I watched the Netflix original "Hip-Hop Evolution." It's a documentary mini-series that explores the history of hip-hop through interviews with many of the pioneers of hip-hop, extending to contemporary artists. The first episode focused on the foundation of hip-hop in the Bronx in the 70's. The first episode mainly follows how parties with funk and soul records became DJ's learning how to mix records and isolate specific break beats, which lead to break dancing. Then, DJ's started having people accompany them to interact with the crowd. The people interacting with the crowd started saying things rhythmically with the beat which became rapping. The style was born out of types of gospel and radio DJ's that would rhyme rhythmically while introducing songs. Rapping and the style was also credited to people like Issac Hayes and Barry White, who would talk over the music. One of the last things the first episode discussed was Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five being the first group to tour and start playing bigger venues. I believe the final topic in the first episode was how much rapping evolved through battling and how much innovation came from competing.
The second episode focused on hip-hop starting to cross into the mainstream in the eighties. A big topic in the second episode was The Sugarhill Gang releasing the first hip-hop album and the resentment from the underground that had been around for years. The album went platinum and The Sugarhill Gang started playing all over the world. Artists in the Bronx began to feel like hip-hop was getting played out and started to go to Manhattan and playing punk clubs. They found that the punk kids really liked hip-hop and Russell Simmons credited punks as being a group of people that help kept hip-hop around in the early days. Simmons met and punk kid named Rick Rubin and started Def Jam, one of the most influential hip-hop labels ever. Def Jam produced Run-D.M.C., Jazzy Jay, LL Cool Jay, and The Beastie Boys. One of the biggest events in really putting hip-hop into the mainstream was the collaboration of Run-D.M.C. and Aerosmith on "Walk This Way."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4jNyr6BJZuI
Run-D.M.C. and Aerosmith "Walk This Way"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4B_UYYPb-Gk
Tupac: "Hail Mary"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nkJA6SYwa94
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