Hip Hop Culture The History of Hip Hop Culture The roots of hip hop culture are in West African and African-American music (Armstrong, 1997; Hummell, 2002)
During the 1980's and 1990's, hip hop gradually became mainstream in the United States and, to a lesser degree, worldwide. Branches of Hip Hop Culture The five main branches of hip hop culture include: a) mixing, which is the art of combining sounds using turntables or other sources, b) "b boying" or dancing, c) graffiti art, d) "MC'ing," and e) beat boxing (Farmington, 2002)
Soon, performers began speaking in sync with these rhythms. In 1967, Jamaican immigrants brought dub to New York City, where it evolved into hip hop (Hummell, 2002; Mills, 1999)
Dub had arisen in Jamaica due to the influence of American sailors and radio stations playing rhythm and blues. By the end of the 1970's, hip hop music was beginning to become a major commercial and artistic force and had spread throughout the United States (Mills, 1999)
These fusions helped move hip hop into new audiences, and introduced it to millions of new fans in the United States and abroad. Beginning in the early 1980's, hip hop culture began its spread across the world (Sutter, 2002)
As it tears away and deconstructs mainstream culture. (Lewis, 2009) This is used to communicate about lifestyle choices and offer a way of thinking / behaving
The positive approach to understand and realize the importance of the hip hop music is that it supports the modish approach in understanding the prevailing circumstances of the society. As a matter of fact the news media is although serving the purpose of educating the people with the current scenarios that may impact the life of the elites in one way or the other, but the competitive advantage that the hip hop music have over the traditional media is not bounded to regions and origins but this music can be utilized by the rappers in conveying the desired message effectively (Rose)
To say that hip-hop is inherently 'anti-woman' and 'anti-gay' raises the question of identity for Black female hip-hop artists. "Hip-hop is about telling stories of struggle and life, and I think there's a real story to tell of urban, gay youth" mourned one Black gay music critic (Bennett 2009, p
If anything, our movement's duet with Eminem exposes our own reliance on questionable tactics. It also highlights what a willing dance partner we make for someone like Eminem, who rushed headlong into the spotlight created by all this controversy" wrote one gay activist of gay singer Elton John's embrace of the popular white star (Grantham 2001)
Yet concerns about female subjection in the feminist community are often solely phrased in terms of heterosexual desire, and non-heterosexual women are often seen as so marginal to the discourse that they are said to have no stake in the rehabilitation of women in the hip-hop community. For example, interestingly, when discussing the issue of homosexuality and a recently published song by a lesbian black artist, Michael Eric Dyson, author of the book Between God and Gangsta Rap: Bearing Witness to Black Culture said: "the real thing is going to be when you get some brother coming out" (Jamison 1998)
History of Hip Hop The roots of hip hop can be traced back to the 1970s, when a Jamaican-born DJ by the name of Clive Campbell (also known as "Kool Herc") moved to New York. Herc came out of a dancehall tradition, and soon began integrating reggae sounds with the Jamaican tradition of toasting, or improvising poetry and spoken word over funk, reggae, and disco music during parties held in the parks of the Bronx in New York (Kenner 350-357)
This track is known for incorporating synthesizer technology into the language of hip hop, as well as the rapidly evolving drum machine technology of the '80s. The most vital medium for spreading the hip hop message in the 1980s, however, was the birth of the music video (Rose 192)
." There are four primary components that make up hip hop culture: MCing or rapping, DJing, breakdancing, and graffiti, with a fifth added by some - beatboxing (Alridge and Stewart; Sheng)
As Alridge and Stewart note, hip hop "has developed as a cultural and artistic phenomenon affecting youth culture around the world." Hip hop has not only contributed to the popular culture, but to the American economy as well (Goodson)
Disc jockeys could be found alternating and mixing excerpts from records, adding 'scratching' noises to the mix, while a vocalist would recite rhymed lyrics that sounded similar to spoken poetry. Some of the founding fathers of rap included: Afrika Bambaataa, DJ Kool Here, Grandmaster Flash (Grinage), and Sugarhill Gang (Kenis)
Disc jockeys could be found alternating and mixing excerpts from records, adding 'scratching' noises to the mix, while a vocalist would recite rhymed lyrics that sounded similar to spoken poetry. Some of the founding fathers of rap included: Afrika Bambaataa, DJ Kool Here, Grandmaster Flash (Grinage), and Sugarhill Gang (Kenis)
Since this time, hip hop culture has spread to all four corners of the world, garnering fans beyond their originally intended audience ("Don't Hate"). There is no youth trend that is more visible globally than hip hop (Watkins)