Why White Kids Love Hip Hop: Uncomfortable Truths About America (2005)

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Hip hop is a subculture and art movement developed by African-Americans & Puerto Ricans [1] from the South Bronx in New York City during the late 1970s.[2][3][4][5][6] While people unfamiliar with hip hop culture often use the expression "hip hop" to refer exclusively to hip hop music (also called "rap"),[7] hip hop is characterized by anywhere from four to nine distinct elements or expressive realms, of which hip hop music is only one element. DJ Afrika Bambaataa of the hip hop collective Zulu Nation outlined the pillars of hip hop culture, coining the terms: "rapping" (also called MCing or emceeing), a rhythmic vocal rhyming style (orality); DJing (and turntablism), which is making music with record players and DJ mixers (aural/sound and music creation); b-boying/b-girling/breakdancing (movement/dance); and graffiti art, which he called "aerosol writin'" (visual art).[8][9][10][11][12] Other elements of the hip hop subculture and arts movement beyond the main four are: hip hop culture and historical knowledge of the movement (intellectual/philosophical); beatboxing, a percussive vocal style; street entrepreneurship; African-American language and slang; and hip hop fashion and style, among others.[13][14][15] The South Bronx hip-hop scene emerged in the 1960s and 1970s from neighbourhood block parties thrown by the Ghetto Brothers, a Puerto Rican group that has been described as being a gang, a club, and a music group. Members of the scene plugged in the amplifiers for their instruments and PA speakers into the lampposts on 163rd Street and Prospect Avenue and used their live music events to break down racial barriers between African-Americans, Puerto Ricans and other ethnic groups. Jamaican immigrant DJ Kool Herc also played a key role in developing hip-hop music. At 1520 Sedgwick Avenue, Herc mixed samples of existing records and deejayed percussion "breaks", mixing this music with his own Jamaican-style "toasting" (a style of chanting and boastful talking over a microphone) to rev up the crowd and dancers. Kool Herc is credited as the "father" of hip-hop for developing the key DJ techniques that, along with rapping, founded the hip hop music style by creating rhythmic beats by looping "breaks" (small portions of songs emphasizing a percussive pattern) on two turntables. This was later accompanied by "rapping" or "MCing", a rhythmic style of chanting or speaking poetry/lyrics, and beatboxing, a percussive vocal technique used to create beats to go along with an MC or rappers' rhymes.[citation needed] An original form of dancing called breakdancing, which later became accompanied by popping, locking and other dance moves, which was done to the accompaniment of hip-hop songs played on boom boxes and particular styles of hip-hop dress and hair also developed. Art historian Robert Farris Thompson describes the youth from the South Bronx in the early-1970s as "English-speaking blacks from Barbados" like Grandmaster Flash, "black Jamaicans" like DJ Kool Herc who introduced the rhythms from Salsa (music), as well as Afro conga and bongo drums, as well as many who emulated the sounds of Tito Puente and Willie Colón. These youths mixed these influences with existing musical styles associated with African-Americans prior to the 1970s, from jazz to funk .[1] Hip-hop music became popular outside of the African-American community in the late-1980s, with the mainstream commercial success of gangsta rap. Critic Greg Tate described the hip hop movement as "the only avant-garde still around, still delivering [a] shock" of newness to the wealthy bourgeoisie.[16] Ronald Savage, known by the nickname Bee-Stinger, who was a former member of the Zulu Nation, carved the term "Six elements of the Hip Hop Movement". The "Six Elements of the Hip Hop Movement" are: Consciousness Awareness, Civil Rights Awareness, Activism Awareness, Justice, Political Awareness, and Community Awareness in music. Ronald Savage is known as the Son of The Hip Hop Movement. Hip Is The Culture and Hop is The Movement. Hip-hop culture has spread to both urban and suburban communities throughout the United States and subsequently the world.[20] These elements were adapted and developed considerably, particularly as the art forms spread to new continents and merged with local styles in the 1990s and subsequent decades. Even as the movement continues to expand globally and explore myriad styles and art forms, including hip hop theater and hip hop film, the four foundational elements provide coherence and a strong foundation for hip-hop culture.[3] Hip-hop is simultaneously a new and old phenomenon; the importance of sampling tracks, beats and basslines from old records to the art form means that much of the culture has revolved around the idea of updating classic recordings, attitudes, and experiences for modern audiences. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hip_hop