Hip-Hop Culture

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Hip-hop is supposed to uplift and create, to educate people on a larger level and to make a change.” These words spoken by Doug E. Fresh outline the purpose of hip-hop culture in its’ entirety. This cultural movement originated in New York City from the African American, and Latino American communities in the 1970’s. This culture consists of DJing, break dancing, graffiti-art, and beat boxing. It has been and still is somewhat of an outlet for the youth to express themselves in a positive manner. Most classic hip-hop has a positive undertone and message to be conveyed to an audience. It is strongly based off of self-expression and addressing negativity in a way that their voices can be heard. Although hip-hop culture is overall a constructive movement that gets the youth involved in productive, self-satisfying activities there are many misconceptions about it. It is a misunderstood culture that has much to offer our younger generations today and pave the way for more positive outlets. Hip hop is a positive cultural movement that the youth today should learn about and get involved in because of its efficacious results in keeping teens off the streets and away from negative influences.

Hip-hop is a form of self expression originating from intercity communities branching off of New York City. There are five pillars that this unique culture is based around. These pillars are DJing, Beat boxing, Break Dancing, Graffiti Art, and Rapping. Originally the music aspect of hip-hop culture was based around disc jockeys that would loop breaks from songs to create a rhythmic beat that later was used as a fore ground for rapping and beat boxing. Rapping is composed of three parts; flow, content, and delivery. It is usually about topics that a...

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... hop is about violence, drugs, and money needs to be once and for all proven. The fallacy that kids surrounded in these negative environments are inevitably going to be jail-bound needs to be proven. Hip hop is a positive cultural movement that the youth today should learn about and get involved in because of its efficacious results in keeping teens off the streets and away from negative influences. We need to watch these kids, listen to these kids, and help these kids. We have the tools to do this, to provide this outlet for our youth. Help spread this positive message by creating workshops or x-blocks where kids can learn about what this rich culture has to offer them. And in the words of Russell Simmons, “The thing about hip-hop is that it's from the underground, ideas from the underbelly, from people who have mostly been locked out, who have not been recognized."

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