US singer Charlie Puth, 23, skyrocketed to stardom for his vocals on chart-topping single “See You Again”. But he knew his name alone couldn’t sell the “Furious 7” song. Puth told Entertainment Weekly his team asked well-known American rapper Wiz Khalifa, 27, to lend his voice to the track to beef up its appeal, and Khalifa agreed. Three months after its release, the song is still sitting pretty at the top of the Billboard charts.
今年23岁的美国歌手查理•普斯因献声榜单冠军单曲《See You Again》而迅速走红。但是，最初他也深知仅自己一人之名并不能保证这首《速度与激情7》主题曲的销量。他在接受美国《娱乐周刊》采访时表示，为了增加这首歌的吸引力，他的团队请来了美国著名饶舌歌手维兹•卡利法。《See You Again》发布3个月后，依旧稳稳占据美国公告牌榜单榜首之位。
More than ever, when the biggest hits on US airwaves aren’t rap through and through, they feature a rapper as a guest artist or boast hip-hop influences. While promoting “Yeezus” (2013), his most recent album, cultural firebrand Kanye West, 38, declared rap the “new rock and roll”. It was a provocative statement, but one of its underlying messages is indisputable: hip-hop has become a pillar of American music and culture.
美国电视广播中大热的歌曲并非彻底的嘻哈歌曲，它们或邀请说唱艺人献声或标榜嘻哈风。今年38岁的坎耶•维斯特则在2013年发布新专辑《Yeezus》时宣布说唱就是“新摇滚”。这一说法尚存争议，但其隐含意义却是个不争的事实：嘻哈音乐已经成为美国音乐与文化的支柱之一。
What’s the difference between rap and hip-hop? Definitions vary depending on whom you ask. US documentarian Peter Gerard insists a New York DJ was the first to describe rap as a broader part of a hip-hop culture, a myth that’s become widely accepted as fact. However, in common usage, the words rap and hip-hop are used interchangeably when describing the music.
那么，说唱与嘻哈有何区别？二者的定义因人而异。美国纪录片制作人皮特•杰勒德坚持认为是某个纽约DJ首次将说唱定义为广义的嘻哈文化，而这种神秘的说法也被当作事实广为接受。不过，通常这两个词在描述音乐时可以互换。
That music began taking shape in New York City’s black neighborhoods in the late 1960s, and about a decade later it emerged as a fully-fledged genre. Since then, the music has gone through waves of reinvention prompted by changing social dynamics and music industry influence. Throughout the 1980s and 90s it was a raw and unflinching expression of the joys, sorrows and aspirations of the US’ black underclass. In today’s Internet age, it’s become a platform anyone can use for creative expression.
这类音乐出现在20世纪60年代后期的纽约黑人社区，10年之后风格趋于成熟。自此之后，该音乐形式又在社会变革与音乐产业的影响下经历了一波又一波的革新。20世纪80至90年代，它表达着美国下层黑人最原始、最直接的快乐、悲伤与心愿。在网络时代的今天，它则成为了任何人都可以表达自我的平台。
Rap’s broadening appeal has allowed it to latch onto other facets of global music and spin off in unexpected directions. Everyone from your favorite K-pop boy band to pop queen Taylor Swift, 25, is hopping on the hip-hop train. These new influences are forever changing the face of the music just as the music itself is changing the face of American culture.
说唱音乐不断扩大的吸引力也让它得以与其他音乐风格相结合，衍生出意想不到的新方向。从你最爱的韩流男团到25岁的流行女王泰勒•斯威夫特，他们都是嘻哈快车上的一员。这些新的影响将不断改变音乐的面貌，正如音乐本身也在不断改变着美国文化一般。
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