Boom Bap Backstory: From the South Bronx to Young Money
“If the Quest don’t look good, then Queens won’t look good
But since the sounds are universal, New York won’t look good”
-Phife Dog, A Tribe Called Quest, “God Lives Through,” Midnight Marauders, 1993.
Welcome. In this, the first Boom Bap Backstory, all the readers out there deserve an explanation. Some of you out there might be asking, “what is boom bap, and what’s its backstory?”
Boom bap is one of the sounds of hip-hop: steady, pounding, swinging drums. Any hip-hop song from New York from 1989-2000 that you’d call an anthem is most likely boom bap.
The term boom bap also has a connotation of classic-ness. And therein lies the aim of this column. I take the hip-hop of today, and add in the “Boom Bap Backkstory” to it. I want to show the roots and long-term trends that have led to what’s present within the music today. The point is to tie everything together, and make hip-hop of different eras and styles more accessible. Read More »
