An English introduction to the history, development and culture of hip-hop music.

Analysis of common words in HIP-HOP rap

When black people were brought from Africa to the American mainland by white traffickers, they took root, but they came from different parts of Africa and different tribes and could not talk to each other. In black society, the only common communication tool is English. From16th century to19th century, European colonists transported a large number of black slaves from Africa (mainly Congo and Angola in West Africa) to America, and half of them went to the United States. He also worked hard in cotton, sugar cane plantations and mines in southern States. In order to communicate with each other and adapt to the environment, they learned English and mixed the original language with English grammar, forming some special forms of language contact. In this process, black language has a close relationship with English, absorbing some elements of English and giving up some special colors of its own. Thus, under the condition of basically maintaining its original quality, "Black English" gradually took shape.

Black English is regarded as a symbol stored by blacks for communication, and they have their own system; The cultural pattern of society is also different from that of European whites, so there are differences in pronunciation, grammar and usage, which is the first cognition to understand black English. If we infer that African-Americans' social opportunities are limited to some extent, it is because children who grew up in poor African-Americans use limited dialects and codes, or are unpopular in American mass society, African-Americans have to be confined to black areas, and natural black English will become more and more unique. Judging from the pronunciation, grammar and words of rap music, black English is a good way. The rapper strung together the unique characters and codes in the black area and expressed them in idioms. From their words, they can understand the social behavior in daily life. Black English combines the primitive spirit of black people with the universality of English. Through the rap of black rappers, some fonts used in white English grammar have changed. Some not only changed the pronunciation of fast words, but also simplified some conjunctions. Judging from the principle of the evolution of words in history-"from complex to simple", it is much more convenient to rap with words. Rap songs are not only simplified in words, but also changed in grammar, forming a unique style, which is very different from white English. In the next part, the author will first analyze the words and pronunciation of rap songs, and then introduce them from the grammar part to let readers know the unique writing style of African-Americans.

1 Pronunciation part:

As mentioned earlier, rappers simplify spelling and writing because of the appearance of hyphens. For example, the most common thing is to change the letter at the end of er into a single "A". For example, the blackest word nigger is simplified as nigga, and the other word motherfucka is also simplified as muthafucka. In addition, the word player has also been changed to playa. As long as the suffix is er, it can be changed to a according to this grammar.

In addition, words ending in ks or cks will also be replaced by X, because ks(cks) and X have the same pronunciation. For example, thanks is changed to thanx, and checks is also changed to chex. This usage has also become a rule.

The usage of o is also very distinctive, for example, Love is changed to Luv, nothing is changed to nuthin', and the word fucken is changed to muthafucka, which also conforms to this grammar. In addition, like the s in the word, it is often changed to z, for example, cause is changed to kuz, and easy is changed to EZ, all of which have changed.

Moreover, having two grammars is not only used by blacks, but also a common law in the United States, that is, it is going to be changed to going and wanting to be changed to wanna. In addition, if out of is changed to out, kind is changed to kind, and sorta is changed to sorta, it will become a new English grammar.

Words such as re or e, which are almost unheard of in fast singing, are omitted For example, more becomes mo (for example, film noir move money), for becomes fo, or the number "4" is used instead.

Omitting "g" from "ing" has also become a common grammar in the United States. For example, nothing has been changed to nuthin', commin has been changed to commin', and so on. G can be omitted as long as it is an ing progressive. And some words, because of rap, have changed their pronunciation. For example, we all know that the word thru is pronounced as "θ", but in rap songs, its pronunciation is "T", so the word is simplified as thru, and the pronunciation of the word true is the same, and the pronunciation of nothing th is also the same grammar, from "θ" to ". The spelling is simplified to wit, but the pronunciation is still /WIθ/, with the exception. By the way, some rappers seize the advantage of speaking fast and write a long list of words together on the album. They feel that the name or song title of the album is particularly dazzling, but they all sound the same. For example, the first album of the rap group out kast, Southern Playalistic Dilacmuzik, and the last segment of the album Bootlegs B.B. Side of ICE Cabe, Remix d 'Void of PopnigafiedMix, a long list, looks very headache, but you will know the pronunciation and meaning after watching it several times. In addition, for example, the number of songs Wussup and LUV is what is underground with the entity of love. Although the font has changed, the pronunciation is still the same.

