The Begginnings of Hip Hop

Show ABC News clip of the  South Bronx in the late 1970s. Discuss as a class:

• What do you notice about this neighborhood? What do you think has taken place there?
• What means do you think people living in this environment would have to express themselves artistically?
• This video clip was left without any sound.  If you were to compose music to accompany this footage, what would that music sound like? What feelings or emotions might you try to convey through your music?

Procedure:

1.  Explain to students that the place shown in the clip is an area of New York City known as the Bronx, a place considered to be the birthplace of Hip Hop. Distribute Handout 1: Map of New York City. Ask students:

• New York City is broken up into five sections, called “boroughs.” What are each of these five boroughs named?
• What famous landmarks do you notice on this map? In which borough are most of these landmarks located?
• Where is the Bronx in relation to Manhattan, where many of the famous landmarks are found?

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2.  Guide students to the point on the map marked “1520 Sedgwick Avenue” and display image of the building. Explain that this is the address of an apartment building in the Bronx where some of the earliest Hip Hop performances occurred, including several house parties emceed by DJ Kool Herc, a resident of the building.  

Ask students:

• Are there any roads or highways demarcated on the map? [Students should find the Cross Bronx Expressway.]

Display photo of the Cross Bronx Expressway. Explain that the expressway was constructed between 1948 and 1972, and was one of the first highways to be built directly through a crowded urban environment. While technologically innovative, its construction deeply affected the communties through which it passed by dividing neighborhoods, lowering property values, and hastening the rate of urban decay in many sections of the Bronx.

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3.  Direct students back to the map. Ask students:

• What is the proximity between 1520 Sedgwick Avenue and the Cross Bronx Expressway, and how might that affect life at that address? [Students should see that the expressway is right up next to the apartment building.]

4.  Distribute Handout 2: Bronx Demographics 1960-2000. Ask the students to answer the following questions about the socioeconomic conditions in the Bronx based on the information in the two charts:

• The population of which racial/ethnic group increased the most in the Bronx between 1960 and 2000? Which population decreased the most?
• What happened to the poverty rate of the total population of the Bronx between 1970 and 2000? What percentage of the total population was in poverty in 1980?
• What overall conclusions can you draw from these charts about the socioeconomic conditions in the Bronx while Hip Hop was developing there in the 1970s?

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5.  Show video clip from an interview with Hip Hop pioneer Grandmaster Flash. Explain that this news story was produced in 2000, but examines events that occurred in the late 1970s. Discuss as a class:

• Where was early Hip Hop performed? Who was in the audience?
• What equipment did Grandmaster Flash use to build a new musical sound? How did he utilize this equipment in an innovative way?
• What are “the breaks” to which Grandmaster Flash is referring? What is “scratching”? What about the way Hip Hop DJs played this music made it original?
• How does Grandmaster Flash describe the role of the Master of Ceremonies, or MC at a Hip Hop performance?

6.  Divide class into small groups of 3–4 students. Distribute Handout 3: New York City Timeline 1960s-1970s, and Handout 4: "The Message" Lyric Excerpts; to each group.

7.  Show video excerpt of the song " The Message" by Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, recorded in 1982. Inform students that they will work in their groups to analyze the way the song reflects the social conditions of New York City in the 1960s and 1970s. Students should underline specific lines in the song and connect them to specific events from the timeline. 

[Note to teacher: The video and song lyrics of “The Message” contain some explicit language. The teacher is advised to assess whether or not these materials are appropriate for their students. Also note that the video clip ends before the third verse, but students should be able to complete the assignment using the lyrics on the handout.]

8.  Discuss in groups:

• Why do you think this song was titled “The Message”? What is its message?
• What are the images in the song that reflect life in the city in the 1970s?  (e.g. broken glass, vermin, etc.)

9.  Poll sample answers from different groups. 

10.  Reconvene the class and discuss:

• Why do you think Hip Hop became so popular with the people in urban communities such as the Bronx?
• How did “The Message” reflect the social and economic conditions of the Bronx in the 1970s? Think about both the equipment that was needed to produce it and the themes reflected in its lyrics.

[Teacher can emphasize the idea that early Hip Hop required few resources: a turntable or two, speakers, existing records, and a DJ with a lot of imagination; students can compare this to the instruments, equipment, and resources needed to form a rock band.]

Summary Activity:

Ask students to select one or more events from the timeline not already evoked in the song and write an additional verse for “The Message” to reflect those events and their moment.

Writing Prompt:

Students will select an event from the New York City timeline and conduct further research into it, producing an argumentative essay to demonstrate an historical understanding of that event and how it affected New York City in the 1960s and 1970s. Students should include a clear thesis statement declaring the importance of that event in comparison with other events on the timeline, followed by research-based evidence to support the thesis. Be sure to also explain why the event was important enough to warrant a lyrical mention by Grandmaster Flash in “The Message.”

Extension:

Show video of Grandmaster Flash on ABC's Nightline in 2012. Discuss as a class:

• What specific musical sources does Grandmaster Flash point to as influences? What did he find inspiring about these musicians and records?