Rap music has stampeded through America like no other form of music since the creation of rock music in the 1960s. Like other popular styles, it has a history that is closely aligned with the rebellious attitude of its young creators; youth who rejected the contemporary music prevalent during the late 1970s. Rap music is not a novelty, as many music professionals thought, but has a beginning as equal to blues, jazz, r&b, rock & roll, or any form of popular music.

There is a slight dispute regarding the actual place of origin. According to Afrika Bambaataa: A lot of people always think it rap started in the South Bronx, but officially it came from the West Bronx, ‘cause Kool Herc credited with being the first rapper, was from that area. Then it came over to the South Bronx with myself and Grandmaster Flash.

The story of rap music has a clear and concise beginning. We will explore that beginning with one of the main personalities in rap, Russell Simmons, who is considered the godfather of rap. Mr. Simmons explains: I think it was a lot of kids rebelling against dance music, disco music. I think in the 70s it was an industry music, producers’ music, and made for the people by producers who decided what people should have. Rap music was a rebellion by the people to assert what they were really looking for and they weren’t getting it from the producers. The producers and their companies were too far away from the streets. The people just created something for themselves.

"Many years there wasn’t any rap records, but there were a lot of rap shows. You go to a show and you had some rock beat or some jazz beat or some old funk beat and this guy rapping all night. Two or three thousand kids would be at these parties and listen all night. You wouldn’t have one commercial record. You wouldn’t hear, for instance, Patrick Juvette,I Love America. You wouldn’t hear YMCA, and whatever records were out at the time throughout the whole night. Those are the records you had to hear on Black radio. So kids made their own music.

At the inception of rap, music professionals did not take it seriously and music scholars dismissed it completely. Little did they know that what the youth were creating represented a revolution in music, and like it or not, without rap music today, the music industry would be in a financial depression and hundreds of industry employees would be laid off, as they were in the late 1970s.