last heard, Dido is threatening to sue her benefactor for $1.8m - but given the 12 million sales of her debut album No Angel , Eminem probably feels she owes him.
23 2003: Dizzee Rascal fights the UK corner
The prestigious Mercury Music Prize award marks an extraordinary triumph for Dizzee Rascal; not just because the 18-year- old debutant beats Coldplay, but also because UK hip hop has spent most of the Nineties rivalling teeth and British cuisine as a source of national embarrassment. Dizzee (Dylan Mills to his mum) bulldozes the most salient complaint - that domestic rappers are but pale imitations of their American counterparts, riding the wave of east London's new grime sound, which is equal parts hip hop, garage and demented techno.
The future of the music looks as bright as ever.
24 2004: Don't knock the hustle
Sean Combs has mixed business interests with a performing career (with increasingly absurd aliases), but it's the ascent of former drug-dealer Jay-Z to the boardroom as head of Def Jam Records that truly defines hip hop's new capitalist ethos.
25 2004: Fade to grey
Producer Dangermouse proves that hip hop's outlaw spirit lives on, mixing and matching samples from the Beatles' White Album with material from Jay Z's Black Album to create his Grey Album . EMI halts a commercial release, so millions download the record from the web for free.
Britain has latched on to hip hop quickly but is slow to develop its own style. Some acts, like Derek B, ape America; female duo Cookie Crew make a hip-house single; and Rodney P's London Posse and Bristol's Wild Bunch start to explore their reggae roots. But by 1988 the dominant UK offshoot of American hip hop isn't reggae-rap but 'Britcore', a hyper-speed blizzard of noise indebted to Public Enemy. Its leaders are Hijack, a south London quartet who wear paramilitary clothing. When Tim Westwood plays their 'Hold No Hostage' on his Capital radio show, studio guest Ice-T signs the group to his Rhyme Syndicate label. The next year, 'The Badman Is Robbin' is the first UK rap single to be released on a US label.
14 1990: 2 Live Crew get horny
The Miami group 2 Live Crew earn the distinction of releasing the first record in America to be deemed legally obscene after a Florida judge studies the sleeve and listens to the lyrics (featuring almost 700 profanities) of their album As Nasty As They Wanna Be . Sales inevitably soar, the group are arrested performing in an adults-only club, liberal America rallies to their cause, and the court decision is overturned on appeal. 2 Live Crew's own career proves shortlived, but misogyny becomes a casual hip hop staple.
15 1989: The West gets attitude
The West Coast's first major stars, NWA, emerge from the suburb of Compton to offend everybody with their trailblazing portrayal of gang culture. Liberals hate their nihilism, parents their violence, reactionaries their licentiousness; but most of all, the FBI loathe their song '**** tha Police', sending a 'cease and desist' letter. The group refuse to do so; rap takes off in the Sunshine State.
16 1992: Hip Hop turns dope
'I don't smoke weed or sess, cause that'll only give a brother brain damage,' rapped Dr Dre on NWA's 'Express Yourself'. Now Dre has mellowed, releasing The Chronic , titled after a potent strain of weed. It features Snoop Dogg, an MC so laid back he'd happily watch ceiling-paint dry, and soon every album carries its own mary-jane eulogy. Before long, rappers even try ecstasy.
17 1993: The Wu-Tang Brand
The nine-strong Wu-Tang Clan challenge industry orthodoxy with a record deal that allows each member to sign a solo contract, letting them develop their own separate styles - it's a hip hop version of the Spice Girls.
Method Man is sexy, GZA brainy, Raekwon scary and Ol' Dirty Bastard - who sadly dies as a result of his drug intake in 2004 - bonkers.
18 1992: Rules of the biz
A landmark legal case as Seventies soft-rocker Gilbert O'Sullivan sues much-loved comedy rapper Biz Markie for sampling his song 'Alone Again (Naturally)' without permission. The court rules that the samples be paid for, Biz's album ( I Need a Haircut ) is withdrawn and his career never recovers momentum. Hip hop's smash-and-grab culture is checked.
19 1994: Dirty down south
The success of OutKast's debut Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik breaks the East and West coast stranglehold on hip hop and paves the way for Master P (from New Orleans) and Nelly (St Louis) - although it's the Atlanta duo again who monopolise the top two slots in the US chart for a record eight straight weeks in 2003 with 'Hey Ya' and 'The Way You Move'.
20 1996-7: Mad at cha
The most infamous chapter in hip hop's history sees its two biggest solo stars murdered within six months of each other. It is the culmination of a feud, the East-West beef, sparked by the rivalry of two record label bosses (Death Row's Suge Knight representing LA and Puff Daddy of Bad Boy in New York) and personal animosity between the two stars, who are former friends.
Although many assume these drive-by shootings are the inevitable conclusion of a conflict that is spilling over from art into life, the truth is more complicated. Biggie and Bad Boy were restrained in remarks about Tupac and Death Row despite the non-stop barrage aimed in their direction. Nick Broomfield's documentary, Biggie and Tupac, implicates Knight in both slayings, but both cases remain unsolved.
21 1991: Introducing Le 'Ip 'Op
French-Senegalese artist MC Solaar becomes the first non-English-speaking rapper to earn critical renown - even if his appeal is restricted to the acid-jazz crowd. France still takes its place at the forefront of international hip hop.
22 2000: Dido says 'Thank you'
Hip hop has changed so much that the world's biggest star is a white rapper, a skinny kid from the trailer parks of Detroit who brilliantly marries an attitude and style borrowed from black culture with the angst of Kurt Cobain. And when Eminem lands a huge hit with 'Stan' by sampling Dido's 'Thank You', it is the hitherto unknown MOR chanteuse whose career suddenly takes off rather than vice versa.
Last heard, Dido is threatening to sue her benefactor for $1.8m - but given the 12 million sales of her debut album No Angel , Eminem probably feels she owes him.
23 2003: Dizzee Rascal fights the UK corner
The prestigious Mercury Music Prize award marks an extraordinary triumph for Dizzee Rascal; not just because the 18-year- old debutant beats Coldplay, but also because UK hip hop has spent most of the Nineties rivalling teeth and British cuisine as a source of national embarrassment. Dizzee (Dylan Mills to his mum) bulldozes the most salient complaint - that domestic rappers are but pale imitations of their American counterparts, riding the wave of east London's new grime sound, which is equal parts hip hop, garage and demented techno.
The future of the music looks as bright as ever.
24 2004: Don't knock the hustle
Sean Combs has mixed business interests with a performing career (with increasingly absurd aliases), but it's the ascent of former drug-dealer Jay-Z to the boardroom as head of Def Jam Records that truly defines hip hop's new capitalist ethos.
25 2004: Fade to grey
Producer Dangermouse proves that hip hop's outlaw spirit lives on, mixing and matching samples from the Beatles' White Album with material from Jay Z's Black Album to create his Grey Album . EMI halts a commercial release, so millions download the record from the web for free.