Rap, hiphop. These two styles of music are very similar. So what is rap? What is hiphop? What are the differences between the two. Besides the many styles of music that interest me, I definitely have an interest in rap as hiphop. But what exactly is it that attracts me so much in that music? Is it the rap? Is it the hiphop sound? When I go looking for music, I'm always happy when I find something in this music genre. It does take more searching than other styles of music. It's always a kick when I find another single or record from the hiphop 80s or 90s. My big idols are surely De La Soul, Tony Scott, LL.COOL.J, Salt 'N Pepa, Neneh Cherry, Snoop Dogg, Eminem and I could name many more.

When I was in high school, Neneh Cherry had just entered the charts with the song Buffalo Stance. How cool was that! A female rapper, she was so young and already had such a cool image and also so tough the way she looked. I thought it was so megacool that I also wanted a baseball jacket, nike shoes with chequered laces. Then she released the song Manchild. I tried to rap the whole song by heart. If I still hear the song now I still rap along. I started writing rap songs with my very best friend, too, and we called ourselves M2BR. During school breaks, we would recite the lyrics together and practise. We didn't do anything else with it then. Just for fun.

It was the period of skateboarding, which I also did, dancing to hip-hop music, graffiti. I remember I had a classmate who could draw very beautiful graffiti letters and write quickly with a pen. I always remembered a word then and practised it often so I could write it like that too. Sometimes when I'm bored or on the phone, I still scribble that word on scrap sheets. The years shifted. I started collecting vinyl music a few years ago. In the meantime, I picked up some nice records and singles. And then I decided to delve a bit more into what exactly rap and hip-hop is. Where does it come from? And what about musicians like the group Snap for instance or Soul II Soul, 2 Unlimited, in which you also hear rap, but which you can't really classify under hip-hop. So what do they fall under? I always thought I hear rap, so then it's hiphop. But that's so not true. It can also be nederpop, hip-house, eurodance.

Ragoo

The moment I wanted to delve more into it was when I found a single titled Ragoo in a shop. One of the things I always fall for, too, is the cover of a single. I love cartoon-style covers, pop art-like things. It's often a bit like that graffiti-like style too. I had the cover in my hands and Ragoo, honestly, it said nothing to me. Title song is "Everybody in the place" in two versions. Again, it said nothing to me. Then I looked at the back cover. I see names on it. I soon find out that this song was mixed by Rutger Kroese nicknamed "Ruttie"

Then something does dawn on me and I think this song was mixed by a Dutch music producer. It turns out to be true. It is a song from 1991. Back then, I was buying CDs and CD singles. Then I didn't buy it. This time I did on vinyl. I put the song on and ask myself, "Is it rap?" "Is it hiphop?" It used to be called raphouse when it was just emerging. You also had Disco Mix Club in those days where DJs would meet to make remixes. Called turntable mixes ( turntablism ) From the late 1980s, it was called Hiphouse . This is a sub-genre within house and hip-hop music that was especially on the rise in the mid-1980s and early 1990s. Back then, you also had those Turn up the Bass compilation records with all kinds of remixes on them. Hiphouse also included rapping. That's also the period when Rutger Kroese made various mixes for various artists, including Tony Scott, Mr Lee. Those names definitely mean something to me too, as I also played music at that time by these artists and also collected the vinyl singles. Tony Scott from the song Get into It and Mr.Lee from the song Get Busy. Kroese produced Tony Scott's song Pick Up The Pieces and From Da Soul and with Mr.Lee the song Take Me Higher.

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