hip hop introduction essay

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Origins and the old school

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• American hip-hop in the 21st century
• Hip-hop goes online
• Hip-hop as a global phenomenon

What are the four main elements of hip-hop?

How did hip-hop get its name, who are the founders of hip-hop, what was the first major hip-hop song.

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While there is some debate over the number of elements of hip-hop, there are four elements that are considered to be its pillars: deejaying, or “turntabling”; rapping, also known as “MCing” (emceeing) or “rhyming”; graffiti painting, also known as “graf” or “writing”; and break dancing, or “B-boying,” which encompasses hip-hop dance, style, and attitude, along with the sort of virile body language that philosopher Cornel West described as “postural semantics.” Many also cite a fifth essential component: “knowledge of self/consciousness.” Other suggested elements include street fashion and language.

There are various explanations for the source of the term hip-hop . However, the most popular one involves Keith (”Keef Cowboy”) Wiggins, a member of the rap group Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five . The rapper used the words hip/hop/hip/hop , imitating the sound of soldiers marching, in reference to a friend who had joined the army. According to some accounts, Kevin (”Lovebug Starski”) Smith was with Wiggins and helped create the phrase. Hip-hop was subsequently popularized in songs, notably the Sugarhill Gang’s “Rapper’s Delight.”

While a number of people were influential in the creation of hip-hop, much credit is given to Kool Herc (Clive Campbell), a Jamaican immigrant who was the first major hip-hop disc jockey. At a Bronx party on August 11, 1973, he introduced the technique of playing the same album on two turntables and extending the drum section (which became known as the breakbeat). Many recognize this night as the birth of hip-hop. Other pioneering hip-hop deejays include Afrika Bambaataa and Grandmaster Flash . The three men are often called the “holy trinity” of early hip-hop.

Although not the first hip-hop song, the Sugarhill Gang’s “Rapper’s Delight” (1979) was considered the first significant single of the genre. Within weeks of its release, it became a chart-topping phenomenon and gave its name to a new genre of pop music. Part of its crossover appeal was attributed to its lighthearted lyrics, which were atypical of most rap songs at the time.

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hip-hop , cultural movement that attained widespread popularity in the 1980s and ’90s and also the backing music for rap , the musical style incorporating rhythmic and/or rhyming speech that became the movement’s most lasting and influential art form.

Although widely considered a synonym for rap music, the term hip-hop refers to a complex culture comprising four elements: deejaying , or “turntabling”; rapping, also known as “MCing” or “rhyming”; graffiti painting, also known as “graf” or “writing”; and “B-boying,” which encompasses hip-hop dance, style, and attitude, along with the sort of virile body language that philosopher Cornel West described as “postural semantics.” (A fifth element, “knowledge of self/consciousness,” is sometimes added to the list of hip-hop elements, particularly by socially conscious hip-hop artists and scholars.) Hip-hop originated in the predominantly African American economically depressed South Bronx section of New York City in the late 1970s. As the hip-hop movement began at society’s margins, its origins are shrouded in myth , enigma , and obfuscation.

Graffiti and break dancing , the aspects of the culture that first caught public attention, had the least lasting effect. Reputedly, the graffiti movement was started about 1972 by a Greek American teenager who signed, or “tagged,” Taki 183 (his name and street, 183rd Street) on walls throughout the New York City subway system. By 1975 youths in the Bronx , Queens, and Brooklyn were stealing into train yards under cover of darkness to spray-paint colorful mural-size renderings of their names, imagery from underground comics and television, and even Andy Warhol -like Campbell’s soup cans onto the sides of subway cars. Soon, influential art dealers in the United States , Europe, and Japan were displaying graffiti in major galleries. New York City’s Metropolitan Transit Authority responded with dogs, barbed-wire fences, paint-removing acid baths, and undercover police squads.

The beginnings of the dancing, rapping, and deejaying components of hip-hop were bound together by the shared environment in which these art forms evolved. The first major hip-hop deejay was DJ Kool Herc (Clive Campbell), an 18-year-old immigrant who introduced the huge sound systems of his native Jamaica to inner-city parties. Using two turntables, he melded percussive fragments from older records with popular dance songs to create a continuous flow of music. Kool Herc and other pioneering hip-hop deejays such as Grand Wizard Theodore, Afrika Bambaataa , and Grandmaster Flash isolated and extended the break beat (the part of a dance record where all sounds but the drums drop out), stimulating improvisational dancing. Contests developed in which the best dancers created break dancing, a style with a repertoire of acrobatic and occasionally airborne moves, including gravity-defying headspins and backspins.

In the meantime, deejays developed new techniques for turntable manipulation. Needle dropping, created by Grandmaster Flash, prolonged short drum breaks by playing two copies of a record simultaneously and moving the needle on one turntable back to the start of the break while the other played. Sliding the record back and forth underneath the needle created the rhythmic effect called “scratching.”

Kool Herc was widely credited as the father of modern rapping for his spoken interjections over records, but among the wide variety of oratorical precedents cited for MCing are the epic histories of West African griots , talking blues songs, jailhouse toasts (long rhyming poems recounting outlandish deeds and misdeeds), and the dozens (the ritualized word game based on exchanging insults, usually about members of the opponent’s family). Other influences cited include the hipster-jive announcing styles of 1950s rhythm-and-blues deejays such as Jocko Henderson ; the Black power poetry of Amiri Baraka , Gil Scott-Heron, and the Last Poets ; rapping sections in recordings by Isaac Hayes and George Clinton; and the Jamaican style of rhythmized speech known as toasting.

Rap first came to national prominence in the United States with the release of the Sugarhill Gang ’s song “ Rapper’s Delight ” (1979) on the independent African American-owned label Sugar Hill . Within weeks of its release, it had become a chart-topping phenomenon and given its name to a new genre of pop music . The major pioneers of rapping were Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five , Kurtis Blow, and the Cold Crush Brothers, whose Grandmaster Caz is controversially considered by some to be the true author of some of the strongest lyrics in “Rapper’s Delight.” These early MCs and deejays constituted rap’s old school.

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Hip-Hop Digital Essay: The Evolution of Hip-Hop into the Modern Era- By Matt Scott

Trinity College

Digital Essay: The Evolution of Hip-Hop into the Modern Era (Essay #2)

Matt Scott FYSM 212: Introduction to Hip-Hop Professor Markle Due: 12/15/19

Looking back at the history of hip-hop, and the rich culture surrounding the art form, it’s clear that the roots of the genre have been stripped down to almost nothing over the years. I believe hip-hop is an art form, a mix of breaking, DJing, and MCing all coming together under one roof with emphasis on the sound and rhythm of the music, created in black communities as an outlet. In its early days, hip-hop lyrics weren’t preaching any particular message, but the movement and its impact on communities sent a powerful message. The movement was about bringing together communities, stopping violence, and inspiring a generation of youth – and its impact on black culture was positive and powerful. Today we see the art form being used to promote violence, the disrespect of women, drug abuse, and other negative messages that are at odds with hip-hop’s origins. It is now about making money, selling records, and gaining popularity at all costs. The popularity of hip-hop opened the door for many talented black artists and created new opportunities for a community of people who have been mistreated at every turn throughout history. I think the new era of hip-hop has had a negative impact on the art form itself, and it puts a bad label on the community. Without its core principles, hip-hop loses what made it special. When all the lyrics are just hollow and meaningless words, it leaves you with something that’s not hip-hop at all, but just a way to make money. In this essay I’m going to be looking at five hit songs from top artists from each decade, starting with Sugar Hill Gang’s “Rappers Delight” and ending with Migos’s “Bad and Boujee”. The purpose of this essay is to show the evolution of hip-hop from its roots in the Bronx through the present day by exploring the lyrics and message behind each song.

