Hip Hop is the culture that has shaped a generation. More than just music, it’s the clothes, the vernacular, the feeling you get when you hear the music.

Hip Hop is a culture of fashion, language/slang, music, movement, visual art and expression. Since hip-hop emerged from the South Bronx in the 1970s, it has become an international, multi-billion-dollar phenomenon. It has grown to encompass more than just rap music—hip-hop has created a culture that incorporates ethnicity, art, politics, fashion, technology and urban life.

From KRS One’s Boogie Down Productions and Marley Marl’s Juice Crew, and continues till present-day Kanye West and Lil Wayne. Hip-Hop has become more than just a series of lyrical rhymes, it has become a movement. While keeping much of its original fan base, hip-hop music and culture have become popular among mainstream consumers—particularly suburban youth. Some believe that as commercial and “gangsta” rap emerged, so did lyrics that glorify drugs, violence and misogyny. During the mid-1970s, Hip-hop music and culture began to emerge, originating among urban African Americans and Latinos in New York City. The four main elements of Hip Hop culture are graffiti, DJing, b-boying, and MCing).

I was born in 1995 and classic hip-hop for me is A Tribe Called Quest. Q-Tip is a classic and his lyrics made me bob my head no matter my mood. The first song I heard was Bonita Applebum and from there I was hooked on the smooth beats and the dope lyrics.

“Hey Bonita, glad to meet ya

For the kind of stunning newness, I must have foreseen ya”

 

Another classic was Juicy by the Notorious B.I.G. It was my first time hearing someone rap over a r&b style beat and it captivated me. It showed the true versatility of Hip Hop as more than hard beats and repetitive lyrics.

“It was all a dream

I used to read Word Up magazine”

 

In1975, hip-hop DJ Grand Wizard Theodore invented the scratching technique by accident. This was the beginning of the new age of DJing as we know it. DJing has changed tremendously with the change in technology. Very few DJs use records and old school turntables. Most use computer programs and mixers to make beats. Most Artist have their own DJ’s that are just for them to use during performances like DJ Esco who is the rapper Future’s DJ. Most DJs have branched off into their own avenues like DJ Khaled who has released full length albums and DJ Mustard who started off as a DJ for rapper YG and is now making beats and producing music for many artists in the music industry.

Breakdancing is one of the most pivotal reasons hip hop is a culture. The rhythmic dance moves shaped the way millions of people were influenced and influenced generations of multiple race.  Many elements of b-boying can be seen in other antecedent cultures prior to the 1970s. Beginning with DJ Kool Herc, Bronx-based DJs would take the rhythmic breakdown sections (also known as the “breaks”) of dance records and prolong them by looping them successively. The breakbeat provided a rhythmic base that allowed dancers to display their improvisational skills during the duration of the break.

In 1979, graffiti artist Lee Quinones and Fab 5 Freddy were given a gallery opening in Rome by art dealer Claudio Bruni. For many outside of New York, it was their first encounter with their art form. Fab 5 Freddy’s friendship with Debbie Harry influenced Blondie’s single “Rapture” (Chrysalis, 1981), the video of which featured Jean-Michel Basquiat, and offered many their first glimpse of a depiction of elements of graffiti in hip hop culture. Fab 5 Freddy and Futura 2000 took hip hop graffiti to Paris and London as part of the New York City Rap Tour in 1983.

Hip Hop has a major influence on fashion. Trends change over time but Hip Hop has made the biggest impact on the fashion industry and how styles start, end, and resurface. From the baggy jeans to the Adidas sweat suits. Yet, as rappers, DJs and other evangelists of the movement went on to attain spectacular wealth, their clothing took on an additional symbolic status. Kanye West can be noted as one of the innovators of fashion in the hip hop culture. He currently is bringing a hip hop touch to couture and it is changing the game with his Yeezy Season clothing line.

Hip-Hop is an ever growing cultural phenomena and one can only wonder where the future of hip-hop will lead us.