You can find hip-hop（嘻哈音乐）everywhere you go. Countries like France, Brazil and even Japan have their own hip-hop culture.
Many centuries ago, in West Africa, traditional storytellers played musical instruments while they were telling stories. When this tradition traveled from West Africa to the USA, it developed into different musical styles. And in the 1970s, there were many poor areas in New York. There wasn't any money for music lessons in schools, so kids made their own music. African teenagers and DJ here played their records outside in the street. MCs had rapping（说唱）
It was 1980. I was at a party in New York. There was a young DJ at the party. He was playing records. While he was putting a record on, a kid picked up a microphone（话筒）and began rapping. Some other kids were break-dancing to the music. It was loud and boring
Today's successful American artists like Missy and her friend Tim heard it on the radio when they were growing up.
The last time I heard hip-hop, I was in West Africa.I was going to interview a traditional storyteller when I met a young hip-hop artist. He told me there are hundreds of rap groups in Africa today. We live on a hip-hop planet.
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A. I remember the first time I heard hip-hop. B. These styles all started in poor African-American areas. C. I was writing a book about African-Americans. D. But where did this strange speaking-singing style come from? E. Some people don't like hip-hop because of its spoken words. F. During the 1980s, hip-hop became popular over the USA. |