The above is just a brief introduction, but it is the word with the highest frequency among blacks. Here are some words that appear in rap songs and their usage. Some words can be called "vulgarity", "contempt" or "slang", but they are the most practical black words. First of all, of course, the word Fuck, which has the highest exposure, not only appears in rap songs, but also has become a daily language in the United States and is widely used. As everyone knows, the word "fuck" has the usage of "sexual intercourse". Of course, it is also a vulgar word, which is often used to curse each other's behavior or people. And the word "fucking" can also represent anything, any animal, and can also be used as an emphasis. As long as it can swear, it conforms to the grammar of "fuck" And Fuck has its own set, forming a bunch of phrases, which are introduced as follows: the most common phrase is I don't give a fuck, which means I don't care; Fuck about/around means don't trust someone or something; Fuck off means fuck off, get out; As for not screwing up someone, it means leaving me alone and not bothering me; And what the fuck do you mean, screwed up? Of course, as mentioned above, the word Fuck can replace any verb or noun, as long as the other person can understand it. "Fuck" has a usage rule of "on earth" or "hell" for emphasis, such as "What the fuck are you doing? Or how the fuck am I supposed to fly? Sometimes it can be used with the word shit, but it is better to use it less.

In addition, another word comparable to the word Fuck is shit. This word means "dung" and "excrement", and sometimes it can even refer to drugs (heroin). Its usage, like Fuck, depends on the user's hobby, but it is mostly a noun usage, which is used to scold someone for disappointing. Like Fuck, the word "shit" often becomes a phrase, which is a bit like "fu" and "alas" in ancient Chinese, but the tone is heavier. Shit! How are you? Or swear, you son of a bitch! Very vulgar usage, or "eat my shit" and "remember me"! As long as the word appears in rap songs, there is nothing good. Of course, when the word shit is used, it sometimes points to good things, and its usage is like pronouns. Like what Da shit! This shit was once referred to as drugs and girls in rap songs. Yo! My big shit! The shit in this language refers to the baby, which means that the usage of shit is very free! And the most familiar usage of shit must be cow shit! Nonsense, it's all nonsense! Empty talk is bullshit! There is a joke that says, "Where is the worst shit?" The answer is "American mouth! It can be seen that the American preference for this word has become an international joke!

Below, I will introduce some rap words with a particularly high frequency, which are described as follows:

1. Numeric words

Because some words have the same pronunciation as Arabic numerals, they are directly replaced by numbers, such as to use 2, for use 4 and night use 9, and the right part of Straight is usually represented as "Str 8" with 8, forming a new English word composed of letters and numbers. Some figures must be known. For example, the movie 187, which was shown before, refers to "the penalty number of California murderers", a rapper named 187 Fac, or the famous song "My Lover is a 187" of the rap group, also using 187 as the representative number. Other code names related to numbers are mostly related to guns, which we will introduce in the next section.

2. Words replaced by letters

A stands for the best and b stands for the worst. For example, B represents the worst thing, and A plus (A+) is the best representative. C is often a dating word for see. G is a big name, which can refer to Gangstar or sexual behavior between men and women, because the woman makes a "G" sound during sexual intercourse, and it can also refer to a gun. N stands for and, r stands for ARE, and u stands for You. In addition, Ku Klux Klan or W.A.S.P, a powerful white group, is used to wipe out black Americans and ensure the superiority of white people. Protestants Anglo-Saxon Protestants, because WASP is the main stratum that dominates AMerican society today, just the opposite to the African-American underclass, have repeatedly mentioned the famous song C.R.E.A.M (cash, rules, everything, Around, me), and the title of the song begins with the hope that cash can roll in. The song begins with the statement that chef Lei Kang (a member of Wutang clan) came to the birthplace of Wutang without his mother's care, and was exposed to drugs at the age of 65,438+06, and used a gun in the street. Readers can learn from a short lyric of this song that money, guns and drugs are indispensable in the life of black gangs in the United States. Of course, "sex" is also indispensable. With the death of guns and drugs, the descriptions of the body in the lyrics are endless, which constitutes the main part of rap music.

