A half-century of hip-hop: Genre has evolved, branched out over the decades

Aug. 11—Hip-hop has come a long way since DJ Kool Herc started isolating funk-record instrumental breaks to make Bronx dance parties even more danceable.

Along the way, it traveled to all corners of America, mutating and evolving into the wide variety of sounds and artists we have today.

Here are some of hip-hop's major "eras," with a few songs that help exemplify its various subgenres.

Creating a new sound

In August 1973, DJ Kool Herc first extended a break while DJing his sister's back-to-school party. By utilizing two turntables and looping the instrumentals, he was able to make the most danceable portion of each song last much longer and the crowd much more hyped up.

As he continued to develop this early method of sampling and looping records, parties would also have frequently feature a master of ceremonies, or MC, who would hype up the crowd between DJ songs, sometimes using rudimentary rhymes schemes and clever wordplay. This DJ/MC relationship also has roots in the Jamaican sound system culture, where Jamaican DJs would play the echoey, dubbed-out "versions" of popular reggae tunes while an MC would "chat" rhymes overtop.

In American hip-hop, it ultimately led to the MC taking on the primary role, as well as the first widely distributed hip-hop song, 1979's "Rapper's Delight" by the Sugarhill Gang. The single sampled a break from Chic's "Good Times."

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EXAMPLES:

—Kool Herc gets parties going with 'breakbeats'

—Grand Wizzard & the Fantastic Five, live performance in the Bronx, 1980

—T La Rock & Jazzy Jay, "It's Yours," 1984

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At the same time, other elements of what would become known as hip-hop were also coalescing in New York City. DJing, MCing, breakdancing and graffiti were all part of the culture that was developing, while other DJs like Grand Wizzard Theodore, Grandmaster Flash and Jazzy Jay were continuing to push the boundaries of what one could do with two turntables and a pair of deft hands.

It didn't take long for hip-hop to begin influencing mainstream music. Before Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five even had a chance to release the seminal song "The Message" in 1982, Blondie had already recorded and released "Rapture" in 1981, which included a rapping verse from front-woman Deborah Harry.

There are also a lot of music fans who argue that Bob Dylan's "Subterreanean Homesick Blues," which opened 1965's "Bringing It All Back Home," is technically the first song to feature "rapping." We'd argue that's a pretty big stretch. That said, you can definitely find a lot of examples of younger hip-hop fans being shocked as Dylan launches into the first verse.

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EXAMPLES:

—Afrika Bambaataa & the Soulsonic Force, "Planet Rock"

—Blondie, "Rapture"

—Funky 4+1, "That's the Joint"

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Early hip-hop

As hip-hop began to grow, it branched out to include more electronic elements, particularly with the advent in 1980 of the Roland TR-808 drum machine, which offered up many of the classic hip-hop percussion sounds that remain popular today.

Groups like Afrika Bambaataa and the Soulsonic Force made great use of the 808. At the same time, sampling technology was becoming more advanced, and old-school producers like Marley Marl were beginning to use tools like the E-mu SP-1200 to synchronize and compose beats using samples of existing drum breaks.

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EXAMPLES:

—Sugarhill Gang, "Rapper's Delight"

—Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five, "The Message"

—Fatback Band, "King Tim III (Personality Jock)"

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New-school hip-hop

By the mid-1980s, groups like Run-DMC, Whodini, Boogie Down Productions and LL Cool J characterized the second wave of the genre. A rougher edge began to creep into beats coming out New York City in particular, with many of Run-DMC's songs using minimalist instrumentation, heavy bass and powerful drums. Along with a tag-team approach to lyricism that was also in use by fellow new-school legends the Beastie Boys, the in-your-face style of music began gaining even more popularity.

The Beasties' 1986 album "Licensed to Ill" became the first hip-hop album to reach No. 1 on the Billboard charts. And while much of this era retains a party atmosphere, social issues surrounding poverty and the Black experience — which were always present in hip-hop — began to take a more prominent role.

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EXAMPLES:

—LL Cool J, "Radio"

—Beastie Boys, "Time to Get Ill"

—Run-DMC, "Sucker MCs"

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'The golden age'

From the mid-1980s to the late 1990s, hip-hop's popularity would explode across not just the U.S. but the entire world.

In 1990, the dual success of MC Hammer's "U Can't Touch This" (a West Coast party song) and Vanilla Ice's "Ice Ice Baby" (which balanced the party-starting with some street-centered storytelling) formally announced that hip-hop was not a passing fad.

On the East Coast, themes of Afrocentrism and political commentary were common among rappers like Big Daddy Kane, Public Enemy, a Tribe Called Quest, De La Soul and the Jungle Brothers.

At the same time, rapper Rakim Allah from the group Eric B. & Rakim was almost single-handedly reinventing the way rappers rapped. Using more intricate rhyming schemes, Rakim's lines often ran past the final beat of a musical measure, and he created more of a narrative structure, introducing a stronger storytelling element that influenced an entire generation of rappers.