Hip-hop without the other forms of creative expression tied to it is a way of mixing lyrics and beats to convey a meaningful message about the culture and community from which it emerged. If you take away the powerful message of justice and equality that many true hip-hop songs convey, you’re left with a money hungry industry doing whatever it takes to sell records. When hip-hop is being fueled by money, and not by meaning, we see the most damage being done to the community of people the art form represents. This era of hip-hop is hurting the image and meaning that hip-hop once stood for, but there’s still hope for hip-hop moving forward. If we can go back its roots, to some of those early songs from the 80s, 90s and into the early 2000s that represent the true ideals behind hip-hop, there is a chance for the industry and genre to regrow with its strong roots back in place.

Work Cited “Song Lyrics & Knowledge.” Genius, https://genius.com/. Chang, Jeff, and DJ Kool Herc. Can’t Stop Won’t Stop: a History of the Hip-Hop Generation. St.Martins Press, 2008.

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• Hip Hop Culture

Hip Hop: A Culture of Vision and Voice

Hip hop is global, lapping on every shore and landing at every airport. But what does hip hop  mean? Is it the music with a chest-thumping beat? The rapid-fire lyrics rapped into a handheld mic? Gravity-defying dance steps? Writers turning walls into canvases with larger-than-life letters and illustrations?

Lesson Content

DJ Tony Tone and DJ Kool Herc, 1979 © Joe Conzo, Jr. photographs and ephemera, #8091. Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections, Cornell University Library.  

DJ Kool Herc is credited with throwing the switch at an August 1973 dance bash. He spun the same record on twin turntables, toggling between them to isolate and extend percussion breaks—the most danceable sections of a song. It was a technique that filled the floor with dancers who had spent days and weeks polishing their moves.  The effect that night was electric, and soon other DJs in the Bronx were trying to outdo Herc. It was a code that has flowed through hip hop ever since: 1) Use skills and whatever resources are available to create something new and cool; 2) Emulate and imitate the genius of others but inject personal style until the freshness glows. Competition was, and remains, a prime motivator in the hip hop realm. Like a powerful star, this dance-party scene quickly drew other art forms into its orbit. A growing movement of hopeful poets, visual artists, and urban philosophers added their visions and voices by whatever means available. They got the word out about what was happening in their neighborhoods—neighborhoods much of mainstream, middle-class America was doing its best to ignore or run down. Hip hop kept coming, kept pushing, kept playing until that was no longer possible. Today, some hip hop scholars fold as many as six elements into hip hop culture. They include:

• DJing —the artistic handling of beats and music
• MCing , aka  rapping —putting spoken-word poetry to a beat
• Breaking —hip hop’s dance form
• Writing —the painting of highly stylized graffiti
• Theater and literature —combining hip hop elements and themes in drama, poetry, and stories
• Knowledge of self —the moral, social, and spiritual principles that inform and inspire hip hop ways of being.

From its work-with-what-you-got epicenter in the Bronx, hip hop has rolled outward to become a multibillion-dollar business. Its sounds, styles, and fashions are now in play around the world. DJs spin turntables in Sao Paulo, Brazil. MCs rap Arabic in the clubs of Qatar. B-boys and b-girls bust baby freezes in Finland. Graffiti rises on the Great Wall of China. Young poets slam poetry in D.C. So what is hip hop? All of the above and more—whatever we love enough to bring.

The Evolution Of Hip Hop [1979-2017]

Breaking: The Dance Style of Hip Hop

Richard Colón was just 10 when his cousin took him to his first schoolyard bash in 1976. “Ah, I was just blown away,” he says in Jeff Chang’s history of hip hop,  Can’t Stop Won’t Stop . “I just saw all these kids having fun...checking out the whole scene, and it was my first time watching the dance with the music being played...I just immediately became a part of it.”

He soon became a  big  part of it. By his early teens, the boy now immortalized as “Crazy Legs” became a trendsetter for breaking—a dance revolution still popping, locking, and rocking the world.

Making a B-line from the Bronx

As hip hop culture rose from the streets of the Bronx, breaking spun up and stepped out from the concrete itself. Early b(reaker)-girls and b-boys like Crazy Legs and his Rock Steady Crew earned their skills on that hard ground, admiring each other’s cuts, bruises, and “battle scars” as they pushed one another to evermore audacious displays of style and guts.

In keeping with hip hop’s ethic of improvisation, breaking is often a create-on-the-fly dance style. It mixes super-quick footwork with body-torquing twists. Robotic movements flow into smooth whole-body waves before dropping into acrobatic leg flares that suddenly halt in mid-spin freezes that seem to defy gravity. Breaking is the ultimate 3-D dance—flipping high, spinning low, and putting a premium on physical imagination and bravado.

Getting on the Good Foot

Breaking has copied from many dance styles to generate this uniqueness. These styles include the Charleston from 100 years ago that loaned its characteristic leg kick and arm swing as a top-rocking move. The ad-libbing of the Lindy Hop, popular from the 1920s on, also lives in breaking’s style. For individual inspiration, though, no one can best soul singer James Brown. His high-energy dance moves in the 1960s and 70s have inspired b-boys and b-girls ever since, and his song “Get on the Good Foot” is one of breaking’s early anthems. Tap, steppin’, ballet, disco, and modern all continue to contribute.

Breaking has rummaged beyond the dance floor and stage to find many of its most dramatic moves. The whirling torsos and legs of gymnasts on the pommel horse are seen in leg flares, for example. Down-rocking reflects techniques from gymnastic floor routines.The world of hand-to-hand combat has also provided inspiration for b-boys and b-girls. Hip hop scholars often link breaking with  capoeira , a martial arts dance with roots in Angola and Brazil that displays acrobatics, grace, and power. A full-blown showdown makes it clear why breaking contests are referred to as “battles” as dancers mix dance moves with shadow kicks, leg sweeps, and fake attacks in the faces of the competition.

Breaking is much more than a sum of moves from various dances and disciplines, though. It is a living, breathing art form unique every time dancers take their turn in a cypher (see sidebar). Through the years the Rock Steady Crew, the Mighty Zulu Kings, the Lockers, the Electric Boogaloos, and thousands of other individuals and crews have continuously renewed and refreshed the style with original spins, fresh freezes, and new twists on power moves—often laced with body-bending humor. Competition and innovation in breaking—as with all things hip hop—is essential and inspired, and today its style inspires wherever people dance.

Flying Legs Crew: Kings of New York

Hip Hop Vocabulary

B-Terms to Know

The basic vocabulary of breaking—hip hop’s dance style include:

popping  fluid movements of the limbs, such as moving arms like an ocean wave, that emphasize contractions of isolated muscles  locking  snapping arms or legs into held positions, often at sharp angles, to accent a musical rhythm  top-rocking  fancy footwork performed upright  down-rocking  dance moves performed on or close to the ground  up-rocking  martial arts strikes, kicks and sweeps built into the dance steps often with the intent of “burning” an opponent  power moves  acrobatic spins and flares requiring speed, strength, and agility  freeze  sudden halt of a dance step to hold a pose, often while balanced on a hand, shoulder, or head  cypher  group of b-boys/b-girls taking turns in the center of the dance floor

DJing: The Artist at the Turntable

DJs are the soul behind the beat that pleases, surprises, and puts people on the dance floor. The best DJs have an almost mystical sense of mood at a party or club. They sense the right moment to cue the right song using the right technique to take the party where it’s ready to go. It is that insight, a passionate knowledge of music, and technical know-how that make DJing one of the pillars of hip hop culture.

Working the Sound System

A DJ’s sound system is a laboratory for making music magic. Twin turntables are standard, allowing the DJ to switch easily between songs, or spin and manipulate records in tandem to create effects or unique musical combinations. The turntables are wired to a receiver, amplifier, and earthquake-causing speakers. The DJ may use headphones to cue up the next song or song segment as the current music plays. Then he or she uses a mixer, or fader, to make transitions from one turntable to the other—hopefully without missing a beat. Today’s DJs often incorporate digitized and computerized components, as well. But most hip hop purists frown on DJs who button-push preprogrammed playlists. Hip hop culture saves its greatest praise for inspired improvisation.