The following are black English words that represent these things:

1. Money: an indispensable part of rap songs, and the most common word is cash. After all, cash is the most practical, and it has never been heard of trading by check in drug trade, but in rap songs, check (S) is also used as the code name of money. The word "bone" means drugs, but it tastes richer. Often interpreted as a team leader, even related to sex. There is a lyric "nearly boneless", which means "worthless". In addition, because the dollar bill is green, green has become the code name of the dollar bill, but green also means drugs. The aforementioned letter "G" also has a grand meaning. A "G" can represent many things (sex, gangs, money). Other commonly used words, such as nickle (nickle), such as dough, blunt (originally meaning "dull" but disguised as "gold ornaments"), ducat (originally referring to gold/silver ornaments used in medieval Europe, now popularly referring to coins or admission tickets) and hoot (originally referring to New Zealand money, also borrowed by blacks), are all very special.

2. Drugs: Buying drugs with money has become an indispensable part of rap songs. The multi-ethnic color of American national melting pot can also be seen from the names of drugs in black rap songs.

4. Sex: "Eating is also", and no one can escape the demand for sex, which is also inevitable in rap songs. Some words are used to introduce the reproductive organs of men and women, as well as the behavior of copulation between men and women, such as sex trade for sexual needs, as follows.

A. Male genitalia, such as penis, bone, penis and dog, all refer to important parts of men, while the ball refers to male testicles. Therefore, the phrase "have bones with someone" often appears in coitus phrases.

B. Female genitalia, such as pudenda, buttocks, buckets, etc.

C. Words of copulation between men and women, such as doggy style, doggy way (dog-like posture), freak, top-up (male and female posture), turn up the bucket, game (such as salt'n pape's single He is gamin' on Ya), or busy to illustrate the fierceness of "war". 69 stands for oral sex, and the rap group 69 boyz is named after it.

In fact, many rappers also recorded the story of copulation between men and women in their albums, and Bo Jun smiled, such as Dr. Derry's The Doctor's Office. Or the dirty bastard talks about sex in the album "Return to the Thirty-six Chamber of Secrets: Dirty Edition" and shows the climax voice in "Drunk Games", which is very special.

D. Code name of young men and women: teens is generally used by young men and women, but the code name of Homeboy is also used. Another word, Homie, although it means intimacy, is mostly related to "gang" activities, but it has also become the code name of friends today. Common names for men are boy, man, bro (abbreviation of brother), crew, buck, fufe, dis, etc. It's very colloquial, but it doesn't respect women's names, such as girl, bitch, sis (sister's abbreviation), prostitute, hoe, hook and so on. And the last three words are "prostitutes" and there is another word PHAT, pronounced with fat, which is a compliment to women. It is the abbreviation of perfection and touching, and can be called "stunner". Therefore, fat originally just means fat, which means "beauty", indicating that English grammar has also undergone great changes. Moreover, the word "fly" can also be said to be the code name of your arrogant brother and sister-in-law, so the rapper Missy Misdemeanor Elliott will sing Supa Dupa Fly.

E. Sexual intercourse between men and women is easy: pimps take pimps as code names (for example, the seventh album, which is too short, is called "Pimp Shorty"), prostitutes take prostitutes, hoes and stinky ho as representative names, and hot objects can also be called hot things, and they climb on someone's ass to represent transactions.

Gangster: Gang members, such as "G" means gangstar, Gang means guns and a group of people, so does Crew, and Bro, Hoodlum and Gink also mean gangsters.

6. Police: The police are regarded as a thorn in the side of gangster rappers, so they are given many contemptuous names in the lyrics. The late rapper Z Pac even wrote: "Fuck all policemen, skinheads, Nazis and so on!" In his first album, Z Pac AIYPSE NOW. KRS-ONE, known as the "rap music teacher", also has a song "Black Police", which tells the truth about black police. From this point of view, the signs that rap songs induce fans to kill policemen are obvious. Generally, the police are called Cop (abbreviation of baton Capper), pig, po (abbreviation of police) and Crook. In addition, the name Five-O from the album Detective Tando often appears in rap songs. And doughnuts &; Cafe (doughnuts and coffee) is used to address some idle policemen, almost all of which are negative words.