East Coast-based hip-hop drew heavily on jazz samples and was generally characterized by rougher-edged, jazz-sample-based beats.

[Note: As we reach the "golden era,' many hip-hop lyrics take a sharp turn in the decidedly not-safe-for-work direction. Hip-hop was responsible for the creation of the "Parental Advisory" sticker, and it's impossible to walk through its history without acknowledging it. Song examples from here on out may contain a healthy dose of explicit lyrics.]

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EXAMPLES:

—Gang Starr, "DWYCK"

—A Tribe Called Quest, "Electric Relaxation"

—KRS One, "Sound of Da Police"

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On the West Coast, "gangsta" rap was the order of the day, popularized initially by Ice-T (yes, the same Ice-T who played a policeman on "Law & Order: SVU") and the seminal L.A. group NWA, many of whose members — which included Dr. Dre, Eazy-E and Ice Cube — went on to solo fame in their own right.

"Gangsta" rap focused on many of the negative elements associated with neighborhoods where hip-hop originated, as MCs rapped about gang culture and all of the various ways you'd get hurt if you crossed them. Mainstream media at the time largely denigrated the entire genre based on this one specific type of hip-hop.

Over the next few years, the West Coast would see several hip-hop legends rise in the form of Dr. Dre, his protegé Snoop Doggy Dogg, Too $hort, 2Pac, Coolio, E-40 and others.

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EXAMPLES:

—Dr. Dre, "Nuthin' But a G Thang"

—Warren G, "Regulate"

—2Pac, "Brenda's Got a Baby"

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West Coast hip-hop drew heavily on funk samples, with its own subgenre, "G-funk," that emphasized slick drums and in particular a high-pitched, whiny synthesizer that can be heard on everything from Dre's "Nuthin' But a G Thang" to Warren G's huge crossover hit, "Regulate."

It's also impossible to reminisce about this era without acknowledging that much of the time, it came with a healthy dose of homophobia and misogyny, referring to women as a certain garden tool, and frequently worse. A great many rappers went out of their way to make a distinction between moral, upstanding women and the ones they were denigrating, but sexual braggadocio and the glorification of the pimp lifestyle in this era frequently goes pretty far over the top, in a way that is largely unacceptable today.

By the late 1990s, hip-hop was dominating the popular music charts. Collectives like the Wu-Tang Clan (and all of its members' subsequent solo albums), the Bad Boy Records family (that included the Notorious B.I.G., Puff Daddy and Mase), the Dungeon Family (that produced Outkast as well as TLC and Killer Mike), and the Death Row Records roster (Snoop, Dre, 2Pac, Tha Dogg Pound) were regularly releasing albums that rose up the charts.

Hip-hop was also beginning to produce more artists from locales other than California and the greater New York City area. Bone-Thugs-N-Harmony brought an extremely unique sing-rapping style from their hometown of Cleveland; Outkast smoothed out the West Coast funk sound to create bass-heavy music with the flavor of their Atlanta hometown; the Geto Boys put Houston on the map; and Master P, out of New Orleans, was laying down the template for successfully operating an independent rap label that would shortly revolutionize the way hip-hop was produced and distributed.

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EXAMPLES:

—Outkast, "Player's Ball"

—Bone-Thugs-N-Harmony, "Crossroads"

—Master P, "Make Em Say Uhh"

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And that makes no mention of one-hit wonders whose singles will make anyone between the ages of 35-55 exclaim, "Oh, yeah — I remember that song!" The names Tag Team, Kriss Kross, Paperboy, Us3, Skee-Lo, Lord Tariq & Peter Gunz and DJ Kool come to mind just off the top of my head.

By 1999, hip-hop records were selling to the tune of 81 million albums per year, and their influence on popular music can be heard in songs from the most successful pop groups of the era, like Britney Spears, NSYNC and the Backstreet Boys.

'The shiny suit era'

If you've ever seen a Ma$e video from Bad Boy Records' hey-day, you're familiar with the shiny suit. There was one in nearly every Bad Boy video from the mid-'90s onward.

Songs like Will Smith's "Gettin' Jiggy With It," B.G.'s "Bling Bling" and Notorious B.I.G.'s "Mo Money Mo Problems" ushered in an era of commercialization as well as unprecedented financial success for the genre. In the South, Master P's No Limit Records and the younger Cash Money label were gaining popularity with artists like B.G., Juvenile and a literal juvenile, Lil' Wayne, who was not even 18 years old when he first appeared on a hit record.

"Pop-rap" is a term that gets tossed around a lot when describing this era, in which it seems like no rapper could put out a song without the current flavor-of-the-month R&B singer providing the hook. R&B artists like Ashanti, Jewell, Mary J. Blige and Total had regular side work as featured artists.

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EXAMPLES:

—Ma$e, "Feel So Good"

—B.G., "Bling Bling"

—O.C., "Far From Yours"

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This era also saw the rise of Eminem, who at first was regarded much the same as early hip-hop — a flash in the pan or a gimmick that people would tire of quickly.