Before the rise of hip hop, the DJ’s basic role was relatively simple—spin records at a party, club, or on the radio. DJ Kool Herc’s keen observations changed that game. He noticed the energy on the dance floor went off the charts during the “breaks” of songs. Breaks are the instrumental sections in many pop and rhythm & blues numbers that highlight percussion and rhythm.

Herc experimented with methods to extend these sections by playing the same record on both turntables, a technique refined by fellow pioneering DJ Grandmaster Flash. With needle-fine timing, they switched back and forth between the turntables to multiply the break. Crowds, especially dancing b-boys and b-girls, couldn’t get enough. Since the beginning, hip hop DJs have been instrumental in channeling youthful energy away from trouble and toward creative fun.

Good DJs constantly explore ways to pleasantly shock their audiences. They may give people the songs they expect, planning out smooth transitions by matching beats and musical keys from one number to the next. They also innovate by listening for songs within songs, lifting and linking snippets to take the music somewhere new.

In the never-ending quest to distinguish their mix, DJs often haunt used-record stores. They are on the prowl for long-lost songs or sounds they can make new again through the magic of hip hop. Legendary DJ and all-around hip hop luminary Afrika Bambaataa is famous for creating sets that spin from the Pink Panther theme to Kraftwerk to calypso to speeches of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, Jr. All that is good from the past and present has a place at the hip hop turntable.

Scratching and Turntablism

As part of the hip hop style of life, DJs are constantly experimenting to set themselves apart from competition. One technique DJs embraced is scratching. To scratch, the DJ physically manipulates the record beneath the needle. Grand Wizzard Theodore stumbled on the technique in the mid-70s. He was a young teen blasting his music when his mom scolded him to turn it down. He fumbled the needle, liked the effect, practiced it, and began using it in shows. Other DJs quickly added scratching to their repertoire as a way to inject more personal style into the music flow.

More recently, turntablism has become an astounding source of new style. It involves extensive real-time sampling from spinning records to create something funky and fresh. Watching an experienced turntablist create in real time is an awe-inspiring experience.

Kool Herc "Merry-Go-Round" Technique

DJ-Terms to Know

The basic vocabulary of  DJing —hip hop’s music style include:

back spinning  turntable technique that quickly “rewinds” a section of a recording beat juggling  manipulating two or more recordings to create a unique musical arrangement beat matching  following a song with another that uses an identical or similar rhythm break , or  breakbeat  instrumental section of a song that emphasizes percussion and rhythm cue  positioning a recording to play at a specific point DJ  short for “disc jockey,” a person who plays recorded music for an audience drum machine , or  beat box  electronic device used by DJs to synthesize drum beats looping  replaying a section of a song to extend it sampling  lifting a section of a recording and using it in a different number or recording scratching  technique of physically manipulating a recording to create a unique effect turntablism  live and extensive manipulation of recordings to create a unique song

MCs: Masters of Rhythm, Rhyme, and Flow

Today, MCs like Jay-Z, MC Lyte, and Kendrick Lamar fly high profiles in the world of hip hop. But that wasn’t always the case for the poets of the microphone.

In hip hop’s early years, its music scene focused on the disc jockey and the dance floor. The MC—short for “master of ceremonies”—was often a kind of sidekick to the DJ. In  Yes Yes Y’all , an oral history of early hip hop, Grandmaster Caz describes the rise of MCing this way: “The microphone was just used for making announcements, like when the next party was gonna be, or people’s mom’s would come to the party looking for them, and you have to announce it on the mic.”

Before long, though, MCs wanted to showcase their own talents. Grandmaster Caz continues: “Different DJs started embellishing what they were saying. I would make an announcement this way, and somebody would hear that and they add a little bit to it. I’d hear it again and take it a little step further ’til it turned from lines to sentences to paragraphs to verses to rhymes.”

More and more, MCs earned the right to grab the mic using freestyle skills to entertain and command a live audience. A “master of ceremonies” might make all the needed announcements; but the job of an MC then and now is to guide everyone’s good time with their energy, wit, and ability to interact with people on the floor. And good MCs don’t just demand the mic—the audience honors their skills by demanding they take it.

Rappers emerged as a somewhat distinct group as rap gained commercial success. They were the voices and characters that created and sold the records. In some ways, the talents and responsibilities of rappers overlap with MCs, and an MC might also rap. The interaction with the audience is the big difference.

In 1979, a trio of MCs rapped over the break from Chic’s “Good Times.” The result was The Sugarhill Gang’s “Rapper’s Delight,” rap’s first hit. Three years later, Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five released  The Message , a funky but unblinking account of hard times in an inner-city neighborhood. As the 1980s unrolled, MCs and rappers rose rapidly from second fiddles to big dogs including Rakim, Big Daddy Kane, Run DMC, and Public Enemy. They created personas, cooler-than-life characters that might be super-smooth or gangland tough. They boasted about their style and talents and made sure to honor the DJ. MCing and rapping went from sideshow to main event as one of hip hop’s essential elements.

Hip Hop’s Rapping Poets

An MC or rapper’s “flow” is crucial to his or her performance. The flow is the combination of rhyme and rhythm to create the rap’s desired effect: fluid and soothing to communicate romance, for example; staccato and harsh to signal anger and conflict.

Before hip hop and rap took hold in the United States, spoken-word poetry occasionally worked its way into jazz performances. Many history-minded rappers also connect their art to The Last Poets, a Harlem-based group, and The Watts Prophets out of Los Angeles. Both emerged in the late-1960s and paired political poetry with improvisational jazz. Gil Scott-Heron’s “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised” resembles rap before it got the name.

Increasingly, students of hip hop culture recognize the best MCs as accomplished formal poets. They rap complex rhyme schemes, most built on a rock-solid four-beat rhythm, or meter. But again, a good MC surprises audiences with syncopation and other off-the-beat techniques. hip hop aficionados reserve special respect for MCs with freestyle skills—the ability to improvise fresh rhymes while standing in the heat of the spotlight.

The Sugarhill Gang - Rapper's Delight

MC-Terms to Know

The basic vocabulary of  MCing —hip hop’s vocal style:

end rhyme  rhyming words at the end of lines flow  a rapper’s vocal style freestyle  improvised rapping griot  (gree-OH) oral storytellers and historians of West Africa internal rhyme  rhyming words within the same line MC  short for “master of ceremonies”; also performer who uses rap techniques to interact with an audience meter  rhythm of a poem persona  character assumed by a performer rap  spoken-word lyrics performed to a beat; one of the elements of hip hop rapper  performer that rhymes lyrics to a rhythm spitting  speaking, performing a rap syncopation  shifting a rhythm away from the normal beat

Writing: Graffiti and Hip Hop Culture

One element of hip hop predates the music and dance scene itself—graffiti writing, or simply  writing  as the artists themselves call it. But it blossomed at the same time the music and dance scenes were finding their feet, and its wild and color-outside-the-lines improvisational style were influenced and inspired by the desire to create something new and fresh.

Graffiti has been around since humans first painted, etched, or carved on rock walls. But urban youth put a new spin on it in the 1960s. In 1967, a Philadelphia teen named Darryl McCray spray painted his alias “Cornbread” wherever he could reach on walls and trains. (He was striving to impress a girl named Cynthia.) In 1968, the budding art form made the jump to New York City. The names JULIO 204, TRACY 168, and TAKI 183 became familiar sights here, there, and increasingly everywhere.

Writing’s Heyday

The number and talents of writers spiked in the mid-1970s as hip hop’s competitive drive kicked in. They added illustrations and second colors to outline stylized bubble and block lettering. The writers—many if not most of them young teens—jumped the limits of size, complexity, and color. Their finest designs seemed to bring life to whatever they graced. They called it  wild style —and it was.

They also jumped over fences, snuck into subway tunnels, and trespassed in nighttime yards where subway cars slept. There, they practiced their art with blank walls and unstained trains as their canvases. When opportunities arose, they painted the whole sides of subway cars and even entire ten-car trains with their elaborate, colorful designs.

