Industrial hip-hop

Infobox Music genre
name=Industrial hip-hop
color = white
bgcolor = crimson
stylistic_origins= East Coast hip-hop
Industrial music
Dub music
cultural_origins=Mid-1980s New York City and London
derivatives=Illbient
instruments=vocals - Guitar - Bass - drums - Sampler - Turntables - Electronics
popularity=Low
other_topics=Digital hardcore
Breakcore

Industrial hip-hop is a fusion of the dissonance and dystopian subject matter of industrial music with the rhythms of hip-hop.

Overview

The origins of industrial hip-hop are in the work of Mark Stewart, Bill Laswell, and Adrian Sherwood. In 1985, former Pop Group singer Mark Stewart released "As the Veneer of Democracy Starts to Fade", an application of the cut-up style of industrial music, with the house band of Sugar Hill Records (Doug Wimbish, Keith Leblanc, and Skip McDonald). [Mark Fisher, "Prometheus Unbound". p. 32. "The Wire" 293. July 2008] In the late 1980s, Laswell's Material project began to take increasing influence from hip-hop. Adrian Sherwood was a major figure in British dub, as well as working with industrial groups such as Cabaret Voltaire, Einstürzende Neubauten, Ministry, KMFDM, and Nine Inch Nails. Tackhead, a collaboration between Sherwood and the Sugar Hill band, picked up where Mark Stewart left off. [Stephen Troussé, Portishead review, Uncut, [http://www.uncut.co.uk/music/portishead/reviews/11429] Access date: October 7, 2008.] Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy, from San Francisco, [Ben Wood, "Michael Franti: A New Bob Marley?", "Suite 101", May 31, 2007.] [Scott Kara, Michael Franti review, New Zealand Herald, September 20, 2008. [http://blogs.nzherald.co.nz/blog/music-reviews/2008/9/20/michael-franti-and-spearhead-all-rebel-rockers/?c_id=1501982] Access date: October 7, 2008.] and Meat Beat Manifesto, from the UK, are also early representatives of the style. Industrial hip-hop groups tend to take a great deal of influence from Public Enemy's intensity, volume, and emphasis on noise. The industrial group 23 Skidoo and Miles Davis's album "On the Corner" are also important precedents for the style.

Industrial hip-hop was carried forward by figures from a diverse number of scenes. Perhaps the most unlikely adopters were Justin Broadrick and Mick Harris, previously known for their invention of the grindcore style of extreme metal, while in Napalm Death. After participating in the jazzcore group Pain Killer with Bill Laswell, Harris's Scorn project delved into dark ambient and industrial hip-hop. Subsequently, Broadrick began to work with Kevin Martin, previously of God (also a jazzcore group). The later work of Broadrick's Godflesh,Chris Downton, Ivens interview, Cyclic Defrost, [http://www.cyclicdefrost.com/blog/?p=1526] Access date: October 7, 2008.] as well as his collaborations with Martin, Ice, [Filmore Mescalito Holmes, London Zoo review, "Tiny Mixtapes". [http://tinymixtapes.com/The-Bug] Access date: October 7, 2008.] Techno Animal, and Curse of the Golden Vampire, are prime examples of industrial hip-hop. [Stevie Chick, "Till Deaf Us Do Part", "The Guardian", July 18, 2008. [http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2008/jul/18/electronicmusic] Access date: July 28, 2008.] The last of these was also a collaboration with Alec Empire, from Berlin, who also participated in the style in a number of his albums. The German label Mille Plateaux developed the sound throughout their series of "Electric Ladyland" compilations. Ice and Techno Animal also collaborated at times with El-P and other representatives of the Def Jux label. DJ Spooky's illbient style is closely related to these developments in industrial hip-hop; [http://www.burntsugarindex.com/Home/bios/DJ_Mutamassik.html Mutamassik] takes influence from both, as well as from breakcore.The Industrial rock band Acumen Nation also adopts a number of Hip-hop influences, as does, to a larger degree, the band's side project DJ? Acucrack, a few other industrial bands that combine hip hop elements in their music are Rabbit Junk, The Mad Capsule Markets and The Shizit who are industrial metal and digital hardcore bands. Dwelling around in the subject of digital hardcore Atari Teenage Riot is also known to have hip hop elements in some of their songs. In the electro-industrial/industrial metal genre there is also Steril (band) who is infamous for combining hip hop beats, dj scratches, turntables and rap versus with industrial.

While Broadrick chose to devote his attentions primarily to post-metal, Martin continued to apply industrial hip-hop to dancehall and grime with the Bug. Jace Clayton, a Brooklyn native who expatriated to Barcelona and records under the names DJ /rupture and Nettle, is also devoted to the style, as well as to breakcore. Filastine, a former member of ¡Tchkung! who records for Clayton's [http://www.sootrecords.com/ Soot] label, also practices a politicized variety of industrial hip-hop. The French label [http://cavage.c8.com/ Cavage] eventually devoted itself to the style, along with the Toulouse-based group [http://www.lestrolls.com/ les Trolls] . Antipop Consortium [Larry Fitzmaurice, "The Faint Pique Fans' 'Fasciinatiion' in New York", "Spin", August 19, 2008. [http://www.spin.com/articles/faint-pique-fans-fasciinatiion-new-york] Access date: October 7, 2008.] and Dälek are also successful examples of contemporary industrial hip-hop, [Haukur Magnússon, "Iceland Airwaves is Coming Again", "Reykjavík Grapevine", [http://grapevine.is/Home/ReadArticle/Fuck-Fuck-Fuck-Iceland-Airwaves-is-Coming-Again] Access date: October 7, 2008.] ["Faust, Experimental Club, 8 Oct 2004", [http://www.planetrock-booking.de/press/faust/faust_englisch.pdf] Access date: October 7, 2008.] as is Saul Williams. [R. Paul Matthew, Saul Williams review, Aversion.com. [http://www.aversion.com/bands/reviews.cfm?f_id=3679] Access date: October 7, 2008.] [Joe Crosby, SoCo Music Experience, Paste, August 25, 2008. [http://www.pastemagazine.com/blogs/festivus/2008/08/soco-music-experience-san-diego.html] Access date: October 7, 2008.] ["Nine Inch Nails Release Album Online", "Revolver", March 3, 2008. [http://www.revolvermag.com/content/nine-inch-nails-release-album-online] Access date: October 7, 2008.]

Related genres

Industrial hip-hop is connected to (and sometimes confused with) the more experimental variants of trip-hop. It also anticipates many of the developments of dubstep. Illbient is also adjacent to, and possibly a subgenre of, industrial hip-hop. Contemporary industrial hip-hop is also closely connected to digital hardcore and breakcore.

Bibliography

Reynolds, Simon (1999). "Generation Ecstasy : Into the World of Techno and Rave Culture". Routledge. ISBN-10: 0415923735

References