Hip-Hop

A detailed Summary of Hip-Hop

When you hear the phrase "hip-hop" what comes to mind? Baggy jeans, gangster rap, flashy jewelry, or a menacing noise that the new generation of punk kids call music? These are a few stereotypes which people have been led to believe define Hip-hop. In reality Hip-hop is none of these. Those are just a few examples of some of the "excess baggage" that has attached itself to the culture. Hip-hop is a culture which spawned from the streets of New York in the early 80's (George 16). Gangs were a large problem at the time, and pressured kids with a negative influence. Hip-hop helped these adolescents to better themselves and stay out of trouble. These Poverty stricken kids were trying to find a way out of their financial situation through special talents, and hopefully catch a bit of "ghetto fame" in the process. These talents which are affiliated with the culture later became known as the elements of Hip-hop(Livernoche 2-9). What is the hip-hop culture really all about?

There are four main elements: The MC (rapping), The Deejay (mixing records), The B-boy (breakdancing), and Graffiti (aerosol art)(Shapiro 4). Back when the Hip-hop movement first started these kids were ignored by the public as a spawning culture. All

B-BOY. These people are a strange barrel of monkeys. B-boy's are more commonly known as break dancers. Only the highly respected break dancers may own the title of a B-boy, or break-boy. Break dancing got its name from the sections of a record that a Deejay would play. These sections are fast paced and have a simple drum line, they are known as breaks (Shapiro 16-18). People began to dance in strange fashions to these beats. They would spin around on the floor and experiment with high momentum maneuvers. There are a couple forms of break dancing: Popping, Locking, break dancing, and up-rock. Popping is when a dancer does wave like, robot like, or vibrating movements. Locking consists of fast paced arm movements, jumps, and splits. Break dancing (the most popular) has four basic categories:1.) Top rock, the introduction to the dance, done standing on the feet moving to the beat. 2.) Style or down rock, is when the hands and feet are on the floor weaving in and out of each other. 3.) Power moves, are high momentum maneuvers which take strength and involve spinning. 4.) Freezes, are sharp stops while dancing that often require flexibility. Up-rock is like a fight done by dancing against each other to the beat while throwing punches and kicks., although they do not actually hit one another. Highly respected dancers are always in synchronization with the music. Breakers make money as choreographers and also by doing shows for companies. Battling is a very important aspect of Breaking. This is when either an individual or crew goes up against another. These are high energy events filled with flips, spins, and taunts to the "enemy". Battles can be held anywhere from the street to a stage which is being televised as a worldwide event. Pride is often at stake in these battles, as well as a prize. Many people get involved in this activity because all you need to participate is your body. Break dancing was very popular in the late eighties and has recently resurfaced significantly. B-boys are here to stay (George 82-94).

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Approximate Word count = 1575
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: Music