The Definitions of Old and New School Hip-Hop

What comes to your mind when you look on a flyer and it says “Old School” music all night? Given the musical terrain and fan base of today, I’m saddened to think that in my mind, you might think of stuff from the late late 90’s. Paperboy’s Ditty or Puff Daddy's All About the Benjamins (yes, that was his name before Diddy) is not old school. By definition, "Old School" hip-hop ended around 1984 when Run DMC broke out into mainstream. Artists like Afrika Bambaataa, The Treacherous Three, Funky Four Plus One, Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, are true old school where rhymes were more party based and used relatively few syllables per bar of music.

"New School" hip-hop then covers everything from Public Enemy to Jay-Z to Lil’ Wayne, and most fans of hip-hop are familiar with this movement. This travels from political expression to ghetto stories to multi-syllable rhymes.
Still, I think in most younger* hip-hop minds of today, the term "Old School" refers to late “New School” by definition. I'm a hypocrite to my own doctrine - I even say "Old School" by mistake when I get lazy. I love to spin early 90’s hip-hop (i.e. Big Daddy Kane, EPMD, Pete Rock & CL Smooth, Eric B. & Rakim, Native Tongues, Gang Starr, Leaders of the New School, etc..); however, when the younger heads of today ask me what I spin, rather than get into the definition of it, I simply say “Old School” hip-hop because I know they don’t think pre 1984 – they’re probably thinking 90’s hip-hop (it's really "Golden Era" hip-hop - see below).

This is where the confusion lies, because the term “Old School” has become a moving target for music fans. In my mind, it’s more subjective to age. If this is the case, then it’s sad to think that Lil’ Wayne will be “Old School” in 2020. This brings up another attribute to the definition of “Old School” - it’s where the music you’re listening to now was directly descended from. That said, knowing that kids of today will categorize Lil’ Wayne and Drake as “Old School” 10 years from now is both an insult and a gross misrepresentation of the terminology. “Old School” is 1979-1984, everything else is “New School” – easy enough.

Within “New School” though, we have our sub genres. The most apparent one to me is what we call the “Golden Era” of hip-hop, where beats and rhymes were at its most prominent and creative state. The industry was less saturated and money had yet to be made - always a fertile ground for artists. This generally resided from 1988-1995.

In my previous statement about telling people I play “Old School”, I really mean the “Golden Era” hip-hop. The percentage of people that know this seems to diminish every year – that’s because the kids in the club today were only 1 to 7 yrs. old during that time. I’m a problem of my own cause, and I really should take a brief minute to explain what it is I spin to someone who doesn’t know it.

So, that solves the hip-hop school terminologies from 1979-1995. DJ’s really should promote these terms more correctly, so the crowd and DJ’s themselves can maintain the definitions and keep the musical expectations consistent. However, we're still missing what we call hip-hop from the late 90’s to today. If it’s radio, then my suggestion would be “The removal of intelligence and talent school of ADD” hip-hop. Just kidding. Any ideas?

-Bamboo

*I don't mean to say that any hip-hop head younger than me doesn't get it. I know plenty of 20-somethings that know just as much - I respect that dearly. I'm generalizing, and with all generalizations you will get false profiling. I do, however, have to admit that the nostalgia and life experiences during the time a song/LP released are priceless. You can't teach memories.