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Influences
The Stretch Armstrong and Bobbito Show on WKCR
Robert "Bobbito" Garcia (born September 25, 1966 in New York City), also known as DJ Cucumberslice and formerly known as Bobbito The Barber, Make It Happen, Boogie Bob, Kool Bob Love, Soul Food Bob, and Bag of Tricks is a Puerto Rican streetball player, DJ, writer and member of the Rock Steady Crew. He graduated from Lower Merion High School.
Fondle ‘Em Records was a record label based in New York City, New York. It was founded and owned by Robert “Bobbito” Garcia
From 1990 to 1998 he co-hosted The Stretch Armstrong and Bobbito Show on WKCR. It featured demos and in-studio freestyles from many then-unsigned artists such as Nas, Jay Z, Big Pun, Wu-Tang and Mobb Deep who later found great success on major record labels. Bobbito set up Fondle 'Em Records in 1995 as an outlet for other guests such as MF DOOM, Kool Keith and Cage. In 1998 The Source named The Stretch Armstrong and Bobbito Show "Best Hip Hop Radio Show of All Time".
In 2003 Bobbito created BOUNCE NYC: From the Playground, a quarterly magazine devoted to streetball, especially the playground scene in NYC. He has been an editor, writer, and photographer for the magazine, and has also done work and been featured in magazines like Vibe magazine and The Source. He is the author of Where’d You Get Those? New York City’s Sneaker Culture 1960-1987 and has hosted a show on ESPN called It's The Shoes, where he interviewed celebrities about their sneaker collection.
He performed the announcer's voice in the video games NBA Street Vol. 2 and NBA Street V3.
In 2006, Madison Square Garden Network (MSG-TV) hired Bobbito to do the "Hot Minute At The Half" reports with celebrities in the crowd during Knicks home games. He became the first Latino broadcast member in the 60-year history of the franchise.
In 2007, Bobbito worked with Nike on limited edition Nike Air Force 1 and Air Force 25 models featuring a logo and colors/fabrics that he selected.
Underground Rap falls into two categories. It is either hardcore hip-hop that pushes musical boundaries and has lyrics that are more inventive than gangsta clichés, or it is hardcore gangsta rap that wallows in all of the musical and lyrical cliches of the genre.
What the two styles have in common is that they have little regard for mainstream conventions, and they celebrate their independent status. Underground rap also tends to be produced for less than hip-hop on major labels, and it often sounds like it.
Sounds Like
Hip hop music is a style of popular music. It is usually composed of two elements: rapping (also known as emceeing) and DJing. When combined with breakdancing and graffiti art, these are the four components of hip hop, a cultural movement which began in New York City in the 1970s, predominantly by African Americans and Latinos. The term rap is sometimes used synonymously with hip hop music, though it is also used to refer specifically to the practice of rapping, which is just one component of hip hop.
Typically, hip hop music consists of one or more rappers who chant semi-autobiographic tales, often relating to a fictionalized counterpart, in an intensely rhythmic lyrical form, making abundant use of techniques like assonance, alliteration, and rhyme. Though rap may be performed a capella, it is more common for the rapper's to be accompanied by a DJ or a live band providing an appropriate beat. This beat is often from the percussion of a different song, usually rock, funk, or soul, and is sometimes sampled. In addition to the beat, other sounds are often sampled, synthesized, or performed. Though rap is usually an integral component of hip hop music, instrumental and non-rap Electro acts such as Planet Patrol are also defined as hip hop music groups.
Hip hop arose in New York City when DJs began isolating the percussion break from funk or disco songs. The role of the emcee (MC) arose to introduce the DJ and the music, and to keep the audience excited. The MCs began by speaking between songs, giving exhortations to dance, greetings to audience members, jokes and anecdotes. Eventually, this practice came to be more stylized, and was known as rapping. By 1979, hip hop had become a commercially recorded music genre, and began to enter the American mainstream. It also began its spread across the world. In the 1990s, a form called gangsta rap became a major part of American music, causing significant controversy over lyrics which were perceived as promoting violence, promiscuity, drug use and misogyny. Nevertheless, by the beginning of the 2000s, hip hop was a staple of popular music charts and was being performed in many styles across the world.
