1. Hip-Hop In NYC
How immigrant and descendant-of-immigrant Hip-Hop Artists
connected and interacted with the City That Never Sleeps
2. History of Hip-Hop
Originated late 1970’s in the
South Bronx
Has its roots in the Jamaican
tradition of toasting—stream
of consciousness, boastful
poetry and speech over music
(DJ KoolHerc)
Originators include DJ
KoolHerc, AfrikaBambaataa, M
elle Mel, etc.
3. East Coast Hip-Hop
The original form of hip-hop
As opposed to old school and
west coast hip-hop, east coast
hip-hop has a strong emphasis
on lyrical creativity and
dexterity, multi-syllabic rhymes
and complex metaphors
Also a strong emphasis on social
consciousness and
empowerment, as opposed to the
laid-back attitude of old-school
rap and the gangbanger mafioso
rap of the west coast
4. Nas
born Nasir bin OluDara Jones
on September 14th, 1973.
became steeped in African
culture through both his
father, a famous African Jazz
musician and self instruction
from FivePercenter
lessons, Quran scriptures and
the Bible.
Grew up in the Queensbridge
projects in Queens, one of the
original hotbeds of rap.
5. “New York State of Mind” by
Nas, selected lyrics
“Crews without guns are goners/In broad daylight, stickup
kids, they run up on us”
“I never sleep, cause sleep is the cousin of death”
“Be having dreams that I’m a gangster—drinking
Moets, holding Tecs/ Making sure the cash came correct
then I stepped”
“The city never sleeps, full of villains and creeps/ That’s
where I learned to do my hustle had to scuffle with freaks”
6. “New York State of Mind” by
Nas, lyric interpretation
Grew up in an area where crime was an everyday part of life
Nas uses braggadocio to depict the mindset he needed to be able to
survive and thrive in this atmosphere
NYC is known as the city that never sleeps, which is supposed to be an
endearing way to describe the vibrant nightlife and general thrum of
the city. However, Nas flips this to say that he never sleeps because
sleeping is a cousin of death, in other words sleeping is just another
way to fall behind in the rat race that is living in an impoverished area.
With his rhyme about dreaming about being a gangster, Nas describes
the new American Dream for the impoverished immigrant culture in
the NYC hip-hop culture: not getting out of the struggle, but becoming
rich and more powerful in the same paradigm.
7. Grandmaster Flash
Born Joseph Saddler on January
1st, 1958.
Originally from Barbados, grew
up in the South Bronx, one of
the early strongholds of Hip-
Hop along with Queensbridge.
Also an area large in crime.
One of the pioneers of the art
of DJ’ing.
8. “The Message” by Grandmaster
Flash and the Furious Five,
selected lyrics
“I can’t take the smell, I can’t take the noise no more/ Got
no money to move out, I guess I got no choice”
“She went to the city and got social security/ She had to get
a pimp, she couldn’t make it on her own”
“You’ll admire all the number book takers/
Thugs, pimps, pushers and the big money makers/ Driving
big cars, spending twenties and tens/ And you want to
grow up to be just like them”
9. “The Message” by Grandmaster
Flash lyric interpretations
“The Message” is a grim portrayal of the inner-city life, as depicted by one
of the earliest and most important names in Hip-Hop.
Flash describes how much you can be grinded down by the constant
reminders of desolation and depravity in the inner city, and remarks on the
fact that there is no way out for the people.
Flash sympathizes with the inhabitants of the inner city, describing how
the kids become drawn to the powerful figures in their
neighborhoods, who more often than not are involved in illegal trades.
Essentially, the ghetto becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy for the young
children of poor immigrants in the inner city.
Similarly to Nas, Flash evokes the new American Dream of getting out of
the struggle by becoming a powerful gangster, although Flash also sees that
this only enables the system in an endless circle.
10. Notorious B.I.G.
born Christopher George Latore
Wallace on May 5th, 1972.
Of Jamaican descent (both
parents), grew up in the Clinton
Hill area of Brooklyn.
Universally held as one of the
greatest rappers of all
time, renewed East Coast/NYC
rap scene at a time when the
West Coast was dominating the
mainstream.
11. “Juicy” by Notorious
B.I.G., selected lyrics
“Born sinner, the opposite of a winner/ I remember when I
used to eat sardines for dinner”
“I made the change from a common thief/ To up close and
personal with Robin Leach”
“We used to fuss when the landlord dissed us/ No
heat, wondering why Christmas missed us”
12. “Juicy” by Notorious B.I.G., lyric
interpretation
This song is a personal declaration of triumph for Notorious
B.I.G., the child of Jamaican immigrants. It depicts his struggles
growing up in a poor and crime-ridden section of Brooklyn; how
he worked his way up and made it out of the struggle that traps
so many.
Biggie reminisces on eating sardines, having no heat in his small
apartment, and transitioning his life from being a common
criminal to someone admirable. He wrote this song with the
hopes that its depiction of his triumphs would inspire others
from his situation to rise above and make something of their
lives.
13. Conclusion
From all three artists, we see how rough it was growing up
in the poor, crime-ridden immigrant culture of NYC during
the beginnings of Hip-Hop.
Through their revolutionary music, they were able to
depict their interactions with the city on a scale such that it
resonated with generations upon generations of kids and
even adults in the same situation as they were.