Rap Music Analysis

ACTIVE READING QUIZ #6
What’s That Sound? (pgs. 437-468)

Please answer the following questions in paragraph/essay form. In order to answer these questions fully, feel free to use your textbook. Your answers should be your own words, however: no direct quotes will be allowed (without proper citations). Also, do not work with others on this quiz—again, your work is expected to be wholly your own.

1. Discuss the development of heavy metal through the return-to-rock movement taking place in northern England and Los Angeles.
How did Ozzy Osbourne, Black Sabbath, and Van Halen impact this new metal trend?
Heavy metal was formed from the harder and more aggressive parts of rock music in the 1960s and 1970s. Ozzy Osbourne, Black Sabbath, and

Van Halen impacted the new metal trend by defining their own kind of heavy metal music. Ozzy Osbourne was a part of Black Sabbath before he decided to become a solo artist, he still made heavy metal music as a solo artist. Black Sabbath was one of the earliest types of heavy metal. Their music involved dark themes and long guitar solos. Black Sabbath became the basis for later heavy metal artists. Van Halen worked their way up to becoming a well known heavy metal artist.
2. How did Bon Jovi and Guns N’ Roses help heavy metal break into the mainstream in the mid-1980s?
How did Metallica take metal into a more ambitious direction later in the decade?
Bon Jovi and Guns N’ Roses were both American based heavy metal bands. Bon Jovi was well known for more of a pop based music rather than heavy metal. Their music being more of pop music rather than heavy metal later in their career. This change in Bon Jovi’s music helped the band to still be successful and survive the end of metal music. Guns N’ Roses based their music more of the sleazy side of life in Los Angeles which is where Guns N’ Roses was based. They sang about drugs, alcohol abuse, and urban chaos. These two bands help heavy metal break into mainstream music because their music was not only heavy metal, their music was either rock or pop mixed with metal music. Metallica started using a form of metal music known as speed metal. This type of metal refers to fast tempos and guitar passages featured in the music of a growing part of metal bands.
3. Describe—in detail—the emergence of rap music and its connection to the larger hip-hop culture.
What was the role of the MC in early rap music?
Rap was originally started in New York’s African American and their Latino communities around the 1970s.

In the musical aspect rap was a part of a larger hip hop culture, this was along with graffiti, street dance styles, and trends in fashion. The beginnings of rap music are better understood within urban art and dancing. MC IS A “Master of Ceremonies” were carried by the Jamaican DJs to comment on the music and to encourage partygoers. During the beginning of this trend developed into rappers.
4. What was the first hip-hop single? Who recorded it?
The first hip-hop single that was released in 1979 was called “Rappers Delight”. Sugar Hill Gang was credited with recording this song and the record company that released this song was Sugar Hill Records.
5. Explain the musical and cultural significance of Run-DMC and Aerosmith’s famous “Walk This Way” collaboration.
The collaboration between Run-DMC and Aerosmith with the song “Walk This Way” had musical and cultural significance within the collaboration. The musical and cultural significance was that Run-DMC had new listeners that were white that would have never listened to their music if they had not collaborated with Aerosmith, so they gained more fans with their music, this collaboration also introduced rap music into the pop music mainstream.
6. Why did rap groups such as Public Enemy and N.W.A. become more political, challenging the status quo and reflecting on the problems of urban

life?
These two groups both challenged the status quo by writing and singing songs about black power movement and being targeted by the police and that all of the people that have power over the citizens are against them. The songs also talked about real life problems and that their problems should not be ignored.
7. What kinds of criticism did the public have regarding rap in the 1980s?
The public did not particularly care for rap for many reasons. The two main problems that many people had with rap was that rap had a very colorful vocabulary and that the messages that rap was sending was very negative. Many parents did not want their children to listen to this music because of these two specific reasons. This is what started the parental warning stickers being put on albums.
8. Discuss three regional centers for hardcore in the US in the late 1980s.
How did each impact the hardcore movement, and what bands were most prominent in each region?
The three regional centers for hardcore punk was Los Angeles, D.C., and Twin cities.

Los Angeles was mostly involving the youth and their discontentment of the hardcore scene. Many bands that were prominent in Los Angeles was Fear X, the Germs, the Circle jerks, and black flag. D.C. became the center of one of the intense hardcore scene, this was helped with the bands Bad Brains, Teen Idles, and Minor Threat. Twin Cities had its own Minnesota based type of hardcore started in the 1970s and went away from the aggressive rants in favor of a calmer foundation this city was different from the other cities. The bands most prominent was the Replacement and Husker

Du.
9. Explain the importance of college rock radio in developing a national indie rock scene.
Discuss 4 different approaches to this “underground” movement, and include at least one band from each.
The college rock scene focused on the lack of being affiliated with a major record label and corporation. The four different approaches to the underground movement was College Rock Underground, Massachusetts Indie, No Wave Know How, and UK Indie. College Rock Underground most known band during this time was R.E.M., Massachusetts Indie had one main band during this time called Dinosaur Jr. and the Pixies, No Wave Know How’s main band was called Sonic Youth, and The UK Indie’s main band was The Smiths and the Cure. R.E.M.