Hipness in the House

Hip House History

Hip House history is just a flash in the pan. It is lightning in a bottle. Hip House history is very short and only lasted about two years. It is there from 1988 – 1990, but its impact is a permanent change to what is combined with music! Due to Hip House, the marriage between Hip Hop vocals and House style beats continues to this day!

In 1988, House was here to stay, but still in its early years. Hip Hop still ruled in most clubs. It is 1988. As a club-goer, the norm is to go to a club that plays Hip Hop until 1 or 2 am and then head to the House club afterwards until 5 or 6 in the morning! That’s true in most large cities like Chicago and certainly New York City! Chicago is the home of House music and New York City is considered music capital of the world. There is a lot of overlap with partiers with a love of Hip Hop and of House.

Great music is being made by House producers, many of which come from a background in loving Hip Hop. One such person is Chicago House producer, Fast Eddie. He is already well known for House songs like “Acid Thunder”. He was releasing his music on one of the biggest House labels in the world, Chicago based D.J, International.

Birth of the Sound

Fast Eddie may have been a House producer, but he had decided he wanted to release a Hip Hop album. He approached the label boss of D.J. International, Rocky Jones. He told Rocky what he wanted to do and Rocky shot him down. He told Fast Eddie, “We don’t sell hip hop, we just sell house.” Fast Eddie has a determination to get to do Hip Hop. He had an epiphany and decided to get someone to rap over a House beat.

Adopting this simple formula is ground breaking and leads to the birth of Hip House. “Officially created in the spring of 1988 by a young artist from the west side of Chicago named Fast Eddie, the hip house formula was an upbeat fusion of its two namesake genres. House music beats, tempos and melodic synth piano lines were paired with the sort of funk and soul samples hip hop producers were mining at the time, while MCs rapped over the energized beats with club-centric lyrics.” – Phillip Mlynar.

Fast Eddie decided to push forward with his vision! Apparently, finding a rapper to do the vocals turned out to be quite difficult. Repeatedly, rappers turned him down for the project, saying, “No, I’m not going to do that house mouse stuff.” Fast Eddie started sampling with sampling inspiration coming from artists like James Brown and KRS-One. He came up with the sound and was finally able to find a way to do the vocals – he did them himself! Hip House was born!

First Song in Hip House History

There’s some disagreement as to what is the first Hip House song. Unequivocally, Fast Eddie is the producer that started the Hip House movement with his 1988 release of “Yo Yo Get Funky”. His second song, which is right after “Yo Yo Get Funky” literally has the name, “Hip House” and is definitely where the genre gets its name from. For these reasons, I think it is safe to say Fast Eddie is the father of Hip House and its originator.

However, there are two songs that chronologically were earlier, although neither were considered Hip House when they came out. Both are from1986. The first is “Holiday Rap” by DJ Sven & MC Miker G, but it is a piece of Pop music trash that is easily one of the worst songs ever made, so it doesn’t count. The other one is “Rok Da House” by the Beatmasters, who do claim to have invented Hip House with that song. The problem with their claim is that they didn’t follow up with a sequel until 1989, well into the later part of the Hip House movement with “Who’s In the House”. Also, their song did nothing to create a movement or new style. For these reasons I consider “Yo Yo Get Funky” to be the first Hip House song.

You can pick up a copy of the record on 12-inch single on Discogs:

https://www.discogs.com/release/2750-Fast-Eddie-Yo-Yo-Get-Funky

Hip House Heroes

Fast Eddie set things in motion but quick on his heels were a host of talented artists. After the commercial success and widespread appreciation in the underground for “Yo Yo Get Funky” and “Hip House”, Chicago House producers began making more records fitting in the genre. Tyree was a close friend of Fast Eddie and wasted no time getting in the studio to add his vision to the Hip House sound with amazing songs like “Turn Up the Bass”. Other Chicago producers followed suit.

The popularity of Hip House on the dancefloor caught the attention of artists in New York as the sound took off! Afrika Baby Bam is one-third of the members of the group, Jungle Brothers. They made Hip Hop. He was used to leaving the Hip Hop clubs at 1 or 2 in the morning and going to downtown Manhattan to House clubs to keep dancing until 5 or 6 in the morning. The success of Hip House made in Chicago brought the sound to his attention. He heard the music and thought he could do something like it.

Most Popular Song

Afrika Baby Bam decided he wanted to do a Hip House song even though the Jungle Brothers were a Hip Hop group. Jungle Brothers were working on their new album, “Straight Out the Jungle”. Around that time they were approached by veteran House producer, Todd Terry. He had an idea to have the Jungle Brothers rap over an instrumental House song that was making the rounds in the clubs. The song was “Can You Party” by Royal House, which Todd Terry had produced.

The Jungle Brothers jumped at the opportunity! The Jungle Brothers wrote the rap and the song became “I’ll House You”. “I’ll House You” hit the scene like a lightning bolt! Hip House was already making big waves, but “I’ll House You” shot the genre right over the top! Vocals like, “House music all night long,” and “Jump, jump, a little higher. Jump, jump, until you get tired,” were hotly received. It quickly rose to House music fame. Here, take a listen!

