The Beginnings of Hip Hop

What are the elements of Hip Hop? List as many things as you can to describe it...

Grand Master Flash and the Furious Five

1. Listen to this clip of the Hip Hop group Grand Master Flash and the Furious Five performing “The Message” (1982). While watching, take notes on the performance and its general subject matter.

Question: The hook of the song is “It’s like a jungle sometimes, it makes me wonder how I keep from going under.” What environment is this song depicting? What images stand out to you as a listener?

Bo Diddley

Procedure:

1. Today we will be exploring the recordings of Bo Diddley, a Rock and Roll pioneer during the 1950s whose style can be viewed as a precursor to Hip Hop. Listen to this clip of Bo Diddley performing “Hey! Bo Diddley” in 1965, a song he originally released in 1957. Pay close attention to both the lyrics and the rhythmic feel of the song.

Group Questions:

• Who is the subject of this song? What are some reasons why Bo Diddley might name the song after himself and refer to himself in the third person throughout the lyrics? 
• Describe the instrumentation of Bo Diddley’s band. How do the guitars, drums, and backup singers reinforce the rhythm of the music? 

2. Bo Diddley stood out from his contemporaries by crafting a percussive guitar technique that differed greatly from the traditional Blues style that influenced many other guitarists. Listen to this audio clip of Robert Johnson performing “Stop Breakin' Down Blues” (1937).

Notice that this is an example of Country Blues, in which the musician mixes rhythm guitar with finger picking on an acoustic instrument.

John Lee Hooker

3. Next, lets listen to this audio clip of “Boogie Chillen” (1948) performed by John Lee Hooker, an Electric Blues artist who initially inspired Bo Diddley to learn the guitar at age 12. Pay close attention to Hooker’s guitar, on which he is playing a plucked rhythm, punctuated with single-note accents.

Group Questions:

• How does “Stop Breakin' Down Blues” compare with “Boogie Chillen”? 

4. To contrast with these two recordings, listen to Bo Diddley performing “Bo Diddley” (1954). Pay close attention to the electric guitar style.

Group Questions:

• How is Bo Diddley playing his guitar on this recording? Do you hear single notes being picked on the guitar, or a strumming pattern? 
• How is Bo Diddley’s guitar style different from Robert Johnson’s “Stop Breakin' Down Blues” and John Lee Hooker’s “Boogie Chillen”? 

This distinctive rhythm (three strokes/rest/two strokes) influenced many artists and came to be known as the “Bo Diddley beat,” appearing on records by Buddy Holly, the Rolling Stones, Bruce Springsteen, U2, rapper B.o.B., and many others.

B.O.B.

5. Bo Diddley did not just break away from Blues traditions, his songs also varied greatly from his contemporaries on the Pop charts during the early 1950s. 

The Chordettes

Listen to this audio clip of the Chordettes performing “Mr. Sandman” (1954), which went to No. 1 on the Billboard Pop singles chart the year before Bo Diddley released “Bo Diddley.”

Discuss with your groups and write a paragraph:

How does the melody of “Mr. Sandman” compare to “Bo Diddley”?

Also, do you think Bo Diddley had an influence on what was later known as Hip Hop?

Share paragraphs with class.