They had no illusions their creations would last long. But the opportunity to see their art rolling through the subway was the ultimate payoff for writers like DONDI, LADY PINK, FAB FIVE FREDDY, KASE2, and ZEPHYR. It was outrageous to think thousands of New Yorkers saw their creations each day in one of the richest cities in the world. “If art like this is a crime let God forgive me!” wrote the writer known as LEE of the Fabulous Five crew. They embraced the identity of outlaw artists and admitted the dangers and thrills were part of the appeal. They were on missions to prove they were not only the most imaginative and talented writers in their neighborhood, but the most fearless.

Not surprisingly, NYC officials were not amused. Cops cracked down on writers, and train yards were encircled with new security. At the same time, the art world was catching on that something fresh was happening in the city beyond their fancy uptown galleries. Graffiti-inspired exhibitions popped up, and some writers took the opportunity to commit their passion to canvas instead of granite and steel.

Wild, Hungry, Inspired

Writing's place in hip hop culture was cemented by the early 1980s. Early rappers used wild style on their album covers. Writers painted cool kids’ clothes with designs and got paying gigs painting murals. And two movies— Style Wars  and  Wild Style —debuted. The films made the case that a similar hungry, inspired creativity flowed through writing as well as hip hop’s music and dance scene.

Today, graffiti-influenced writing styles show up worldwide in graphic design, fashion, and street art. Outlaw artists like Banksy are still out there painting trouble. But the vision, passion, and humor the best of these writers display—legit or not—give people the chance to see the work-a-day world in new ways. They seem to say if we pay attention, we can find beauty, meaning, and art most everywhere we look.

Dan One: Alphabetical Engineer

Writing Terms to Know

The basic vocabulary of  writing graffiti —hip hop’s visual art include:

all city  being known for one’s graffiti throughout a city; originally referred to the artwork on subway cars appearing in all five New York City boroughs bite  to steal another writer’s design or style black book  sketchbook used by graffiti writers bombing  to paint many surfaces in an area burner  elaborate, large designs crew  team of writers that often work together gettin’ up  developing one’s reputation or “rep” through writing graffiti graffiti  writing, or drawing on surfaces in public places, usually without permission kings  or  queens  highly respected, experienced writers with most tags piece  short for “masterpiece,” a large, complex graffiti design stencil graffiti  premade designs of paper or cardboard that allow quicker, more exact transmission of images or lettering tag  or  scribble  stylized, but basic graffiti writer’s signature throw up  quick execution writing; generally one color outline and one color filled in toy  inexperienced writer wild style  style of writing that usually involves bold, interlocked letters writer   graffiti artist who has a distinct way they design their letters

Knowledge: A Philosophy of Hip Hop

The 1970s were lean, mean years in sections of New York City. This was especially true in the Bronx and the city’s other low-income areas. Much of the optimism of the 1960s Civil Rights Movement had faded. New York was broke. City officials sliced and diced basic services, school funding, arts education programs, and job training. Life-destroying drugs and crime haunted the streets. Absentee landlords neglected properties until building after building fell into disrepair or went up in flames.

In the face of all that, however, the energy of urban youth refused to shut down. Young people, many of them teens, created new ways of spinning records and dancing. They experimented with new styles of poetry and visual art that revealed their thinking and feelings. Eventually, the elements grooved together into a culture. A name started to stick to it: hip hop .

The Fifth Element

Hip hop’s fifth element of “knowledge” teaches the hip hop community about its identity and ways to express that identity. It places great importance on claiming a stake in one’s own education. “Knowing where YOU come from helps to show YOU where YOU are going,” writes legendary MC KRS-One. “Once you know where you come from you then know what to learn.” (By the way, “KRS” stands for “Knowledge Reigns Supreme.”)

Hip hop believes that people can take control of their lives through self-knowledge and self-expression. Knowledge influences style and technique and connects its artists under a collective hip hop umbrella. It engages the world through hip hop’s history, values, and ideas, and adds intellectual muscle to support and inform its music and moves and its poetry and art. Most importantly, it allows for a shared experience against an uncertain world.

Bambaataa Brings It

Afrika Bambaataa deserves much credit for putting this concept of knowledge into word and action. Bambaataa is a pioneering DJ and MC from the Bronx. A one-time teen leader of a gang, Bambaataa had universal respect and a powerful ability to make peace with and between enemies. His legendary music and dance parties brought together rivals to party in peace. “Free jam!” his flyers announced. “Come one come all, leave your colors at home! Come in peace and unity.”

The young Bambaataa was also a devoted student of history. He absorbed the tactics and strategies of historical leaders—from the French emperor Napoleon to the South African chieftain and military commander Shaka Zulu. He grasped the power of music as a strategy for clearing barriers that divided people, whatever their backgrounds.

By the 1980s, Bambaataa and his large and growing crew had founded the Universal Zulu Nation. Dedicated to hip hop values, the organization’s motto is “Peace, Love, Unity, and Having Fun.” They developed “Infinity Lessons”—principles and codes of conduct for living an honorable hip hop life. They emphasize community, peace, wisdom, freedom, justice, love, unity, responsibility, respect for others, and respect for self. He put his knowledge into words, and the words radiated around the Bronx, throughout New York, and across America.

Boogie Down Productions - My Philosophy

Knowledge Terms to Know

The basic vocabulary of  knowledge —hip hop’s philosophy include:

culture  the behaviors and beliefs of a particular group of people didactic  intended to teach a lesson, especially a moral lesson empowerment  increasing of economic, political, social, educational, gender, or spiritual strength of individuals or communities praxis  process when a theory, custom, or lesson is practiced society  social, economic, and cultural system strategy  plan to reach a desired result worldview  ideas about how the world works

Hip Hop Theater and Literary Arts

“Be warned, this  is  theater—but it’s hip hop  theater,” a loud voice booms before the curtain rises for  Into the Hoods . This show has been blowing away London audiences since 2008. It is an urban re-visioning of the fairy tale-genre, following a pair of school kids into a tough part of town instead of a haunted forest. But as with all fairy tales, not everything or everyone is what they seem. Ultimately the stage blazes with wild style art, DJ voiceovers, beats from multiple musical styles, b-boys and b-girls breaking in high-flying choreography, and fresh takes on familiar characters. (DJ Spinderella or Rap-On-Zel ring a bell?)

More and more, the stage has been welcoming hip hop’s elements, energy, and world view. Graffiti writing may splash across the scenery. DJing, rapping, and breaking are likely to take turns in the spotlight. Some shows, like  Into the Hoods , tell their tales mainly through dance and music, while others lay hip hop style over more traditional scripts. Hip hop artists are tackling drama, comedy, and tragedy, and some classic material is getting the hip hop makeover. Will Power’s  The Seven , for example, retells the ancient Greek tragedy  Seven Against Thebes  by Aeschylus using a DJ and rapping cast.

Collaboration and Content

Collaboration is a core ingredient for most hip hop theater groups. In the tradition of the culture, producers, directors, and playwrights stress input and participation by stakeholders—the very people the play is intended to speak to and entertain. Long-time hip hop theater writer/actor/director Danny Hoch says it this way: “Hip-hop theatre… must be  by ,  about  and  for  the hip hop generation, participants in hip hop culture, or both.”

This collaborative process clearly informs the content in hip hop plays and musicals. Plots often tackle current social issues, especially as they relate to urban communities, with characters exploring the strengths and limits of activism and empowerment. Questions of identity are often front and center, including race, class, gender, sexuality, and anything regarded as “different.” The struggle between the individual and society is a central theme as characters seek to create meaning in their lives while struggling to claim their place in the world.

Hip Hop in Prose and Poetry

MCs tell complex stories in rhythm and rhyme. Rappers write and polish their lyrics before delivering them in raps. The secret is out: hip hop poets love words. “The toughest, coolest, most dangerous-seeming MCs are, at heart, basically just enormous language dorks,” cracks music critic Sam Anderson. “They love puns and rhymes and slang and extended metaphors ….” These skills can translate smoothly into literary forms—short stories, novels, scripts, poetry, and comic book-style graphic novels. Some works relate the gritty realities of poverty or inner-city living; others find the humor there and wherever; all describe trying to survive and thrive in a rapidly changing world.

