Alternative, Underground

Alternative hip hop or Underground hip hop is defined as a culture that stems from a distinct musical genre, rather than just the musical genre itself. more...

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Underground hip hop includes the arts of specific forms of emceeing (forms that include consciencious lyrics, story-telling of an intricate nature and battling), turntablism, sampling, producing, breakdancing, visual art, graffiti, spoken word, beatboxing, freestyling, and more. The music itself is distinguished by artists who are not promoted by major record labels, often because of their experimental musicianship and lyrical content. Many underground artists use hip hop to successfully communicate issues of social justice, global and political change and collective consciousness. Underground hip hop beats are often characterized by a fusion of loops sampled from all genres of music, including classical, jazz, funk, rock, and punk. Although some listeners may associate live instrumentation with alternative hip hop, this distinction is invalid because mainstream rap acts such as Ebony Eyez use live instruments as well. Underground hip hop artists generally do not achieve the same level of financial success that commercial rappers achieve, although their work is often critically acclaimed.

Artists labeled as "alternative hip hop" musicians usually record and perform in styles that are more closely related to the original concepts and styles of hip hop music and hip hop culture, as opposed to their more popular commercial counterparts. DJ Kool Herc once said in an essay about hip hop, that "it's not about keeping it real. It's about keeping it right." In this sense, many would argue that alternative hip hop might not be so much an alternative as much as it is a continuation of the original concepts and ideals of hip hop.

The late 1980s

Alternative hip hop is usually said to have begun with De La Soul's landmark 3 Feet High and Rising (1989, see 1989 in music). The trio's distinctive style, mixing unique sampling sources (such as The Turtles, Steely Dan, and Johnny Cash) with spacey, hippie-ish lyrics and a sense of humor, made the album a commercial and critical success. With its inclusion of pre-recorded bits from outlandish sources, such as a French language instruction tape, the release foreshadowed the self-referential sampling kaleidoscope that would soon envelop hip hop (and pop music in general).

In addition to 3 Feet High and Rising, influential singles were released one year previously, in 1988 (see 1988 in music), by Gang Starr ("Words I Manifest") and Stetsasonic ("Talkin' All That Jazz"); these two singles fused hip hop with jazz in a way never done before, and helped lead to the development of jazz rap.

1989 also saw the release of:

Def Jef's landmark Just a Poet With a Soul, which included Etta James, an influential 1960s soul singer on one track; Gang Starr's debut, No More Mr. Nice Guy, which is often considered the first LP to mix hip hop and jazz; Jungle Brothers' critically acclaimed second album Done By the Forces of Nature, which included dance beats and achieved some mainstream success; Queen Latifah's feminist tract All Hail the Queen.;

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