West Coast hip hop is a regional genre of hip hop music that encompasses any artists or music that originated in the West Coast region of the United States. West Coast hip hop began to dominate from a radio play and sales standpoint during the early to-mid 1990s with the birth of G-funk and the emergence of record labels such as Suge Knight and Dr. Dre's Death Row Records, Ice Cube's Lench Mob Records and the continued success of Eazy-E's Ruthless Records, and others.
Southern hip hop, also known as Southern rap, South Coast hip hop, or dirty south, is a blanket term for a regional genre of American hip hop music that emerged in the Southern United States and the Southeastern United States, especially in Atlanta, New Orleans, Houston, Memphis, and Miami—five cities which constitute the "Southern Network" in rap music.
Christian hip hop is a subgenre of hip hop music characterized by a Christian worldview, with the general purposes of evangelization, edifying some members of the church and/or simply entertaining. Christian hip hop music emerged from urban communities in the United States in the 1980s, when it existed almost exclusively in small underground scenes, with minimal formal industry promotion and little mainstream attention. It emphasizes the use of positive and uplifting messages to promote faith and belief.
The twelve-inch single is a type of vinyl gramophone record that has wider groove spacing and shorter playing time with a 'single' or a few related sound tracks on each surface, compared to LPs which have several songs on each side. This allows for louder levels to be cut on the disc by the mastering engineer, which in turn gives a wider dynamic range, and thus better sound quality. This record type is commonly used in disco and dance music genres, where DJs use them to play in clubs. They are played at either 33+1⁄3 or 45 rpm. The conventional 7‐inch single usually holds three or four minutes of music at full volume. The 12‐inch LP sacrifices volume for extended playing time. In the 1970s, the 12‐inch single was created as a hybrid.
Compton's Most Wanted (C.M.W.) is an American gangsta rap group and part of the early West Coast hip hop scene. The leaders of the group are MC Eiht and Tha Chill.
Hijack were a British hip hop group, hailing from Brixton, London, featuring Kamanchi Sly, DJ Supreme, DJ Undercover, Ulysses, Agent Fritz and Agent Clueso. Their first single, "Style Wars" caught the attention of the British hip hop community. Their next release, "Hold No Hostage"/"Doomsday of Rap" became an underground hit across Europe, bringing them to the attention of West Coast rapper Ice-T.
Richard Serrell, better known by his stage name Richie Rich, is a rapper from Oakland, California. He currently runs his own record label, Ten-Six Records.
The Treacherous Three was a pioneering American hip hop group that was formed in 1978 and consisted of DJ Easy Lee, Kool Moe Dee, L.A. Sunshine, Special K and Spoonie Gee, with occasional contributions from DJ Dano B, DJ Reggie Reg and DJ Crazy Eddie. They first appeared on record in 1980 on the B-side of Spoonie Gee's single, "Love Rap".
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five were an American hip hop group formed in the South Bronx of New York City in 1978. The group's members were Grandmaster Flash, Melle Mel, The Kidd Creole, Keef Cowboy, Scorpio and Rahiem. The group's use of turntablism, breakbeat DJing, and conscious lyricism were significant in the early development of hip hop music.
"The Message" is a song by Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five. It was released as a single by Sugar Hill Records on July 1, 1982, and was later featured on the group's debut studio album of the same name.
Positive K is an American MC and songwriter from the Bronx, New York City, New York, and one of the original artists of the First Priority Music camp. He is best known for his hits "I'm Not Havin' It" and his 1992 hit "I Got a Man".
Gwen McCrae is an American singer, best known for her 1975 hit "Rockin' Chair".
Crash Crew was an American early hip-hop group who recorded for Mike and Dave Records in 1980 and then signed to Sugar Hill Records. The group, based in Harlem, Lincoln Projects New York City, consisted of members DJ Daryll C., G. Man, La Shubee, Barry B-Stro, Michael EK Shahid, and Reggie Reg. According to JayQuan.com, the six grew up in the surroundings of Lincoln project, and in 1977 the group was created. In 1980, they recorded their first single under the moniker "Disco Dave and the Force of the 5 MC's". The single, "High Powered Rap", was released on Mike & Dave Records. That same year, the group signed to Sugar Hill Records and released several singles including "We Wanna Rock", "Breaking Bells ", and "On the Radio". 1982's "Breaking Bells " was created around the sampled drum break from Bob James's instrumental cover of Paul Simon's "Take Me to the Mardi Gras".
The Mean Machine was a rap group composed of Puerto Ricans who rapped in both English and Spanish. They are known for the single "Disco Dream", released as a 12" 33 RPM single in 1981 on the Sugar Hill Records label. In 1986, they recorded a single called "At The Party" on the Honey Hush label. The group is often cited as the first bilingual rap group, and is possibly the first ever Latin hip hop group.
Hip hop music or hip-hop music, also known as rap music, is a genre of popular music developed in the United States by inner-city African Americans, Puertorican and Jamaicans in the Bronx borough of New York City in the 1970s. It consists of a stylized rhythmic music that commonly accompanies rapping, a rhythmic and rhyming speech that is chanted. It developed as part of hip hop culture, a subculture defined by four key stylistic elements: MCing/rapping, DJing/scratching with turntables, break dancing, and graffiti writing. Other elements include sampling beats or bass lines from records, and rhythmic beatboxing. While often used to refer solely to rapping, "hip hop" more properly denotes the practice of the entire subculture. The term hip hop music is sometimes used synonymously with the term rap music, though rapping is not a required component of hip hop music; the genre may also incorporate other elements of hip hop culture, including DJing, turntablism, scratching, beatboxing, and instrumental tracks.
Joseph Saddler, popularly known by his stage name Grandmaster Flash, is a Barbadian-American DJ and rapper. He is considered to be one of the pioneers of hip hop DJing, cutting, scratching and mixing. Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2007, becoming the first hip hop act to be honored. In 2019 he won the Polar Music Prize.
Captain Rapp is the stage name of Larry Earl Glenn, an American hip hop/post-disco musician, producer and West Coast Rap pioneer.
Richard "Richie Rich" Anthony, is an American actor, hip hop and R&B record producer, rapper and entrepreneur. He is the founder and current CEO of Richworld Entertainment. Richie is mostly known for his works with one of the pioneers of the West Coast scene rap group LA Dream Team. Richie has originated later in Los Angeles, California and has worked on a substantial roster of projects producing recording artists such as Joe Serious, Teena Marie, Kid Frost, O.G. Cell-E-Cell, Mellow Man Ace, UTFO, and many more. As a studio owner, he has also produced popular groups like South Central Cartel, Domino, Whodini, Mokensteff, Y?V, Funkdoobiest, WC and the Maad Circle, Club Nouveau, Daddy Freddy, Lucky Luciano and Ray from the Belgian/Dutch eurodance group 2 Unlimited.
Ronald Hudson is an American artist, bassist, composer and record producer. He is notable for the hit song "West Coast Poplock", which later sampled in Dr. Dre and Tupac Shakur's song entitled "California Love".
This article summarizes the events, album releases, and album release dates in hip hop music for the year 1979.
