EDWARD'S LECTURE NOTES:
More notes at http://tanguay.info/learntracker
C O U R S E 
History of Rock, 1970-Present
John Covach, University of Rochester
https://www.coursera.org/course/historyofrock2
C O U R S E   L E C T U R E 
Late 1980s Hard Core Rap
Notes taken on January 19, 2017 by Edward Tanguay
1980s: rap music became CNN for black people
as it becomes a bigger commercial entity
began to offer many various kinds
one version of rap music was socially conscious rap
realistic communication of what urban life is really like for African American people
they didn't really didn't have a black news channel
had elements of good guys and bad guys as in other eras of Rock music
1950s
Elvis Presley was the bad guy, the guy mothers didn't want their daughters going out with
Pat Boone was the good guy
1960s
Beatles the good guys
Rolling Stones the bad guys
late 1980s
some rappers were likewise funny and relatively inoffensive
others were angrier
Gangsta Rap
Ice-T
Los Angeles
1988 "I'm Your Pusher"
more graphic and angry way
N.W.A.
created anger and controversy
1989 Straight Outta Compton
Easy-E
Dr. Dre
drew from Kool and the Gang, rather than rock samples
biggest album
1991 EFIL4ZAGGIN
Boogie Down Productions
South Bronx, New York
KRS-One
Criminal Minded (1987)
not a big commercial success
influential for portraying ghetto life in New York
Public Enemy
Chuck D
Flavor Flav
Long Island, not too far from the Bronx
1988: It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back
turning point for rap
raising of social conscience
interesting sampling
almost entirely electronic
1990: Fear of a Black Planet
"Fight the Power"
featured in Spike Lee's Do the Right Thing
Queen Latifah
1989: All Hail the Queen
"Ladies First"
Latifah made her mark in hip-hop by rapping about issues of black women
her songs covered topics including domestic violence, harassment on the streets, and relationship problems
raps about the pleasures of womanhood
she is out to prove that women can rap
in a style that many people would consider rap misogynist: objectified, demeaned
MTV and Rap
1988: Yo! MTV Raps
quickly becomes the most popular show on MTV
rap has very effectively crossed over
suburban kids are going off to their Target or K-Mart or wherever to buy up these albums which talk about world that their parents would never allow them to be a part of
a kind of voyeurism
controversy over rap
many rock musicians at the time really hated rap in the same way that they really hated disco a couple of years back
it wasn't about the performing artists
no guitars, no guitar solos
but actually remixing sounds had been being done since the 1960s
1980s: two scenes
Heavy Metal
increasing success through the 80s
rap
develops out of the New York scene
as an MTV show as well