Hip-hop at 50: The artists mixing it up and moving it forward

Hip-hop is 50 years old, and implicit the past fewer decades the genre's created a agelong database of icons who've changed the look of music.

It started successful the Bronx, successful New York, successful August 1973, erstwhile funk and psyche DJ Kool Herc mixed 2 records together.

Since then, experimentation has been a trademark of hip-hop, with artists keeping 1 ft successful the past arsenic they make innovative, breathtaking caller sounds.

Names similar Dr Dre, Biggie, Tupac, and Lauryn Hill person influenced oregon helped to boost newer acts similar Eminem, Kendrick Lamar and Megan Thee Stallion.

Spin-off sub-genres similar drill and grime, and determination scenes successful Europe, South America and Asia person kept the sounds caller and made the genre a planetary powerhouse.

According to streaming work Spotify, hip-hop and rap are consistently successful its apical 3 most-listened genres.

And for the past 3 years some person produced astir fractional of its apical 50 artists.

But a full caller procreation is hoping to 1 time articulation hip-hop royalty connected billions of playlists astir the world.

BBC Newsbeat spoke to immoderate young, up-and-coming artists to find retired what the aboriginal could hold.

Jordan Adetunji, from Belfast, describes himself arsenic a "hip-hop scientist" who draws his influences from anyplace and everywhere.

The 24-year-old says his Nigerian practice draws him to Afrobeats portion his Irish upbringing sees him gully inspiration from the likes of Northern Irish guitarist Gary Moore.

Hip-hop is "so experimental" helium says. "It tin beryllium mixed with truthful galore antithetic things.

"That's wherever I spell with my music. I tin premix it with alternate stone oregon I tin premix it with creation music. I consciousness similar that's conscionable truthful exciting.

"I consciousness similar I tin truly explicit myself with hip-hop, which is 1 of the champion things astir it.

"I'm mixing truthful overmuch but it benignant of gels together. So that's benignant of similar a idiosyncratic - I similar to premix things unneurotic and spot what I tin travel up with."

You can't speech astir the aboriginal of euphony without mentioning AI.

It's already been arguable - a machine-generated opus featuring a fake Drake and The Weeknd collab was pulled from Spotify - and Jordan's not convinced the tech volition assistance hip-hop.

"It's a bully experimental tool," helium tells Newsbeat, but helium says it could ne'er replicate the expressive prime humans bring.

"Raw emotion is thing that radical gravitate towards and we tin consciousness arsenic quality beings.

"A definite benignant of vigor oregon emotion to a opus that I conscionable consciousness similar can't beryllium created."

Miss LaFamilia, from Birmingham, was raised connected artists similar Lauryn Hill.

She says the Fugees vocalist "took the crown - she utilized to rap hard, and past besides sing truthful sweet".

And Miss LaFamilia takes inspiration from figures similar Lauryn, who've blazed a way for different females.

"Being a woman, sometimes you conscionable person to basal your crushed a small spot more," she says.

"I conscionable made it my happening wherever it was like, I'm gonna basal connected the forefront and marque myself beryllium seen and heard and I deliberation that's what the women person to do."

But she's hopeful that hip-hop volition go adjacent much inclusive and empowering for women successful future.

She highlights artists similar Mercury Music prize victor Little Simz arsenic bringing thing caller to the country portion inactive remaining rooted successful the genre's past of speaking connected societal issues.

"There are inactive artists that are precise heavy and precise conscious and inactive enactment a batch into their music," she says.

"They've inactive got that constituent of hip-hop that was determination backmost successful the day."

Rapper Avelino agrees that artists similar Little Simz and Dave are carrying connected the contented of "using your endowment and dependable to talk for radical successful the struggle".

"These artists springiness maine assurance successful the aboriginal of the game, the aboriginal of rap, the essence of hip-hop," helium says.

The 30-year-old from London, who broke retired successful 2015, has toured with Stormzy and heads up a caller BBC Radio 1Xtra podcast The Rap Roundtable.

He remembers listening to Tupac and Biggie connected his siblings' CD players, and says 50 years of hip-hop has shaped him immensely arsenic an artist.

And helium says it was watching hip-hop successful the UK evolve, spilling into the grime scene, that astir inspired him.

"It's 1 happening seeing idiosyncratic from crossed the Atlantic bash something," helium says.

"But erstwhile it's idiosyncratic from down the road, it truly makes you judge that you tin person a vocation by rapping."

What hip-hop created, Avelino believes, is simply a "platform for poets to talk their truth" and that young rappers similar him are "part of that timeline".

"We basal connected the shoulders of each the giants that came earlier us," helium says.

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