7. Death, corpse: Scurface, who just released the album My Homies the day before, became very popular after 1993' s second album Diary, and released the single Dead Hands with ice cube, but in Vibe Q&; In the Q&A unit, someone asked: Why does Scarface love to sing lyrics about death and corpses so much? The magazine's answer is: because he worked as a corpse washer in a funeral home for two years. So he likes corpses. Of course, it is not because all rappers have washed their bodies, but the word "death" is indispensable in rap songs. Phrases like deep-six, light sb, turn to the grave, out, etc. Both mean "to die", while crpress hill and six deep feet (meaning that the coffin is buried six feet underground) mean graves, while the verbs of bang and pump are related to being shot.

8. Other appellations: The word juice can be interpreted as juice, but when it is used as a verb, it means "squeezing". For example, the word "You can't squeeze juice out of me, kus, I'm ice cube" in the lyrics is rebellious, but if a woman is juice, it means she must be a "stunner", but juice has a positive explanation. This means respect. When a black man said, can you give me mo' juice? He not only asked for juice, but also asked for respect. And if you call someone Humpty Pumpty, an egg-shaped person who walks around the wall mentioned in Alice in Wonderland, don't think it means you are shining. Very cute, but despise a person's dick.

I said a lot of miscellaneous words. Now I will introduce the grammar of black English, so that I can have a deeper understanding of rap lyrics.

All that jazz: this is also the name of a movie (1979, The Spring and Autumn of Jazz directed by bob fosse), but in rap music it means "all those things, all that nonsense". ※. ※.

※Chartbuster: (mainly used in D.J. and music publications) refers to works that are extremely successful in the charts. ※. Buster means tamer and conqueror, which can be combined with many nouns. ※. For example, Ghostbusters (the movie "Devil Buster") is the person who conquers the devil.

Look at this: two situations often appear in rap songs, and then the rapper continues to rap, indicating that the rapper has important information to tell you, please consider his words; Then there is a piece of music, which means that he wants you to listen carefully to the special changes in the music.

Chill: calm, calm, indifferent, showing attitude towards the surroundings. ※. Similar words include Chill Out, Cool It, Cool Off, Caim Down and so on. ※.

Deep: true meaning, used with adjectives, such as: deep truth (true), deep dumb (really stupid), strengthen the use of adjectives. ※.

Def: short for define, which means "cool" and "better" in black language. ※. It means firm, calm and unyielding black man, cool and better. Rap musicians often boast that they are "the most rebellious". ※.

※ Dee Jay: It' s short for disc jockey. A disc is a record (vinyl record), and a jockey stands for manipulator. It is wrong to translate the domestic dictionary into "radio program host" (the Chinese translation of rock and roll terms in English dictionaries is almost correct), and the correct meaning should be "the person who chooses to play music in radio programs or dances". ※. The most important figures in rap music are Rapper (one person, two people, even a group of people) and D.J. They are responsible for playing background music such as records, remixes and Scratch in rap.

Dope: it was originally another name for heroin, and later it can also be used as the name of marijuana and other drugs. Dope used by blacks in rap music refers to the feeling of being excited and refreshed after taking drugs, and it can also be used with Funky later, which means to be very good and enjoy. Many rap musicians flaunt themselves as Dopest. ※: The best).

※Get It Going On: The original complete sentence pattern is Going With Someone: it means to start a romantic love story with someone. ※. Let it go on means that someone's love story (usually an encounter) is going well. ※.

Hype: For people in record companies, this word means "propaganda of a complete marketing plan", but for people of insight in Philharmonic, this word means "false or exaggerated propaganda of artists or records". ※. The theme of "Don't Believe in Speculation" by Public Enemy 1988 is to satirize too much publicity and cause another form of confusion to the public. ※.

