Rap & Hip-Hop was born in 1973 at 1520 Sedgwick Avenue
"Hip-hop music is generally considered to have been pioneered in New York's South Bronx in 1973 by Jamaican-born Kool DJ Herc. At a Halloween dance party thrown by his younger sister, Herc used an innovative turntable technique to stretch a song's drum break by playing the break portion of two identical records consecutively. The popularity of the extended break lent its name to 'breakdancing'--a style specific to hip-hop culture, which was facilitated by extended drumbreaks played by DJs at New York dance parties. By the mid-1970s, New York's hip-hop scene was dominated by seminal turntablists DJ Grandmaster Flash, Afrika Bambaataa, and Herc. The rappers of Sugarhill Gang produced hip-hop's first commercially successful hit, 'Rapper's Delight,' in 1979'.
Rap itself--the rhymes spoken over hip-hop music--began as a commentary on the ability--or 'skillz'--of a particular DJ while that DJ was playing records at a hip-hop event. MCs, the forerunners of today's rap artists, introduced DJs and their songs and often recognized the presence of friends in the audience at hip-hop performances. Their role was carved out by popular African-American radio disc jockeys in New York during the latel96Os, who introduced songs and artists with spontaneous rhymes. The innovation of MCs caught the attention of hip-hop fans. Their rhymes lapped over from the transition period between the end of one song and the introduction of the next to the songs themselves. Their commentaries moved solely from a DJ's skillz to their own personal experiences and stories. The role of MCs in performances rose steadily, and they began to be recognized as artists in their own right [2].
The local popularity of the rhythmic music served by DJs at dance parties and clubs, combined with an increase in 'b-boys'--breakdancers--and graffiti artists and the growing importance of MCs, created a distinctive culture known as hip-hop. For the most part, hip-hop culture was defined and embraced by young, urban, working-class African-Americans. Hip-hop music originated from a combination of traditionally African-American forms of music--including jazz, soul, gospel, and reggae. It was created by working-class African-Americans, who, like Herc, took advantage of available tools--vinyl records and turntables--to invent a new form of music that both expressed and shaped the culture of black New York City youth in the 1970s."
(Becky Blanchard, 1999)
2). Information on MCs drawn from the University of Maryland's "Mcing: The Past" and "MCing: The Present" in "A Brief History of Hip-Hop Culture"
CONTRIBUTOR
Simon PerkinsSHARE
Bartholomäus Traubeck: A record player that plays slices of wood
"A tree's year rings are analysed for their strength, thickness and rate of growth. This data serves as basis for a generative process that outputs piano music. It is mapped to a scale which is again defined by the overall appearance of the wood (ranging from dark to light and from strong texture to light texture). The foundation for the music is certainly found in the defined ruleset of programming and hardware setup, but the data acquired from every tree interprets this ruleset very differently."
(Bartholomäus Traubeck)
A record player that plays slices of wood. Year ring data is translated into music, 2011. Modified turntable, computer, vvvv, camera, acrylic glass, veneer, approx. 90x50x50 cm. Thanks to Land Salzburg, Schmiede, Pro–ject Audio, Rohol Furniere, Karla Spiluttini, Ivo Francx, Christoph Freidhöfer, vvvv.
CONTRIBUTOR
Anna TroisiSHARE
Anemic Cinema (1926) by Marcel Duchamp
"This characteristically dada film by Marcel Duchamp consists of a series of visual and verbal puns with nonsense phrases inscribed around rotating spiral patterns, creating an almost hypnotic effect. Silent.
Anemic Cinema (various versions were made in 1920, 1923 and, finally, in 1926). Essentially a film by Duchamp with help from Man Ray. Calvin Tomkins: 'Duchamp used the initial payment on his inheritance to make a film and to go into the art business. The film, shot in Man Ray's studio with the help of cinematographer Marc Allégret, was a seven–minute animation of nine punning phrases by Rrose Sélavy. These had been pasted, letter by letter, in a spiral pattern on round black discs that were then glued to phonograph records; the slowly revolving texts alternate with shots of Duchamp's Discs Bearing Spirals, ten abstract designs whose turning makes them appear to move backward and forward in an erotic rhythm. The little film, which Duchamp called Anemic Cinema, had its premiere that August at a private screening room in Paris.'"
(UbuWeb)
Marcel Duchamp (1926). "Anémic Cinéma", 7 minutes, B&W.
CONTRIBUTOR
Simon PerkinsSHARE
Tape Art
"Watch what happened when Foot Locker and Converse invited a collective of street artists to create tape art installations inspired by the new Converse winter collection created for Foot Locker."
(Uploaded by footlocker on 15 Nov 2010)
CONTRIBUTOR
Kay Van BellenSHARE
Adam Yauch of The Beastie Boys Dies at 47
"It is with great sadness that we confirm that musician, rapper, activist and director Adam 'MCA' Yauch, founding member of Beastie Boys and also of the Milarepa Foundation that produced the Tibetan Freedom Concert benefits, and film production and distribution company Oscilloscope Laboratories, passed away in his native New York City this morning after a near–three–year battle with cancer. He was 47 years old."
(Beastie Boys)
Fig.1 Music video by The Beastie Boys performing "Gratitude". (C) 2009 Capitol Records, LLC [recorded in 1992 in Rotorua, Aotearoa New Zealand].
CONTRIBUTOR
Simon PerkinsSHARE