Rapped aloud or published on paper, hip hop-influenced literary forms have roots in the Black Arts Movement of the 1960s. BAM inspired a generation of African American, Latino, and feminist writers, including Amiri Baraka, Maya Angelou, Nikki Giovanni, Sonia Sanchez, the Last Poets, and many others, to share stories and views often overlooked or outright rejected by mainstream America. Along the way, spoken word—a forerunner of rap—injected energy into performance. Through poetry slams, it has developed its own fans with its forceful, fun wordplay.

As in theater, the literary world is making more space for hip hop style, subjects, and themes. Scholars Andrew DuBois and Adam Bradley recently edited and published  The Anthology of Rap , a huge collection of lyrics. Says Bradley: “[R]appers are perhaps our greatest public poets, extending a tradition of lyricism that spans continents and stretches back thousands of years… They expand our understanding of human experience by telling stories we might not otherwise hear.”

Some hip hop-savvy teachers are bringing the best of hip hop literature into their classrooms. And writers for kids, teens, and young adults are telling hip hop tales in books like  Think Again  by Doug E. Fresh, Debbie Allen’s  Brothers of the Knight , and the  Hip-Hop Kidz  series by Jasmine Bellar.

Theater and Literary Terms to Know

The basic vocabulary of hip hop theater and literary arts  include:

choreography  arrangement of dance moves collaboration  working together content  subject or information genre  category of literature, such as fairy tales or historic fiction lyricism  poetic or musical style metaphor  symbolic figure of speech scenery  backdrop for a theater production stakeholder  someone who shares interest or responsibility

All The Way Live - Hip Hop Connections

Sean McCollum

Lisa Resnick

October 30, 2019

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The History Behind Hip Hop

This essay will delve into the history and evolution of hip-hop culture and music. It will discuss its origins in the 1970s in New York City, its development over the decades, and its influence on music, fashion, language, and society at large. At PapersOwl too, you can discover numerous free essay illustrations related to Hip Hop.

How it works

• 1 Introduction to Hip Hop
• 2 Background Information About Hip Hop
• 3 1980’s Hip Hop
• 4 Muhammad Ali
• 5 DJ Kool Herc
• 6 Hip Hop In Recording
• 7 1990’s Hip Hop
• 8 Conclusion – Hip Hop Today
• 9 References:

Introduction to Hip Hop

As the legendary Notorious B.I.G. said, “I’m making music for the people. If y’all love the music, y’all gonna buy the music.”1 In this sense, music unifies experiences and through these experiences, communities are unified and sometimes, divided. Music serves many purposes in life, whether it is to celebrate or grieve. For instance, music of one culture unites them but divides them from another culture. It is interesting that music is, at its root, combining different sounds and rhythms to make meaning.

However, different cultures all over the world have such different combinations which constitutes an integral part of their identity.

Hip hop is a movement that started in the late 1970s that is usually identified by the uniqueness of rapping.2 Hip hop first became popular in New York City when block parties gained their popularity.2 Furthermore, the creation of hip hop is credited to the African American, Latin American, and Caribbean youth living in the Bronx area of New York City.2 This movement has spread through the world and is still a popular genre of the music. However, with its popularity also comes controversy.

Background Information About Hip Hop

While hip hop was created around the late 1970s, it was not played on the radio until 1979.2 This delay in the time of hip hop’s creation and its radioplay is attributed to the widespread poverty seen and the also, the rejection of hip hop outside of the impoverished neighborhood of Bronx.3

Many believe that hip hop has roots within the jazz and blues genre that were popularized earlier near the 1950s.4 A like some other genres, hip hop was created by the fusion of other cultures.4 It is believed that during block parties, DJs had a more receptive audience when they played genres such as funk and soul and they took it a step further and amplified the percussions used in a song which later became known as the Jamaican dubstep.4 The popularity of this technique lent a unique problem of songs not having long percussive phrases.5 To overcome this problem, musicians employed turntables to extend the percussions of a song and this became a founding pillar for the hip hop genre.6 The rise of hip hop can be attributed to the increased ubiquity of the technology used to make music. For instance, drum-machines became more affordable so the general population had access to it.7 Drum machines became instrumental in hip hop with its unique techniques of having long percussive breaks in the music.7

As the hip hop culture developed, it was influenced by the disco genre. Disco had an essential role for the DJ in its music since the DJ made tracks that the listeners could dance to.8 However, the hip hop music is thought to be created as a backlash against disco subgenres. Disco has a similar background to hip hop because disco was founded through African-American and Italian-American roots for the purpose of underground dance clubs.8 As disco music became popularized, the music industry made disco more mainstream and several believed that the quality of disco music was corroded and this paved the way for hip hop. In fact, Kurtis Blow, an American rapper, stated that hip hop was made in response to the weakened mainstream disco music.9 However, the elements of disco in early hip hop remained prominent. In the beginning of the 1970s, hip hop employed disco tracks to create beats in a subgenre called disco rap.9 For example, “Rapper’s Delight” by The Sugarhill Gang was the first rap song to be popularized in the United States and it was built on the foundation of another song called “Good Times” by Chic, a disco song.10 Eventually, as hip hop moved away from disco and increased in popularity, the disco genre became more unpopular.9

The second pillar of hip hop is known as “emceeing” or more commonly called rapping.11 Emceeing is identified through its distinctive rhythms and word play that was originally done without a background rhythm but was modified in recent years to include it.11 This second pillar has origins within the African American style music through a technique called capping where musicians try to outperform each other through their language, in several different areas such as politics and boasting over their skills, in order to win over the audience.11 Therefore, the rivalry and rap battles commonly seen within the hip hop culture is largely rooted in the African American music.11 The role of rapping has slowly evolved within the hip hop culture. First, a Master of Ceremonies (MC) would come out on the stage to introduce the DJ and make the crowd receptive to the DJ.11 As time progressed, the MC’s role also included telling joke and having witty banter with the audience.11 Gradually, the MC’s position developed into including rhythmic wordplay into what’s known today as rapping. Rapping almost always has a 4/4 time signature.11

After hip hop’s first radioplay in 1979, it became the mainstream music of United States and later spread throughout the world in the 1990s.12 Hip hip was especially favored within the long night of dance parties and hip hop expanded to include more rhythms that people could dance to.13 Hip hop music allowed the youth to handle the difficulties that they faced, especially among the minority youth of United States. Some of the difficulties included the rise of violence and the increase in gang-life. Furthermore, artists such as the Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five spoke about the issues in their lives such as the their lives in their housing projects.14 Moreover, hip hop allowed the disenfranchised youth to monetize on their struggles through their music and the consumers of the hip hop music became aware of these economic, social, and political problems through the music.14

1980’s Hip Hop

As New York city was where hip hop was founded, New York became the hub for the development of the hip hop culture.15 In 1982, “Planet Rock” by Afrika Bambaataa combined elements of hip hop and the electro genre.15 In the middle of the 1980s, hip hop included some rock music which was a great shift in the hip hop genre whereas the earlier influences of disco, jazz, and blues was classified as “old-school” hip hop. Roland TR-808 drum machine was a game changer for the hip hop genre because of how affordable it was, its analog, and various sounds such as the drum sound.16 This allowed hip hop artists to incorporate more electro sounds.16 All these elements paved the way for “new school” hip hop. Hip hop became more geared towards commentary on socio-political issues as well as bragging and taunting about their rapping.16 Additionally, the music was delivered is an aggressive manner that was also self-assured.16 Also, the songs created during the new school hip hop era were shorter.16

Also, during the 1980s, the hip hop genre spread to several other countries. Most notably, Greg Wilson was one of the first DJs to initiate the United Kingdom audiences. Hiroshi Fujiwara similarly spread hip hop to Japan by taking hip hop records to Japan.17