Ilya: It's a scam. ※。 This is the representative of music style, such as heavy metal stresses rebellion and fast pace of life. ※: ; Most rap musicians flaunt themselves as bad people and get killed.

Black boy: Another synonym is "monster", which means "super exciting and excellent". ※. Common words include Black Boy album, "That song is a monster" and so on. ※.

Klan: The original meaning of these three words refers to the three-step sound when the pistol is triggered, and it is a formula for learning to shoot. Now it refers to the Klan, the secret organization of American terrorism. ※. There are two Klan in American history. One was founded shortly after the Civil War and disappeared in11970s. The other was founded in Atlanta, Georgia on 195 1 and has been active ever since. Although the purpose of the Klan is not in line with the changes of the times, it is basically anti-black, anti-Catholic and anti-Jewish, and is famous for its terrorist and violent activities.

# 1: Almost all rap musicians from Run-D.M.C, L.L.Cool J., Public Enemy, Big Brother Kane, etc. He said that he was # 1 (the first place) and often claimed to be the king, while D.J. in the group liked to claim to be the master. ※.

Master of ceremonies: short for master of ceremonies. At a dance, there is usually a DJ who plays records and a MC who makes a speech and drives the atmosphere. In rap music, M.C. is Rapper, and many rappers even add M.C. before their stage names to let everyone know that he is the protagonist, such as M.C. Hammer, Young M.C, M.C. Lyte and so on. ※.

Pissmeoff: Literally it means "piss on me", but in fact it means "piss me off". People who have seen the movie "Good Morning Vietnam" will be deeply impressed by the sentence that robin williams taught Vietnamese. ※.

Posse: White people refer to "mobs" and black people refer to "a group of people with the same goals or interests". Later, because the rap musician M.C. Hammer called his rap dance group Posse, the word Posse gradually replaced Rappers and was widely used. ※.

※Turnable Hit: refers to songs that are often played on the radio but are not sold in the market. ※. ※.Tone-Loc's Wild Things is just the opposite. ※. In 1989, this single sold more than two million copies in the United States, and it was the best-selling single of 1989. But because many white radio stations or rock radio stations (and many rock conservatives think rap is dirty music and only suitable for the street) have never played this song, they only got the second highest ranking and the 33rd year-end ranking.

Punch: It means drinking hard liquor. ※。 For example, punch. ※. Helpful. "Whacked" means getting drunk or taking drugs and getting into deep trouble.

Yo! ※! What's up, man? Black people are used to calling You yo for short. When white people call you Fllow, black people call each other Man. Black people's habitual snoring language is hi, man! And yo! What's up, man?

Funky: The usage of this word is different between blacks and whites. In rap music (black usage), it refers to a feeling similar to orgasm, which means great and enjoyable. The commonly used derivative is Get Funky.

Hip-Hop: Hip means ass, and Hop means jumping. In the 1970s, hip-hop specifically meant that black people originated from R&; B (rhythm and blues), but with R &；; B is completely different, emphasizing the pure dance music of D.J. Remix technique in the ballroom. In the 1980s, this kind of music formed rap music by adding Scratch (turning the record upside down intermittently, giving out the special effect of rubbing with a stylus) and the street rhyme unique to black people. So it can be said that Hip Hop is the predecessor of Rap, but today these two words can often be mixed, but Rap focuses on rap, while Hip Hop tends to refer to Beat.

Indie: the abbreviation of independent, which means that the record company to which the artist belongs is an independent company, unlike the five major record companies in the world (WEA, POLYGRAM, EMI, CBS← later Sony, BMG), which have a huge distribution network, they can do overall design for singers' styling and publicity activities. ※. Major (five major record companies system) can provide artists with the best objective environment such as recording engineer and accompaniment, and make a complete marketing plan, so they often have the ability to turn an ordinary person into a big star. ※. More importantly, under the consideration of commercial interests, good artists under the major record companies are often forced to sacrifice some ideals and persistence. This is why hardcore rock fans spurn Major's strong commercial color, support some independent record companies, and allow artists to make their own albums according to their own ideals without too much commercial publicity. At present, the biggest magazines supporting Indian music in Britain and America are NME, Voice and Mirror of Records. In Britain, while SPIN, Option (Pure India), Catalog (Pure India) and The Big Takeover (a regional but highly respected magazine in new york) and so on. The main supporters of indie music are mostly college students and intellectuals. Rolling Stone, the authoritative magazine of American mainstream rock, began to publish college albums from 1985, which proves that most of the people on the list are independent works.

