On Apr 1, 2006, at 3:19 AM, Robert C L Watson wrote:
"Rap's origins stretch far back to African oral tradition; it has a
more immediate predecessor in the spoken-word expressionism of 60s
activists like the Last Poets, or LeRoi Jones (later known as Amiri
Baraka), who performed activist poetry over the New York Art
Ensemble's free jazz. But it was in the early 70s, in New York's
inner-city neighborhoods in the Bronx and Brooklyn, that mcs began
rapping spoken rhymes about street life to the beat of dj-manipulated
drum machines and turntables. Break dancers and graffiti artists
provided a dramatic and colorful visual style to accompany the beats
and narratives, and a subculture was born. In 1979, rap had its first
hit single in Sugarhill Gang's "Rapper's Delight,"..."
And WS Gilbert and Noel Coward were influenced by that?
I never meant to imply that one thread is influenced by the other. I'm
just saying that if rap is broadly defined as the general art of
rhythmic recitation of verse -- which I think is a reasonable
definition -- then there has been plenty of rap throughout history
besides the current movement.
I don't think Schubert was influenced by Irish bards either, but I
think it's reasonable to label either of them as "song".
mdl
P.S. For what it's worth, Gershwin probably *was* influenced by the
African oral tradition (indirectly, through the Gullah) when he wrote
the short rap number for Maria in Porgy and Bess.
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