That couldn't have been farther from the truth, as the Detroit native went on to become another protegé of Dr. Dre and become one of the best-selling rappers of all time. His movie "8 Mile" highlighted the phenomenon of live rap battle competitions.

In addition, Dre's Aftermath record label discovered and signed 50 Cent, who would go on to become another of the genre's best-selling artists.

Southern rappers — who have been making stronger and stronger waves since the '90s via artists like Outkast, Ludacris, Crucial Conflict, Nelly and others — begin to gain the same prominence as their coastal counterparts during this time period. Outkast came into their own as a truly creative duo with album like "ATLiens," "Aquemini" and "Speakerboxxx/The Love Below," a double-album that earned the 2003 Album of the Year Grammy Award.

"Crunk" music, a fusion of hip-hop, electro and electronic dance music that focused more on partying, rose to popularity through artists like Lil' Jon and the Ying Yang Twins. The music scene that spawned the Geto Boys also produced its own laid back sound, "chopped-and-screwed" beats that moved at a syrupy-slow pace.

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EXAMPLES:

—Lil' Jon & the East Side Boyz, "Get Low"

—Ying Yang Twins, "Salt Shaker"

—T.I., "24's"

—DJ Screw, "Inside Lookin' Out"

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This era also saw a massive decline in the number of samples used to create hip-hop beats, due mainly to the increased cost of licensing those samples. An album like the Beastie Boys' "Licensed to Ill," for example, had literally hundreds of samples and would have been financially impossible to create by the early 2000s.

The internet era

By the mid-2000s, Southern rap had overtaken both coasts as the dominant sound, and its vanguard was "snap rap" songs from artists like Soulja Boy Tell 'Em ("Crank Dat"), Dem Franchize Boys ("Lean Wit It, Rock Wit It") and D4L ("Laffy Taffy").

These songs were characterized by relatively simple TR-808 beats, heavy bass and a simplistic, easily repeatable hook.

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EXAMPLES:

—Soulja Boy Tell 'Em, "Crank That"

—Dem Franchize Boyz, "Lean Wit It, Rock Wit It"

—D4L, "Laffy Taffy"

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In his documentary "Hip-Hop: Beyond Beats and Rhymes," filmmaker Byron Hurt argues that this was the era in which the music changed from "clever rhymes and dance beats" to "advocating personal, social and criminal corruption."

Where '90s rappers undoubtedly rapped about the drug game, it largely came from a place of observation, or looking back. Jay-Z's debut album, "Reasonable Doubt," talked plenty about his days as a drug dealer. But you'd be hard-pressed to say he's glorifying it, as opposed to seeing it as his only route to escape poverty and life in a New York City project. But many an MC from the mid-2000s on rapped about drug dealing and violence as just another part of his lifestyle, as opposed to an unfortunate feature of his community.

But the entire genre was not fall into that description. Innovative artists like a young Kanye West, a young Drake, Lupe Fiasco, Somali-Canadian rapper K'Naan and Sri Lankan British artist M.I.A. were taking musical chances and offering sentiments outside of how much money they had and what kind of cars they drove.

This era also saw the rise in popularity of the Auto-Tune filter. While it was originally created to help smooth tiny vocal errors in recording sessions, artists like T-Pain found that if you cranked it all the way up, it would create a melodic-but-robotic vocal timbre which he rode all the way to the top of the charts.

Trap and mumble rap

While initially debuting in the '90s, "trap" rap ascended to the top of the genre in the late 2000s. While the average beat itself is considerably slower than most other hip-hop, its propulsion comes from rapid-fire hi-hats, layered synthesizers, hard-hitting bass and an overall dark tone.

Artists like Young Thug, Travis Scott, Migos, Kodak Black, Lil' Uzi Vert and others exemplify this genre.

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EXAMPLES:

—Kodak Black, "Super Gremlin"

—Young Thugs, Gunna & Travis Scott, "Hot"

—Lil' Uzi Vert, "XO Tour Llif3"

—Migos, "Bad and Boujee"

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The 2010s also brought the advent of mumble rap, MCs who slurred their way through verses and occasionally Auto-Tuned their vocals to the point where they could sometimes be difficult to understand.

This era also produced the "SoundCloud rapper," referring to artists who became popular not through traditional advertising and record labels, but rather through social media and music-hosting sites like Soundcloud.com. Mainstream acts who started on SoundCloud include Chance the Rapper, Post Malone, Lil' Xan, XXXTentacion, Lil Yachty and Playboi Carti.

Many of these rappers have never released a physical album, as this era also heralded the death of music stores in large part. With the comparatively low cost of digital distribution, many rappers began to eschew the traditional album release, opting to simply alert their millions of social-media followers when they put out new music, usually via streaming services.

And all of this is to make no mention of the international rap scene, which has grown right alongside its American counterpart. Today, there's a good argument to be made that hip-hop is the dominant genre in popular music. Its elements have shown up everywhere from pop to R&B to even modern country.

Patrick Varine is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Patrick by email at pvarine@triblive.com or via Twitter .