Alternative hip hop or Underground hip hop is defined as a culture rather than just a musical genre. Underground hip hop includes the arts of turntablism, sampling, producing, breakdancing, visual art, graffiti, spoken word, beatboxing, freestyling, cyphering, and more. The music itself is distinguished by artists who are not promoted by major record labels, often because of their experimental musicianship and lyrical content. Many underground artists are also using hip hop to successfully communicate issues of social justice, global and political change, and collective consciousness. Underground hip hop beats are often characterized by the fusion of loops sampled from all genres of music, including classical, jazz, funk, rock, and punk. Although some listeners may associate live instrumentation with alternative hip hop, this distinction is invalid because mainstream rap acts such as J-Kwon use live instruments as well. Underground hip hop artists generally do not achieve the same level of financial success that commercial rappers achieve, although their work is often critically acclaimed.
Artists labeled as "alternative hip hop" musicians usually record and perform in styles that are more closely related to the original concepts and styles of hip hop music and hip hop culture, as opposed to their more popular commercial counterparts. DJ Kool Herc once said in an essay about hip hop, that "it's not about keeping it real. It's about keeping it right." In this sense, many would argue that alternative hip hop might not be so much an alternative as much as it is a continuation of the original concepts and ideals of hip hop.
The late 1980s
Alternative hip hop is usually said to have begun with De La Soul's landmark 3 Feet High and Rising (1989, see 1989 in music). The trio's distinctive style, mixing unique sampling sources (such as The Turtles, Steely Dan, and Johnny Cash) with spacey, hippie-ish lyrics and a sense of humor, made the album a commercial and critical success. With its inclusion of pre-recorded bits from outlandish sources, such as a French language instruction tape, the release foreshadowed the self-referential sampling kaleidoscope that would soon envelop hip hop (and pop music in general).
In addition to 3 Feet High and Rising, influential singles were released one year previously, in 1988 (see 1988 in music), by Gang Starr ("Words I Manifest") and Stetsasonic ("Talkin' All That Jazz"); these two singles fused hip hop with jazz in a way never done before, and helped lead to the development of jazz rap.
1989 also saw the release of:
Def Jef's landmark Just a Poet With a Soul, which included Etta James, an influential 1960s soul singer on one track
Gang Starr's debut, No More Mr. Nice Guy, which is often considered the first LP to mix hip hop and jazz
Jungle Brothers' critically acclaimed second album Done By the Forces of Nature, which included dance beats and achieved some mainstream success
Queen Latifah's feminist tract All Hail the Queen.
Early 1990s
During the early 1990s, mainstream hip hop was dominated by the West Coast G-Funk (like Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dogg). Other artists found success difficult to achieve, though some East Coast acts, such as Puff Daddy's empire of East Coast hip hop artists (Bad Boy Records) gained chart success (Mary J. Blige's 1992 What's the 411?) as well as critical success (Nas's 1994 Illmatic), though rarely both at the same time.
The underground emerges
While gangsta rap dominated the charts, the East Coast alternative sound began to lose its luster. Strangely enough, underground hip hop, as we know it today, was born on the college campus. Furthermore, the DIY ethic of selling tapes and CDs "out of the trunk" to record stores and directly to fans would soon be adopted by the underground rappers around the world.
Spurred by the Freestyle Fellowship, other West Coast artists like The Pharcyde (Bizarre Ride II the Pharcyde, 1992) and the Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy (Hypocrisy Is the Greatest Luxury, 1992) also rose to prominence in the field. Despite the popularity of Bay Area Booty Rapper Too Short, Oakland gave birth to underground artists Del tha Funkee Homosapien (cousin to Gangsta Rapper Ice Cube) and Souls of Mischief with their seminal album ("93 'til Infinity"). Alongside these West Coast groups were generally more popular East Coast groups like A Tribe Called Quest (People's Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm, 1990) and Gang Starr (Step in the Arena, 1991). International groups, like Britain's The Brand New Heavies (Heavy Rhyme Experience, Vol. 1, 1992) and Massive Attack (Blue Lines, 1991) helped combine hip hop with R&B and electronica, respectively.
