Q 01/05

Which founding father of hip hop pioneered the breakbeat on two turntables?

A) Grandmaster Flash

B) DJ Kool Herc

C) Afrika Bambaataa

D) Kurtis Blow

Answer · why

B) DJ Kool Herc

DJ Kool Herc isolated the instrumental drum 'break' of funk records and looped it between two copies on two turntables, a technique he called the merr...

Q 02/05

Which album, N.W.A's debut, is credited with accelerating the rise of hardcore gangsta rap?

A) The Chronic

B) Straight Outta Compton

C) Doggystyle

D) All Eyez on Me

Answer · why

B) Straight Outta Compton

Straight Outta Compton (1988) was N.W.A's debut studio album; its track 'Fuck tha Police' drew a warning letter from the FBI in 1989, and it went plat...

Q 03/05

Which 1980s hip hop subgenre put political activism at the centre of its lyrics?

A) Conscious Hip Hop

B) Crunk

C) Trap

D) Mumble Rap

Answer · why

A) Conscious Hip Hop

Conscious hip hop, also called political rap, put activism at the centre of its lyrics; Public Enemy's 1988 album It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hol...

Q 04/05

Which New York borough is regarded as the birthplace of hip hop?

A) Brooklyn

B) Queens

C) Manhattan

D) The Bronx

Answer · why

D) The Bronx

The Bronx party at 1520 Sedgwick Avenue on 11 August 1973 is the most-cited origin point; Herc's sister Cindy threw it to raise back-to-school money.

Q 05/05

Which East Coast rapper debuted in 1994 with the acclaimed 'Illmatic'?

A) The Notorious B.I.G.

B) Jay-Z

C) Nas

D) Big L

Answer · why

C) Nas

Nas released Illmatic on 19 April 1994, aged 20; the Queensbridge rapper's debut sold slowly at first but was quickly hailed as a lyrical landmark and...