Haitian hip hop

Haitian hip hop or Rap Kreyòl, is music originating from Haiti and sung by artists of Haitian origin. Often, hardcore beats are used while the artist raps in Haitian Creole. Rap Kreyòl has been part of Haitian culture since the early 1980s with groups such as Original Rap Staff, King Posee, Rap Kreyòl S.A., Masters of Haiti, Fighters, Blackdo, Fam-Squad, Supa Deno, Prince Berlin and Muzion attaining prominence, but lately has become very popular with Haitian youth.

Many Haitian rap artists have had rough childhoods and difficult living conditions producing rappers who address socio-economic topics in their lyrics. Though similar to mainstream American hip hop in that materialistic imagery is portrayed or lyricized, the negative aspects of less fortunate Haitian society, such as topics concerning slum life, gang warfare, the drug trade, and poverty, are much more common.

The most well-known exports of Haitian hip hop are two members of the legendary Grammy Award-winning hip hop group, the Fugees, Wyclef Jean and his cousin Pras Michel. Most recently, Christopher Freedom Laroche released his inspirational debut album Liberation 1804, Kerns (Mr OK) Olirice released his first EP (Men Mwen) while acts like Barikad Crew, Rockfam, Brimad, Chale Republic, Pick Up Click, BriganDie, Team Lobey, Dezod Beats and G Bobby Bon Flo have gained popularity among the Haitian population. However, the godfather of hip hop in Haiti is the late Master Dji, who not only released the first Haitian rap song in the early 1980s, formed the group Rap Kreyòl S.A., but was also the first Haitian DJ and also influential in encouraging other young Haitians such as Supa Deno, DJ Fanfan and DJ Live to become rappers, DJs, and breakdancers.

Hip hop

Hip hop or hip-hop is a sub-cultural movement that formed during the early 1970s by African-American and Puerto Rican youths residing in the South Bronx in New York City. It became popular outside of the African-American community in the late 1980s and by the 2000s became the most listened-to musical genre in the world. It is characterized by four distinct elements, all of which represent the different manifestations of the culture: rap music (oral), turntablism or DJing (aural), b-boying (physical) and graffiti art (visual). Even while it continues to develop globally in myriad styles, these four foundational elements provide coherence to hip hop culture. The term is often used in a restrictive fashion as synonymous only with the oral practice of rap music.

The origin of the hip hop culture stems from the block parties of the Ghetto Brothers, when they plugged in the amplifiers for their instruments and speakers into the lampposts on 163rd Street and Prospect Avenue and used music to break down racial barriers, and from DJ Kool Herc at 1520 Sedgwick Avenue, where Herc mixed samples of existing records with his own shouts to the crowd and dancers. Kool Herc is credited as the "father" of hip hop. DJ Afrika Bambaataa of the hip hop collective Zulu Nation outlined the pillars of hip hop culture, to which he coined the terms: MCing or "Emceein", DJing or "Deejayin", B-boying and graffiti writing or "Aerosol Writin".

Jim Lee

Jim Lee (Korean 이용철; born August 11, 1964) is a Korean American comic book artist, writer, editor, and publisher. He entered the industry in 1987 as an artist for Marvel Comics, illustrating titles such as Alpha Flight and The Punisher War Journal, before gaining popularity on The Uncanny X-Men. X-Men No. 1, the 1991 spinoff series premiere that Lee penciled and co-wrote with Chris Claremont, remains the best-selling comic book of all time, according to Guinness World Records.

In 1992 Lee and several other artists formed their own publishing company, Image Comics, to publish their creator-owned titles, with Lee publishing titles such as WildC.A.T.s and Gen¹³ through his studio Wildstorm Productions. Eschewing the role of publisher in order to return to illustration, Lee sold Wildstorm in 1998 to DC Comics, where he continued to run it as a DC imprint until 2010, as well as illustrating successful titles set in DC's main fictional universe, such as the year-long "Batman: Hush" and "Superman: For Tomorrow" storylines. On February 18, 2010, Jim Lee was announced as the new Co-Publisher of DC Comics with Dan DiDio, both replacing Paul Levitz.