People Important to the Development of the Hip Hop Culture

Muhammad Ali

Muhammad Ali is an essential figure in the hip hop culture. Many might recall his famous saying:

“Float like a butterfly

Sting like a bee

The hands can’t hit

What the eyes can’t see”

– Muhammad Ali 18

With these iconic words, Muhammad Ali became the first hip hop poet of his time.18 As seen in African American music, Mr. Ali would trash talk his opponents by using rhymes, usually couplets, along the same lines as a battle rappers, like capping.18

Through his inspirational life, he was not only a world-famous boxer but he also changed the cultural landscape of the music through his achievements.18 Hip hop was created during a difficult time for African Americans and Muhammad Ali served as a role model for success for many African American youths.18 Cassius Clay, a.k.a. Muhammad Ali became a symbol of hope and strength for the African American youth and gave courage to them to break out of their oppression and sing about it to become a voice of hope like Mr. Ali.18

Furthermore, Ali also recorded an album called “I am the Greatest!” which the Rolling Stone believe to be a political move for change because of how rhetorical and comedic his songs were.19 By inciting laughter from his diverse audience, Mr. Ali emphasized his normality.19 In fact, the Rolling Stones credit Mr. Ali for making his audience see African Americans in a different light.19 Since Muhammad Ali was big public figure throughout the world, his words and actions still impact society today.19

DJ Kool Herc

DJ Kool Herc is known as the father of hip hop music.20 It began when his sister Cindy Campbell wanted to purchase back-to-school items and she wanted her brother to play from music from their apartment room.20 His main contribution to hip hop was to create breaks that emphasized the drums in the music by using a turntable, which became the third pillar of hip hop.20 Later on, he had dancers help him to continue the rhythms with speech which paved the way for rapping.20 These dancers were dubbed “break-girls” and “break-boys”.20 He quickly rose to fame and became a town hero in the Bronx area of New York city.20

Hip Hop In Recording

In the early hip hop days, the music was performed in live venues such as regular parties and block parties.21 Also, in the early days, hip hop recording consisted mainly of mixtapes and PA system soundboards brought to the live parties.22 In the 1980s, the main elements in hip hop were established and one of the most notable songs to encompass these elements were “Nunk” by Wrap 9 in New York city’s WKTU radio station.23 Hip hop, while mainstream in New York, was not very mainstream outside of New York but still present in prominent cities such as Atlanta, Chicago, Seattle, and more.23

1990’s Hip Hop

Hip hop began to diversify especially in the 1990s. For instance, southern rap became more known.24 Also, many genres were invented with the popularization of hip hop. A genre called Neo soul was created by combining hip hop and soul music.25 Rap metal which was invented by combining hip hop and rock music.26

Conclusion – Hip Hop Today

The hip hop genre has spread throughout the world and has grown so popular that each country has its own modified version of hip hop. One of the most notable subgenres of hip hop is called Trap music.27 Trap music can have elements of two or three-time divided hi-hats, a heavy bass drum, and overall ominous environment within the music.28 However, there is controversy surrounding Trap music because the music is very auto-tuned and can still be difficult to understand.29

Additionally, platforms like Spotify, Pandora, and SoundCloud have had a great impact on the music industry because it is easier to access music and be exposed to a different variety of music.30

Overall, hip hop is more of a social movement for minority youths to express problems within their worlds and has changed the course of music history.

References:

• “The Notorious B.I.G. Quotes.” BrainyQuote, Xplore, www.brainyquote.com/quotes/the_notorious_big_564676.
• The Editors of Encyclopaedia. “Rap.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 20 Dec. 2017, www.britannica.com/art/rap.
• Crossley, Scott. “Metaphorical Conceptions in Hip-Hop Music.” African American Review, 2005, pp. 501–512.
• Bekman, Stas. “ What Is ‘Dub’ Music Anyway? (Reggae).” 3]. What Is “”Dub”” Music Anyway? (Reggae), StasoSphere.com, stason.org/TULARC/music-genres/reggae-dub/3-What-is-Dub-music-anyway-Reggae.html.
• Karon, Tony. “’Hip-Hop Nation’ Is Exhibit A for America’s Latest Cultural Revolution.” Time, Time Inc., 22 Sept. 2000, content.time.com/time/arts/article/0,8599,55635,00.html.
• “Birthplace Of Hip Hop.” PBS, Public Broadcasting Service, www.pbs.org/opb/historydetectives/investigation/birthplace-of-hip-hop/.
• Dye, David. “The Birth of Rap: A Look Back.” NPR, NPR, 22 Feb. 2007, www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=7550286.
• Corner, Davey D. “Pg 8.” The History Of Hip Hop , Daveyd, www.daveyd.com/raphist8.html.
• Heard, Chris. “Entertainment | Silver Jubilee for First Rap Hit.” BBC News, BBC, 14 Oct. 2004, news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/3727320.stm.
• “The History of Hip Hop Music.” Index Link, Ace and Eights, www.acesandeighths.com/hip_hop.html.
• Neumann, Friedrich. “Hip Hop: Origins, Characteristics and Creative Processes.” The World of Music, 2000, pp. 51–63.
• “Hip Hop.” Syracuse University Press, Syracuse University Press, press.syr.edu/.
• Robison, Matthew. “History of Hip Hop.” NciMUSIC, NciMUSIC, www.ncimusic.com/tutorial/history/hiphop/hiphop.html.
• Talbot, Michael. “The Musical Work: Reality or Invention?” Liverpool Music Symposium, 2000, p. 268.
• Toop, David. Rap Attack 3: African Rap to Global Hip Hop. Vol. 3, Serpent’s Tail , 1999.
• Théberge, Paul. Any Sound You Can Imagine: Making Music/Consuming All Counts of Technology. 1st ed., Wesleyan University Press, 1997.
• “Let’s Think about Japanese Hip Hop, Japanese Rap, and Their Future.” Wochikochi, The Japan Foundation, www.wochikochi.jp/english/special/2016/09/lets-think-about-japanese-hip-hop-japanese-rap-and-their-future.php.
• D, Chuck, and Michael Tillery. “Muhammad Ali: The Original Rapper.” The Undefeated, The Undefeated, 16 Mar. 2018, theundefeated.com/features/muhammad-ali-the-original-rapper/.
• Reeves, Mosi. “Muhammad Ali: Famed Pugilist Was Also Hip-Hop Pioneer.” Rolling Stone, The Rolling Stone, 25 June 2018, www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/muhammad-ali-worlds-greatest-boxer-was-also-hip-hop-pioneer-152560/.
• Farley, Christopher John. “Music: Rock’s New Spin.” Time, Time Inc., 18 Oct. 1999, content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,992268,00.html.
• Dyson, Michael Eric. Know What I Mean?: Reflections on Hip-Hop. Basic Civitas Books/Perseus Books Group, 2010.
• Hess, Mickey. Hip Hop in America: a Regional Guide. Greenwood Press, 2010.
• Light, Alan. The Vibe History of Hip-Hop. Plexus Publ., 1999.
• “Southern Hip Hop.” Southern Hip Hop Genre History – Southern Museum of Music Features Music with Roots from the South, Southern Museum of Music, www.southernmuseumofmusic.com/Spotlight/01-Genre/Southern-Hip-Hop.htm.
• Nero, Mark Edward. “What Is Neo-Soul Music?” ThoughtCo, ThoughtCo, 5 Mar. 2019, www.thoughtco.com/what-is-neo-soul-2851222.
• The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. “Rap Metal.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 15 Jan. 2015, www.britannica.com/art/rap-metal.
• “Trap Music: Uner Lock & Key.” DJMag.com, Thrust Publishing, 30 June 2015, djmag.com/content/trap-music-under-lock-key.
• Taliesin. “Quit Screwing with Trap Music: An Interview with Houston-Born Producer L?tic.” Web.archive.org, Motherboard, 11 June 2012, web.archive.org/web/20121103061941/http://motherboard.vice.com/2012/6/11/quit-screwing-with-trap-music-an-interview-with-houston-born-producer-l?tic–2.
• Paor-Evans, Adam de. “Mumble Rap: Cultural Laziness or a True Reflection of Contemporary Times?” The Conversation, The Conversation, US, 27 Aug. 2018, theconversation.com/mumble-rap-cultural-laziness-or-a-true-reflection-of-contemporary-times-85550.
• Thompson, Bonsu. “How Streaming Revolutionized Rap’s Album Rollouts On The Road To No. 1.” NPR, NPR, 28 Sept. 2017, www.npr.org/sections/therecord/2017/09/28/554220367/how-streaming-revolutionized-raps-album-rollouts-on-the-road-to-no-1.”

