Hardcore hip hop

Hardcore hip hop is a form of hip hop music that developed in the late 1980s. Allmusic writes that it is characterized by "confrontation and aggression, whether in the lyrical subject matter, the hard, driving beats, the noisy sampling and production, or any combination thereof." [http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=77:2918 Hardcore Rap] . Allmusic. Accessed May 22 2008.] The term can refer to similar musical sensibilities that encompass several related genres, including conscious hip hop, political hip hop, acid rap, pornocore, horrorcore, gangsta rap, underground hip hop and alternative hip hop.

The origins of hardcore hip hop began in East Coast hip hop during the 1980s when artists such as Run DMC, Eric B. & Rakim, Schoolly D, Boogie Down Productions, and Public Enemy began eschewing the popular themes of simple partying. Instead, their lyrics over hard, minimalist beats often reflected confrontation, consciousness, poverty, struggling, conflicts, aggression, violence, social issues, nihilism, anarchism, threats, hostility, bitterness, urgency, murders, homicide, omens, hedonism, stabbing, shootings, brutalities, arson, crime, street violence, gang rivalries, gang warfare, police brutality, rebellions, wars, street gangs, alcohol and drug use.

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