A Tribe Called Quest's 1991 album The Low-End Theory is regarded as one of the most influential recordings in alternative hip hop, especially with its timely indictment of the perceived commercializing and demoralizing effects of the music industry, then tearing hip hop apart into multiple competing genres, all rushing to sell out for mainstream success; the album also tackles subjects like date rape and rap feuds. The Low End Theory includes the legendary upright bassist Ron Carter and the Leaders of the New School (which included future superstar Busta Rhymes).
While A Tribe Called Quest and De La Soul are considered jazz-rappers, the pioneer of an actual fusion between the two genres is unquestionably referential to the Last Poets, Gil Scott-Heron, and James Brown among others. Their collaborations with live jazz bands, including the likes of Horace Tapscott, date back to 1990. This inspired other artist s like Guru, whose 1993 Jazzmatazz, Vol. 1 was a critically acclaimed solo debut with live jazz backing. A jazz band including Lonnie Liston Smith, Roy Ayers, Branford Marsalis and Donald Byrd solos in the background while Guru (and guests like the Senegalese-French MC Solaar) raps.
Stubbornly insisting on sticking to their themes and ideas, alternative hip hop artists were able to incorporate elements of virtually every form of music around at the time.
Meanwhile, Christian hip hop group and pioneering Southern rap crew Arrested Development scored big with 1992's 3 Years, 5 Months and 2 Days in the Life of..., which put Southern hip hop on the map. The album was particularly successful with non-hip hop fans, listeners who were turned off by the macho posturing of many other groups, and who wanted a safer alternative. Arrested Development's focus on peace and love and groovy beats made them relatively accessible, though their devout Christianity (reflected in the lyrics) also made them unattractive to some audiences.
Genres related to alternative hip hop
Alternative hip hop generally refers to a specific style of hip hop that is opposed to the mainstream sounds of pop rap. However, certain other hip hop fusion genres are closely related to this genre, including a mixture of 1970s-style soul music and hip hop called neo soul.
Neo soul
Hip hop also influenced R&B music in the 1990s. By the time hip hop began to enter the mainstream, R&B was rapidly losing its most legendary artists. While Michael Jackson, Prince, Tina Turner and Whitney Houston remained popular, the genre was seen as stunted and atrophied. Soon after, hip hop began to dominate what mainstream audiences thought of as African-American music with the release of Dr. Dre's blockbuster The Chronic. R&B became less popular among mainstream audiences, and several of the groups achieving commercial success mostly failing to find critical acclaim. The groups that did succeed incorporated hip hop beats and doo wop influences; these include Guy (The Future, 1990) and Boyz II Men (Cooleyhighharmony, 1991). Mary J. Blige's What's the 411? from 1992 was especially innovative, and lead to a style of R&B called hip hop soul that was popular during the early to mid 1990s.
During the mid- to late '90s, the hip hop soul sound was blended with a retro 1970s soul music feel, resulting in a new genre called neo soul. Widely regarded as a pioneer of the genre, D'Angelo's 1995 Brown Sugar was profoundly influential in its development, while a group of female artists like Erykah Badu (Baduizm) began its popularization soon after. Around and immediately after the turn of the decade, a second wave of female artists moved neo soul into the mainstream, especially Alicia Keys' Songs in A Minor (2001), as well as india.arie's Acoustic Soul (2001) and Jill Scott's Who Is Jill Scott?: Words and Sounds, Vol. 1 (2000). Critical reviews were mixed, with many listeners feeling that neo soul had lost its pioneering edge for middle-class shallow idealism.
The end of the 1990s
In spite of neo soul gaining mainstream acceptance, gangsta hip hop artists like Jay-Z (Reasonable Doubt, 1996) and DMX (...And Then There Was X, 1999) still dominated the charts as the end of the millennium neared. Critics and listeners regarded alternative hip hop as going through a lull.
Many observers feel that Dr. Octagon's seminal 1996 album Dr. Octagonecologyst revitalized hip hop's underground; Company Flow's Funcrusher Plus is another album cited as redefining the genre. Del tha Funkee Homosapien paired with Kool Keith's (aka Dr. Octagon) producer Dan the Automator to make Deltron 3030, who pushed the boundaries of hip hop to other universes and times.