Hard core: extreme and deep-rooted. ※. Some people in China literally translate it as "hard core", but I can't see what it means. ※. Perhaps "die-hard" and "persistent" are more appropriate free translations. Hard core is an adjective, not a kind of music, so there are hard-core punk (such as sonic youth), hard-core heavy metal (such as Dior) and hard-core rap musicians, such as Schooly D, Just-Ice, The D.O.C, Too $hort, Chilli Rob G, Slumdog Boys and so on. The standard of hard core identification often varies from person to person.

New school: if the whole history of rap music is divided into three generations, it can be divided into old schools (founders and early musicians), such as Afrika Bambastaa, Funky 4+ 1, Flash Master, Kurtis Blow, The burgered Three and so on. ※. During 1983-1984, some musicians with innovative and new skills were called the New School, including Run-D.M.C, L.L.Cool J., The Fat Boys, Whodini, Doug E. Fresh, etc. ※. The third generation musicians are different from the second generation musicians because they have raised the level of rap music to the black civil rights movement or black consciousness, or because they have more integrated rap music skills. These include: public enemy, KRS-1, and his Buji drop production, big dad Kane, Della soul and so on. As for the new term "next faction" that appeared in recent two years, it refers to some new groups that may be famous in the future, but have not yet had a substantial impact.

※Hip House: It's a new musical style that only appeared in recent two years. ※. Combining the styles of Hip Hop and House Music, the band Technotronic on the recent charts can be said to be representative. It's worth noting that Hip Hop or Rap originated in the black area of new york, and House Music originated in Chicago, but most of them were made by white people. ※. At the same time, House music mainly emphasizes the musical skills of bass lines and drums, and does not involve cultural awakening or social movements.

Beat and rhythm: Hip Hop paid attention to rhythm in the early days, but after the rise of Rap, it emphasized all kinds of rhymes in songs, and was influenced by the popularity of minimalism (take the song "All Right" before janet jackson as an example), and beat replaced rhythm. Usually rap songs express the beat by bass and drums, but different musicians use different skills. ※.

Break it down: stop accompaniment and singing completely, leaving only the most basic beat repetition. Usually, when rappers shout "break it", dance groups on the stage often start dancing. ※.

※Cut: refers to a passage in an album, which can be a song or a part of a song sung or played. ※. ※.

Improvise: Many musicians improvise or sing together. ※. ※ In rap/hip-hop, the part of sample music after serial mixing is also called Jam.

※ (get) On mic: mic is short for microphone, which means rap and singing leading role. For example, Marvin Young (young M.C.' s real name) is on the microphone, which means that Marvin Young is rapping. He is the protagonist in front of the microphone.

Inflating: It means "stretching muscles" to prevent sports injury. ※. Later, this sport was compared to a dance. D.j. To create a warm and good atmosphere, you must turn up the music first, which makes people have to dance in deafening. Therefore, Pump Up can mean to add (or strengthen) music to make it warm. ※.

Mix: Mix. At present, 12 inch dance music records all use Remix. ※. However, mixing refers to lengthening the melody without changing the original theme, which is basically a skill commonly used by sound engineers and D.J.

Sample: songs or music of many artists or special sound effects (such as speeches, ambient music, etc.). ) are recorded in MIDI, which is called sample music. When used in rap songs, the original sample music (even the original tune) can be changed at will, resulting in unlimited creative effects. Sampling has been adopted by most new generation rap musicians. ※.

Scratch: The rap group D.J. usually uses two turntables with a "multi-track console" in the middle. ※. When playing a record, you can press the record with your finger or tap the record in the opposite direction, and send out the stylus and the record "Whew! Hey! " Fricative sound, the technique of reversing or pausing recording, is called Scratch.

Be detailed enough! ! !