Hip Hop: The Method of Expression

Hip hop, the creation of electronic sound and enticing language is a style born from the African American and Hispanic cultures. It formed in New York City from block parties and the participation of the youth culture. This style of music began as a minimal change in rhythm to a globally popular culture consisting of graffiti art, dancing, and music. Hip hop was not only a type of tasteful music, but it also became a benchmark in history. When this style of music was created, it served as an outlet for those who did not have a voice, particularly the minority groups. These groups were given rights that they deserved just like everyone else. In the 1970’s is when hip hop began to spread, creating not just

Hip Hop was birthed in the neighborhood, where young people gathered in parks, on playgrounds, and neighborhood street corners, to verbalize poetry over spontaneous sounds and adopted melodies. Hip Hop was not just the music; it was also a way for the young to show their skills in break dancing, gymnastic dance style that was valued, and athleticism over choreographed fluidity. Hip hop was also fashion such as: hats, jackets, gold chains, and name-brand sneakers. Hip Hop was a form of graffiti, to a new way of expression that engaged spray paint on the subway walls as the canvas. In addition, today’s hip hop have changed as where the DJ was once is now the producer as the key music maker, and the park is now a studio.

Hip hop cannot be understood by just examining how the artists might carry themselves or just their lyrics alone. The uniting of hip-hop in to society gave accommodations in an integrated generation of young Americans and it changed the racial dynamics in the United States. Even though you might not be born in the 70’s when hip hop was originated, it has become a part of our generation and has stuck around ever since. This paper is written with the intentions to prove how the evolution of hip-hop or rap music has ultimately made America

Dr. James Paterson explains, “the culture and the energy that came from that was very improvisational energy, a very sort of reclaiming energy that young folks, through dance, through rapping and DJ, so on and so forth, that is how the culture took hold. It was a (fill in the blank) __________________________________. And when I say violence, I mean like destroying homes. Imagine somebody putting a highway through your neighborhood, then you can understand hip-hop.”

In the 1970s the shockwave that would be known as hip hop rose from the economic situation of New York City, especially the black and Latino neighborhoods. However, while hip hop music was born in the Bronx, it both is part of and speaks to a long line of black American and African cultural traditions. Many observers also make a connection between rap and West African griot tradition, the art of wandering storytellers known for their knowledge of local settings and superior vocal skills. Additionally, rhymed verses are an important part of African American culture in both the public and private realms.

Hip-hop, which originated more than 20 years ago, is a musical art form. It has went through many changes during its lifetime. The music and lyrics have always remained centered in urban settings, with most artists of the music rising up from the inner-city neighborhoods. Beginning with a young generation of African-Americans from the Bronx looking to express themselves, it has since evolved to inspire people from all backgrounds across the world. During a time of segregation where clubs and the music played in them were only for white citizens. Hip hop was created in the 1970s and is defined by four key elements; MCing/rapping, DJing/scratching, break dancing, and graffiti writing. People would learn to breakdance to Afrika Bambaataa, who contributed a series of tracks influencing the hip hop culture.

In the early 70's, a Jamaican, DJ known as Kool Herc attempted to combine his Jamaican style of disk jockey, that involved reciting improvised rhymes over the dub versions of his reggae records (Davey 1). He also invented turntables, which kept the music going, with the occasional voice on the top of records, which started the roots of rap music. Over time, the culture broke into mainstream, spread around the world, and young people who did not have much to do, created not only multi-million industry, but have also created a way we can speak to each other all around the world. Hip hop is linked to other music such as rap which is embraced by urban black population. It is raw self-expression, sometimes features expletive lyrics, and violence. “Hip hop artists spoke to despair and pain of urban youth and the poor who were often without a voice. The rappers themselves were, the product of that reality, and it was conveyed through their lyrics” (Muhammad 1).

In order to understand the culture of hip-hop you must first examine its origins. The rise of hip-hop music and culture began during the popularization of block parties during the 1970’s in New York and was particularly popular among black and Latino youths. DJ’s would mix percussive beats that drew influences from funk and

The whole system producing hip-hop was how mechanisms and people worked together to provide new innovations, whether they know it or not. During the Harlem Renaissance that the white-collar black Harlemites and downtown businessmen started the immigrants brought

Hip-hop culture began to develop in the south Bronx area of New York City during the 1970s. It had a significant influence in the music industry. Hip-hop music generally includes rapping, but other elements such as sampling and beatboxing also play important roles. Rapping, as a key part in the hip-hop music, takes different forms, which including signifying, dozen, toast and jazz poetry. Initially, hip-hop music was a voice of people living in low-income areas, reflecting social, economic and political phenomenon in their life [1]. As time moves on, hip-hop music reached its “golden age”, where it became a mainstream music, featuring diversity, quality, innovation and influence [2]. Gangsta rap, one of the most significant innovations in

Most cultures started from small gatherings that had a great impact on many people through the unique expressive techniques. Hip-Hop is one of the greatest cultural movements that have emerged from the dilapidated South Bronx, New York in the early 1970’s. This subculture developed into a global sensation impacting the formation of youth culture around the world. The South Bronx was a whirlpool of political, social, and economic disruption in the years leading up to the birth of Hip-Hop. Relief from the poverty, oppression, drug, and crime was found in in hip hop.

The history of hip hop is important to understand in order to determine the ways in which hip hop has ‘commercialized’. Firstly, Hip hop originated in Bronx, New York in the 1970s. Hip hop has been heavily influenced by the American Black culture. The elements of hip hop include MCing, rapping, graffiti art, break dancing, and scratching (“History of Hip Hop”). The block parities hosted by DJ Kool Herc made significant contribution to the beginning of the hip hop culture. Many new DJs, MCs, rappers, break dancers would attend these parties to show off their talent. These gatherings brought new and styles of music and dancing which marked the beginning of the hip hop culture. This new form of music caught on and by the late 1970s, many block parities were being hosted in New York. Other DJs like Afrika Bambataa and Grandmaster Flash are also considered the pioneers of hip hop (Mize, 2014). After the hip hop culture grew out of the underground and become more known, it drew the interest

In the past thirty years, hip-hop culture has grown from its respectful beginnings in the South Bronx section of New York City into an important and influential cultural movement. Created in the mid- 1970s by poor Bronx residents with few resources, hip-hop has become a billion-dollar industry whose reach now stretches around the world. Hip-hop has influenced the way people make music, the way they dance, and the way they wear their clothes. It has also shaped people’s political views and turned many people into entrepreneurs.

Hip-hop (also referred to as rap music) originated in Bronx, New York in the mid 70’s as an underground urban movement. The genre started off consisting as either “MCing” over a beat or mixing and scratching audio. This was also accompanied by the introduction of breakdancing and graffiti or street art by youth living within the inner city, a great majority of whom were African American teens. Hip-hop continued to gain in popularity throughout the 70’s and by the early 80’s it had become a huge commercially successful genre and had been incorporated into mainstream American music.

Hip-Hop is a cultural movement that emerged from the dilapidated South Bronx, New York in the early 1970’s. The area’s mostly African American and Puerto Rican residents originated this uniquely American musical genre and culture that over the past four decades has developed into a global sensation impacting the formation of youth culture around the world. The South Bronx was a whirlpool of political, social, and economic upheaval in the years leading up to the inception of Hip-Hop. The early part of the 1970’s found many African American and Hispanic communities desperately seeking relief from the poverty, drug, and crime epidemics engulfing the gang dominated neighborhoods. Hip-Hop proved to be successful as both a creative outlet for