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Droppin' science : critical essays on rap music and hip hop culture

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• 1. The Rap Attack: An Introduction William Eric Perkins Part I: Roots
• 2. Women Writin' Rappin' Breakin' Nancy Guevara
• 3. Rap's Latino Sabor Mandalit del Barco
• 4. Puerto Rico Rocks: New York Ricans Stake Their Claim Juan Flores Part II: Genres
• 5. Kickin' Reality, Kickin' Ballistics: Gangsta Rap and Postindustrial Los Angeles Robin D. G. Kelley
• 6. Making the Strong Survive: The Contours and Contradictions of Message Rap Ernest Allen, Jr.
• 7. Who Wants to See Ten Niggers Play Basketball? Armond White Part III: Flavas
• 8. Hip Hop 101 Robert Farris Thompson
• 9. Dance in Hip Hop Culture Katrina Hazzard-Donald
• 10. Hidden Politics: Discursive and Institutional Policing in Rap Music Tricia Rose
• 11. Global Village: An Epilogue William Eric Perkins About the Contributors.
• (source: Nielsen Book Data)

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Droppin' science : critical essays on rap music and hip hop culture

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• Black Camera

• Introduction: Hip-Hop Cinema as a Lens of Contemporary Black Realities
• Regina N. Bradley
• Indiana University Press
• Volume 8, Number 2, Spring 2017 (New Series)
• pp. 141-145
• 10.2979/blackcamera.8.2.08
• View Citation

Additional Information

• Regina N. Bradley (bio)

The focus for this Close-Up on hip-hop cinema examines how hip-hop culture and its aesthetics manifest on film. For nearly half a century, hip-hop has served as a mouthpiece for exploring the marginalized experiences of black and brown people in the United States and abroad. Hip-hop was more than a popular cultural expression. It served as a context for complicating and recognizing a transition into a post–civil rights movement era. More specifically, hip-hop expressed the messiness of the generational angsts about race, class, and identity that were left unresolved from the movement. For the most part, America's embrace of hip-hop has been its musicality and its associated aesthetics. The focus on lyricism and production, very much integral to understanding the agency behind hip-hop's message, leaves much room for considering the other elements of hip-hop cultural production such as its visual narratives. I am not referencing the music videos that accompanied the music, though some videos such as Public Enemy's "Fight the Power" (intentionally) resemble outtakes from Spike Lee's film Do the Right Thing (1989). As hip-hop crossed over into mainstream American popular culture in the 1980s and 1990s, its influence also reached across community and cultural boundaries. It would be remiss to not point out that hip-hop's growing popularity paralleled its increasing profitability. Hip-hop's growing influence on American popular culture needed to simultaneously amplify its beginnings in urban working-class black and brown communities while making room to present a narrative that was alluring and profitable to a mainstream white audience.

For the purpose of the examinations that follow, we focus on hip-hop cinema as a mainstream and commercial phenomenon, as well as the visualization of hip-hop's cultural identities, aesthetics, and iconography that signify hip-hop's influence on the American popular imagination. Some of these identities and aesthetics are immediately recognizable because of their presence in hip-hop music: the focus on working-class; predominantly [End Page 141] black communities in urban areas; the inner tension of a young black man attempting to establish self agency while balancing the needs and desires of his community; and an urban soundtrack of hip-hop music and its preceding music genres such as funk or soul, often sonic markers of generational and cultural differences of masculine expression between characters and plot. The inclusion of previous eras' popular black music is significant in establishing not only a cultural trajectory from which hip-hop emerges but also the importance of black identities as non-linear and frequently in conversation with each other. Kenton Rambsy's intriguing essay focuses on Jay-Z's album American Gangster , a soundtrack for the 2007 film starring Denzel Washington about 1960s and 1970s drug kingpin Frank Lucas. Rambsy utilizes the literary method of analysis known as textual mining to explore Jay-Z's use of the American Gangster film to produce not only a hip-hop soundtrack but also to map out the impact of the film on his emceeing.

Additionally, hip-hop cinema also highlights hip-hop performers, whether in front of the camera as actors or behind it like the cinematic career of rappers like Ice Cube, who is examined as both an actor and as a producer in this collection of essays. Brandon J. Manning explores the presence of vulnerable black masculinity in Ice Cube's first screenplay, Friday (dir. F. Gary Gray, 1995). Manning interrogates Ice Cube's positioning and balancing of inner-city black men's interiority and emotional baggage using humor. Adam Haupt's essay interrogates representations of the profitability of hip-hop narratives within white-supremacist constructs as seen in the biopic Straight Outta Compton . Overall, hip-hop cinema is a visual interrogation of how hip-hop sustains and also challenges articulations of post-civil rights black experiences.

Further, it is important to provide a brief chronological overview of how hip-hop cinema created space for itself in popular culture. Hip-hop cinema made space to articulate the frustrations and challenges of urban black life...

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Hip Hop Dance Expository Essay

• To find inspiration for your paper and overcome writer’s block
• As a source of information (ensure proper referencing)
• As a template for you assignment

Introduction

Michael jackson, michael kidd, works cited.

Hip hop dance specify dance styles that have evolved because of hip hop culture. It entails different styles such as dancing, rapping and scratching, popping, locking and breaking. The hip hop dancing began in the 1970s. During this period, hip hop encompassed urban styles.

The early dance styles included breaking, uprock and the funk. It was popularized by dance crews in the US. The TV shows such as the Wild style, Soul Train and Breakin, Beat Street also contributed in showcasing hip hop dance styles during the early periods of hip hop hype (Hip Hop Network).

The dance industry responded with improved edition of hip hop, which became known as the jazz funk and new style . Traditionally, talented dancers embraced these styles to demonstrate hip hop dances that was often performed on the streets. During the early days, hip hop was linked to rare movements such as the Humpty Dance which was recognized by the inventors of hip hop.

When interest in hip hop music intensified, several movies integrating sounds, beats and gravity- laden moves were established. Although hip hop dance has evolved since it begun, it has upheld significant presence in cities which has established street dance derivatives such as krumping, jerkin and turfing.

Hip hop dance is incomplete without mentioning Michael Jackson. Michael began hip hop dance life with the Jackson Five group. Evans shows that Michael advanced to be one of the most popular dance icons of the time. Michael’s music was inclined towards soul, R& B and pop (Evans).

According to Evans, Michael helped to disseminate breakdancing into typical US culture (Evans). It is noted that Americans had not witnessed the moonwalk, a move that was customary by hip hop in the 1970s, thus, Michael became a link in propelling hip hop dance into ordinary American culture. Some of Michael’s remarkable songs are Thriller, Tabloid Junkie and Smooth Criminal , among others (Evans).

Born in New York, Kidd embarked on his journey as a dancer with the Big Apple’s Ballet Theater . According to World Entertainment News Network, Kidd career in hip hop dance influenced many audiences as a result, he was granted an opportunity to produce the Finian’s Rainbow (World Entertainment News Network).

Other than being an avid hip hop dancer, Kidd was well known in innovative arts and directing dance. His creative dance succession granted him praise, and in 1997, he was awarded the Academy of Motion Pictures and sciences as recognition of his service in dance and screen art (World Entertainment News Network). Some of his best art services include directing dancers for Band Wagon and the 1955’s Guys and Dolls.

