The History of Emceeing
The word "emcee," sometimes also referred to as MC, comes from the traditional term "master of ceremonies." This is a person who controls the crowd at a certain event, leading them and keeping the ceremony organized. An emcee's role is to educate, inform and bring order to the event through verbal instructions. In modern terms, an emcee is also another term for the word "rapper" -- someone who performs by rhyming rhythmically to music. Emceeing or rapping is also considered an art. Its content is unlimited, ranging from intricate story-telling to simple and direct conversations.
Other People Are Reading
-
Emceeing and Hip-Hop
-
Emceeing is usually associated with hip-hop. It is a cultural movement that started in the 1970s in the Bronx, New York. Drawing from the influences of African, African American, Caribbean and Latino communities in the United States, hip-hop began as an independent, cultural form of expression. There are four fundamental elements to hip-hop: emceeing or rapping, graffiti, DJ-ing and break-dancing.
History and Early Figures
-
One of the early founders of emceeing and hip-hop was DJ Kool Herc from the Bronx. He was a Jamaican DJ who attempted to bring a new sound to parties by delivering lyrical prose over reggae and dub music. The immediate effect of this was an increase in the audience's interest and energy. Herc's steps were then followed by other popular DJs such as Grandmaster Caz, Grandmaster Flash and Afrika Bambaataa. Sometime around 1979, the term "rap" became the more popular term for emceeing.
It was also in 1979 when the first rap record was made by a group called King Tim III. This was followed by Sugarhill Gang's "Rapper's Delight," which went on to become the first known rap hit. It reached #36 on the Billboard Chart.
Rap caught on and became such a phenomenon that during the 1980s, music labels dedicated to rap music such as Def Jam started taking flight.
-
Emceeing in Today's Popular Music
-
Emceeing and rap music have since evolved and merged with other types of music. From its original roots of Caribbean music, the artful rhythmical rhyming has been combined with thunderous bass beats, punk music, metal rock and many others. Even the message has evolved over time. From the original words that were based on emceeing for parties, rap music lyrics have now incorporated radical politics as well as themes of drugs, sex and violence.
Negative Stigma
-
Emceeing and rap are considered by some to be the ultimate expressions of attitude in modern music and culture. Through the years, however, they have managed to provoke a lot of criticism through the bold choice of words that most emcees opt for. Rap has surpassed the outrage that has been attributed to rock 'n roll during the 1950s and punk in the 1970s. Rap's musical and lyrical content continues to raise abhorrence in many, but it still remains one of the most popular genres in music today.
Positive Social Impact
-
Due to its wide appeal, especially to the youth, emceeing has also become a tool for positive social interaction. Hip-hop has contributed to fashion, language, art, movies and television, business and almost every facet of American culture. It has also served to become a mainstream mechanism for African American culture. Hip-hop music has helped people, all over the world, transcend race through art.
-