Alternative hip hop soon began to lose its recent stylings for a return to Native Tongues-style old school with hardcore and jazz elements mixed in. The hip hop band, The Roots were among the leaders of the second alternative hip hop wave, dropping several critically acclaimed albums in the mid to late '90s, including Do You Want More?!!!??! (1995), Illadelph Halflife (1996), and the breakthrough, Things Fall Apart in 1999. On the West Coast, Ozomatli's self titled 1998 release fused latin and funky beats with hip hop in a groundbreaking way.
Mos Def and Talib Kweli's 1998 Black Star also contributed greatly to this evolution, with its return to Native Tongues-style old school hip hop. Mos Def's solo debut, Black on Both Sides (1999), quickly established him as a darling of alternative media for its incendiary politics, while Kweli's solo career took some time to get off the ground; as he didn't appear until 2000's Reflection Eternal, with partner Hi-Tek. Pharaohe Monch's Internal Affairs, his 1999 solo debut after leaving Organized Konfusion, also added more gangsta and hardcore hip hop elements to the mix.
Following in the footsteps of the Freestyle Fellowship were Jurassic 5 (Jurassic 5 EP) and Dilated Peoples (The Platform), who continued mixing funk and hip hop music to critical acclaim and popular rejection. The Bay area gave birth to highly experimental artists like Blackalicious with Nia, Zion I with "Mind Over Matter" as well as Lyrics Born, Lateef the Truth Speaker, and the Hieroglyphics Crew.
This period was also the high point for Hip Hop's DJ scene. The Invisibl Skratch Piklz and artists such as Cut Chemist, Dan the Automator, DJ Shadow, Mix Master Mike, DJ Qbert, and many others put a lasting stamp on turntablism and its emerging genre.
Post-2000 alternative hip hop
After the turn of the millennium, as the United States (still by far the world capital of hip hop) found itself confronted by the War on Terror, lyrics grew increasingly anti-mainstream, with some advocating radical actions on the behalf of various anarchist and socialist ideas. The cover for the album Party Music (2001) by the openly marxist band, The Coup, proved controversial after the September 11, 2001 attacks due to its depiction of the duo holding a stick of dynamite and a detonator, ready to blow up the World Trade Center (though the band itself had been well known in alternative hip hop circles since the early 1990s); other groups like dead prez (Let's Get Free, 2000), Mr. Lif with his EP, Emergency Rations, and Emcee Lynx (The Black Dog EP, 2003, and The UnAmerican LP, 2004) similarly raised controversy with militant and confrontational lyrics.
In 2001 and 2002, several popular albums were released. These included:
AWOL One & Daddy Kev - Souldoubt
Blackalicious - Blazing Arrow Rapidshare Download
Busdriver - Temporary Forever Megaupload Download
Common - Electric Circus Megaupload Download
The Coup - Steal This Double Album
Daddy Kev - Lost Angels EP
Hi-Tek - Hi-Teknology
Jurassic 5 - Power in Numbers Rapidshare Download
Living Legends - Almost Famous
The Roots - Phrenology
Talib Kweli - Quality Megaupload Download
Aesop Rock - Labor Days
Mr. Lif - I Phantom
Though most of these bands could be considered "political hip hop" for their lyrical focus, the early 2000s also saw futuristic or apocalyptic rappers like Cannibal Ox, El-P, Del Tha Funkee Homosapien, Prahfitz Ov Inzaniti, and Aesop Rock.
In the new millennium a new "sub-genre" arose from the West Coast, spearheaded by underground rap producer Daddy Kev (famed for his work with the Freestyle Fellowship). With artists like Busdriver, AWOL One, The Shape Shifters, cLOUDDEAD, and Themselves, the music became known as abstract hip hop (aka avant-hop, prog-hop or indie-hop). These MCs and DJs blend their rhymes and beats with an electronica, post-rock or indie crossover. Additionally, artists such as the Bay Area's Zion I have incorporated Trip Hop sounds while continuing to identify their music as underground hip hop. The band Posse of Two uses new wave synths in their music while continuing to identify their music as underground hip hop.
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