Madonna is a US actress and songwriter. Complex Mag explains that Madonna has sold three hundred million records globally. Complex Mag also notes that Madonna’s success in the pop music is connected to her ability to reinvent herself (Complex Mag). Madonna has inspired many audiences and fitness enthusiasts around the world with her hip hop dance competitions.

Madonna’s talent in dancing and songwriting is coined in developing unimaginable hooks for songs that make the lyrics confine the attention of the audience, without the authority of the music (Complex Mag). Complex Mag alludes to “into the Groove” and its tag line “live out your ….mine” as an example (Complex Mag). Some of the legendary music linked to Madonna includes Rolling Stone, Like a Prayer and La Isla Bonita , among others (Complex Mag).

I note that hip hop music will remain a significant involvement of most people, especially the young generation. This is because of style and the messages characterizing the music. Also, being a form of entertainment, hip hop dance should be tailored to advance valuable content or information to varied audiences.

Complex Mag. Justify My Thug: A History of Madonna’s Relationship With Hip-Hop , 2012. Web.

Evans Calvin. Michael Jackson’s Contributions to Hip-Hop, 2009, Web.

Hip Hop Network. History of Rap: Vol. 1: Genesis , 2012. Web.

World Entertainment News Network. Broadway Choreographer Michael Kidd Dies, 2007. Web.

• History of Balinese Dancing Art
• Survey of Contemporary Dances
• “Like a Virgin” by Madonna
• Similarities between Ballet and Hip Hop
• Old School Hip Hop Versus New Hip Hop Music
• Igor Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring
• Dance Analysis: Social and Cultural Context
• History and Development of Ballet
• What Is Dance: Definition and Genres
• Capoeira Dance History and Popularity
• Chicago (A-D)
• Chicago (N-B)

IvyPanda. (2019, April 1). Hip Hop Dance. https://ivypanda.com/essays/hip-hop-dance/

"Hip Hop Dance." IvyPanda , 1 Apr. 2019, ivypanda.com/essays/hip-hop-dance/.

IvyPanda . (2019) 'Hip Hop Dance'. 1 April.

IvyPanda . 2019. "Hip Hop Dance." April 1, 2019. https://ivypanda.com/essays/hip-hop-dance/.

1. IvyPanda . "Hip Hop Dance." April 1, 2019. https://ivypanda.com/essays/hip-hop-dance/.

Bibliography

IvyPanda . "Hip Hop Dance." April 1, 2019. https://ivypanda.com/essays/hip-hop-dance/.

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Book Reviews

Wendell berry veers from gratitude to yearning in 'another day'.

Barbara J. King

Wendell Berry’s imagined residents of Port William, Kentucky, are nearly as familiar to his most devoted readers as their own extended family members.

In a series of novels and dozens of short stories -- populated by recurring characters set over decades -- Berry brings alive the joys and sorrows of hard-working rural Kentuckians. His writing is informed by his own long-time farming life in a Kentucky River valley, one shared with Tanya Berry since their marriage in 1957.

Berry’s talents span genres. His essays offer firebrand non-fiction that takes on the destructive forces that kill off traditional ways of farming. In both his novels and essays, there’s an ever-present tenderness for the land, for human community, and for nature, mixed together with a blazing anger at the machine-driven forces that threaten them and our environment.

In a new collection of poetry Another Day: Sabbath Poems, 2013-2023 -- a sequel to T his Day: Collected & New Sabbath Poems that spans the years 1979-2012 -- Berry’s themes are revisited in ways both familiar and fresh. There’s a veering from gratitude to yearning in Another Day, an oscillation heightened perhaps by the profoundly reflective thinking of a writer in his 80s; Berry celebrated his 90th birthday Aug. 5.

Berry conveys so perfectly the overlapping emotions of love and grief that, at times, I read through tears (this from 2013, poem IV):

What comes is the light, dim, almost substantial, of the oil lamp in the middle of the kitchen table, casting into the dark around it the shadows of the old grandparents and their small grandson at supper.

The poem ends this way:

Now, their equal finally in years, how he loves them, how he misses them. How carefully still he holds them in his thanks.

There’s enduring love for Tanya in these poems. he refers to her in "2022, poem I, dated 5/29/22," saying love "came to him one time in the person of a girl/ and it abides in the girl’s great-grandmotherhood."

Reverence for God is here too; after all, these are sabbath poems (Berry does not always capitalize the word.) In the introduction to the earlier volume This Day , Berry writes about the notion of the sabbath as a day of rest, qualifying it as a day when people might understand that “the providence or the productivity of the living world, the most essential work, continues while we rest.”

In Another Day , the reverence is sometimes made explicit (2015, poem XIII):

It is only the Christ-life, the life undying, given, received, again given, that completes our work.

More inviting, I think, are praise poems that keep open an interpretation that can be religious, or not. In one poem, there’s a sheep who gives birth and bleats out "her absolute eloquence of joy." In another, the trees' company offers "the luxury of wordlessness." And in yet another, there are phoebes that "dance/ in the air, on the branch,/ their love for one another."

Indeed, Berry asks us to see, truly see, other lives -- and when we cannot, to know nonetheless they are there, vitally helping to make our world (2014, poem VIII):

To care for what we know requires care for what we don’t, the world’s lives dark in the soil, dark in the dark.

A delicious sharpness marks Berry’s writing about screen obsession -- our cultural commitment to staring at, playing with, and living through computers and phones that diverts our seeing what (and who) matters (2013, poem XVII):

Looking at screens, listening to voices in nonexistent distance, seeing, hearing nothing present, we pass into the age of disembodiment

For the industrial machines that rend the Earth, that scale up in size and economy the destruction of small farms and the environment entire — Berry reserves a special seething. A long poem from 2023 most fully tells this story. In it, a man dreams that he returns from the dead to a country he knew, his own place in life (2023, poem I):  

But now iron and fire had passed over it, and everything was gone: everything above the ground, every building, every tree, every stone that marked our graves.

What follows is a dialogue with a “familiar voice” in which the dreamer’s “participation in the conflagration of the world” is interrogated, as is much else; the dreamer asks why he was brought to that place. The reply comes as the poem’s conclusion:

Your dream of the ruin of your home land now brings alive in you your small share of the greater love that made the heaven and the earth. Highest and whole, that love is the Sabbath morning where you at last may come to rest.

Like Berry’s fierce essays and luminous novels, these poems offer gifts of vision, of knowing that there is another way to live now on this Earth: a way that honors love, the land, and all beings. Can any of us rest while there's still a chance to bring that about?

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The Australian Professor Who Turned Breaking on Its Head

Rachael Gunn, known as B-girl Raygun, displayed some … unique moves as she competed in a field with breakers half her age. The judges and the internet were underwhelmed.

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By Dodai Stewart and Talya Minsberg

Reporting from Paris

Breaking made its debut as an Olympic sport Friday, and among the competitors was Dr. Rachael Gunn, also known as B-girl Raygun, a 36-year-old professor from Sydney, Australia, who stood out in just about every way.

By day, her research interests include “dance, gender politics, and the dynamics between theoretical and practical methodologies.” But on the world’s stage in Paris, wearing green track pants and a green polo shirt instead of the street-style outfits of her much younger fellow breakers, she competed against the 21-year-old Logan Edra of the United States, known as Logistx.

During the round robin, as Raygun and Logistx faced off, Raygun laid on her side, reached for her toes, spun around, and threw in a kangaroo hop — a nod to her homeland. She performed a move that looked something like swimming and another that could best be described as duckwalking. The high-speed back and head spins that other breakers would demonstrate were mostly absent.

The crowd cheered Raygun politely. The judges weren’t as kind. All nine voted for Logistx in both rounds of the competition; Logistx won, 18-0.

Online, Raygun’s performance quickly became a sensation, not necessarily in a flattering way.

“The more I watch the videos of Raygun, the Aussie breaker, the more I get annoyed,” one viewer posted on X, formerly known as Twitter. “There’s 27.7 million Australians in the world and that’s who they send to the Olympics for this inaugural event??? C’mon now!”

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