With SP-1200-style drum loops, blazing funk riffs and comic tongue twisters-OutKast's first album was fuelled by innovation. Their debut record, Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik was a powerful introduction which set them on a path to redefining rap music via creative freedom. Their level of avant-garde thinking meant they could challenge the genre, style and aesthetic specifications of hip-hop in the early 90s. Slick Rick's legacy parted the way for artists like OutKast, the lyrical soothsayers who fashioned their entire careers from a desire to tell stories. Storytelling opens a portal for which abstract concepts can be explored, encouraging artists to bring forth their best world-building mechanics. The overall tone of the album merged a child-like curiosity with ripe wisdom gained through survival, and to this day it remains an essential point of reference when evaluating the evolution of storytelling in rap music. He narrates the story of a 17-year-old street hustler who attempts to rob an undercover detective and every decision that follows only brings him a step closer to his demise, triggering a tsunami of guilt and fear as tensions rise. No one could tell a tale quite like he did, and the famous "Children's Story" might be the most disastrous of them all. Despite Rick's crafty use of humour and wit, the clarity of his narratives meant that listeners could still recognise the fatal realities of poverty, police brutality and the relentless pursuit of fast money that permeated the inner city neighbourhoods. However, it wasn't until 1988 that we received an official masterclass on rap storytelling by none other than Slick Rick on the album The Great Adventures of Slick Rick.įor the 12-track odyssey, he adopted a singsong cadence and manipulated his vocal pitch to portray his alter egos like MC Ricky D, The Ruler, and the whimsical female characters who were usually the brunt of his painfully explicit rhymes. Rakim let his internal rhyme schemes and golden ink spill onto wax for the 1986 Eric B. Some go as far as conjuring fictional characters to tell these stories, allowing them to step outside of themselves and into an entirely different world generated by their limitless imagination. Much like the Griots of West Africa, rappers often documented their daily lives through rhymes, detailing salacious rendezvous, gun-slinging joyrides or near-death experiences that lead to some form of enlightenment.
So, what happens when an oral tradition of the past is preserved and reimagined through the cultural lens of hip-hop? Separately, fellow pioneer, turntablist and producer Afrika Bambaataa began theorising hip-hop as a culture, and referred to the rapper as a 'postmodern Griot'. Herc and Coke were the blueprints for other DJ and emcee crews that would soon erupt from the Bronx, inspiring many innovators such as Grandmaster Flash, Whodini, Sugar Hill Gang and Big Daddy Kane, amongst others. Under thick curls of cannabis smoke, crowds would go crazy at the drop of his phrases like "hotel, motel, you don't tell, we won't tell" and "you rock and you don’t stop". While Herc held it down on the decks, Coke La Rock-credited as hip-hop's first-ever emcee-would lay short rhymes and shout-outs on the mic. Hailed as one of the godfathers of hip-hop, Herc introduced his revolutionary style of DJ'ing by fading between two records on a turntable to extend the instrumental breakdowns, recreating anything from a steady boom bap to convulsive polyrhythms. Finding a home on the bustling street corners and Big Apple block parties, hip-hop was funnelled through vintage sound systems: etching rap's first evolutionary change into history. By way of Caribbean immigrants like DJ Kool Herc, this oral tradition settled in 1970s New York. Griot art travelled through generations and eventually made its way to the Caribbean, inspiring the 'toasting' tradition of Jamaican music where DJs would rhythmically talk over a riddim to rowse the crowd. Usually accompanied by the Kora-a traditional string instrument-Griots would create songs designed to evoke emotions and memories about the past, different initiations, rites of passage and family heritage. Griots are gifted historians who preserve African heritage through oral traditions like storytelling, poetry, music and performance. The Mandinka Empire-encompassing Mali, Senegal, Guinea Bissau, Côte D'Ivoire, Sierra Leone, Liberia and Gambia-was a brief sovereignty largely celebrated thanks to its influence on 21st Century African folk musicians. The origins of hip-hop music can be traced back to the 13th-century West African Griot tradition.
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