You can pick up a copy for a pretty reasonable price on Discogs:

https://www.discogs.com/release/127038-Jungle-Brothers-Ill-House-You

Further Success

The success of songs like “I’ll House You”, “Turn Up the Bass”, and “Yo Yo Get Funky” put Hip House in the dancefloors, clubs, and music charts. The success in the underground actually has become matched by commercial success! Records selling hundreds of thousands of copies is not uncommon in 1988 and 1989. This made the larger record companies stand up and take notice! It leads to commercial Hip House songs. The most famous of which is Technotronic, “Pump Up the Jam”, which became a huge radio hit and shows the immense popularity Hip House achieved in the end of the 1980s.

The success of Hip House had the genre explode with new artists. It is no longer difficult to find rappers willing to do the vocals over a House track. There are a good number of standout Hip House artists that find success and make great music. Artists like Faste Edde, Tyree, and the Jungle Brothers start. Then come acts like Twin Hype, Wee Papa Girls, White Knight, and others!

More Hip House Songs

The real understanding of a musical genre is in the music. Let us take a look at other songs that are classics in Hip House history. The first song we will look at is a song by Hip House and Hip Hop duo and twin sisters, Sandra and Samantha Lawrence, also known as the Wee Papa Girls. They have several amazing tracks that are hugely successful in the House underground scene. Here we have the song, “Blow the House Down”. It is on compilations of Hip House and Acid House. The best mix in my opinion is the remix by Techno and House pioneer, Kevin Saunderson, called the Hard Core Mix. It is also on the 12-inch single with their other big hit, “Wee Rule”.

The song is on the compilation “Jive Presents Acid House” or as a 12-inch single on Discogs:

https://www.discogs.com/release/3427018-The-Wee-Papa-Girls-Wee-Rule-Blow-The-House-Down

Another of the Hip House songs that makes a splash is the songs by Twin Hype. Twin Hype’s first success was with the song, “Do It to the Crowd” which was a huge hit. Their follow up to it is my personal favorite Hip House song of all time. The song is “For Those Who Like to Groove”. I play the “Club Bonus” mix which is minimal vocals and is highly playable in a House set today. It is a timeless piece of House music! It has great vocal snippets and awesome bassline. Take a listen!

The 12-inch single is shockingly cheap on Discogs:

https://www.discogs.com/release/118334-Twin-Hype-For-Those-Who-Like-To-Groove

The End of Hip House

Hip House burned out and disappeared as quick as it took over the scene. Throughout the scene in 1988 and 1989, Hip House is king of the dancefloor and of sales. Sales of Hip House records that are good are in the hundreds of thousands. It is commercial success! This catches the eye of the big record labels. Because Hip House began as an underground dance sound, the interest by major labels is poised to take Hip House commercial.

Taking an underground sound commercial has mixed blessings. Obviously, a major label has a lot of money to promote a sound. However, they don’t always share the future vision of underground producers. This is part of what happened with Hip House history. Major labels signed contracts with artists like Fast Eddie to release their new music. The problem became that Fast Eddie and other artists wanted to expand the sound into new territory with a fresh approach to Hip House.

The labels simply did not agree with the new direction Hip House artists were trying to take the sound. They want a repeat of past success with a mimic of the sound that put Hip House on the map. This disagreement caused a situation where several major Hip House artists ended up releasing NOTHING. Instead the labels began to create their own groups to do the sound in their vision. The most successful of their pushed sound was by far Technotronic’s “Pump Up the Jam”. Most of their created bands fell flat with the underground.

Also, the underground is naturally dynamic. New sounds are always coming out! The love of the underground scene is fluid. As new, exciting sounds emerged, older sounds began to fall by the wayside. Hip House fell prey to this natural phenomenon.

A Lasting Impact

Hip House as an independent genre may have fizzled out, but its impact has never left. We still feel it in the music today! Before Hip House, the idea of having rapping or Hip Hop styled vocal stabs in House music was unheard of, and now it is commonplace. In fact there have been several music movements over the last 30 years since Hip House ended that relied on the marriage of Hip Hop and Electronic Dance Music! During the mid-2000s, Breaks with Hip Hop vocals and Breaks remixes of popular Hip Hop songs became very popular.

One such compilation was made by Stanton Warriors with vocals by popular rapper, Big Daddy Kane, and remixed by veteran underground Breaks producer, Bassbin Twins. It’s a beast of a Break record! The original mix is also extremely good. Take a listen to the Bassbin Twins remix!

You can pick up a copy of the 12-inch single on Discogs:

https://www.discogs.com/release/1412021-Stanton-Warriors-Feat-Big-Daddy-Kane-Get-Wild

Hip House DJ Mix

Here’s a DJ mix from back in the day of Hip House mixed by To Kool Chris! Check it out. Packed with classics and mixed fast and furious!

Conclusion

Hip House history may have been a relatively short time, but its impact never left and still influences EDM music today! The marriage of a House beat and Hip Hop vocals has only gotten more popular and commonplace as the years went by. With whole movements following up the original Hip House movement from 1988-1990, there has been some amazing music made that follows the formula!

Hip House music is an amazing sound that still hits the soul. The infectious beats, high tempo, and catchy vocals make it a favorite on the dancefloor that has stood the test of time! Take a listen to the classics of Hip House and search for other examples that combine EDM beats with Hip Hop vocals! There’s lots to find! We hope you find some amazing music and that this episode opened your eyes to new possibilities!

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