Black History Month reflects on all the accomplishments black people have made. From the past to the present, black people have been making an impact, small or big in multiple different areas. This Black History Month spotlight, we’re going to focus on rappers who changed the game and are unique in their own way of expressing their art.

Grandmaster Flash is a producer and DJ, who created iconic beats in the hip hop world through mixing. Mixing is the process of combining audio recorded tracks together to make a tape. As a young teenager, Flash started to work with DJ equipment. As he developed his skills, he created different techniques, such as the Backspin and Punch Phrasing. His creation of a new technical way of handling DJ is still recognized and used to this day.

Music wouldn’t be complete without good technique in the hooks and beats. Flash pushed out new innovative ways to manipulate mixes, and that’s what makes him a good DJ.

Another important figure of the Hip-Hop world is William Michael Griffin Jr., better known as Rakim. As a New York native and child of R&B singer Ruth Brown, Rakim quickly got involved in hip-hop at age 18. Towards his early adulthood, he met Eric Barrier and they began recording in a studio together. With Eric’s production of the beats and Rakim’s calm, but intense rhymes, they became recognized as the most iconic hip-hop duo of the golden age.

There are definitely more revolutionizers of hip-hop’s extensive styles. The community is so diverse and multiple artists create a different atmosphere through their music. Rap and hip-hop is an artform that is still growing and changing to this day. But in the earliest of raps, these people had an impact on it.