The Evolutin of Hip Hop

It began with Run-DMC, grew with Biggie and Pac, is maintained by the Kanye’s, Ems and Weezies and now being evolved by the Kid Cuddi’s, Tinnie Tempahs and the Dizzee Rascals. Evolution is an obvious overstatement but hip-hop has now integrated a new, more upbeat category into it. I’m referring to the ability of the music to adapt to pop and dance music and maybe creating a new genre within hip-hop. More and more of the older or more experienced rappers are trying to squeeze themselves into this catagory but with little success. To Kid Cuddi and Tinie Temper this is more natural and so it works better for them.

Most commonly known as Hip-Pop, referred by me as Circus Swagg, the music uses pop/dance beats and usually use Auto-tune, Delay and Vocoder effects to enhance the vocals. Everyone’s got his own style but these are the contributors to the genre.

1.       T – Pain : The man who popularized the auto-tune and made it ok for rappers to sing. Nowadays you don’t even have to sing to use auto-tune, it’s used over rap verses and also on the beat’s instruments.

2.       Lil Wayne: He might’ve been without a career without auto-tune, but he took this software and made it catapult his career. Think of your 5 favourite international artists in every urban category… they’ve all featured Lil Wayne because of his ability to adapt to almost every genre including rock.

3.       Flo Rida: I’m gonna start by saying I really hate this guys music, but fact is it’s successful and he also uses this hip-pop formula for his music. He adds another factor here by using pop singers to sing his chorus which contributes to his millions of downloads and a stable career. B.B.M has also started copying this style which leaves much to be desired.

4.       Dizzee Rascal: Ever since he switched his style he has certainly received more attention. More radio airplay, more features and more awards including the recent MTV award he won over HHP. Dizzie fuses disco, pop and dance with his music and creates weird but vibey hip-hop to feed his ever growing fans.

5.       Tinnie Tempah: The new Kid on the block taking the world by storm. After his hit single “Pass Out” he has been featured by pop groups in Europe and even features Snoop Dog on his “Pass out” remix. My current favourite artist, Tinie Tempah simply records HOT verses on pop beats.

6.       Jay R: That’s right, our very own JR has also used the formula. Using local dance music as the beat to his raps. “Make the circle beeega” aswell as “The tequila song” both have these elements in them.  

7.Far East Movement: An Asian American rap group who rap over dance beats. The success of their “Fly like a G6” shows how much this movement is taking over.

There are many more artists, including myself, who are getting into this spaceship to create “out of this world” music. It’s the new trend and I say come join the Swagga Circus (imagine that with auto-tune).

The Tiger Himself follow The Tiger on twitter @Flue_id