The History Of Hip Hop Culture

Many regard hip hop as offensive noise but many of the music’s elements have roots deep in American history and helped shape the country as we know it today. It’s earliest roots date back to the rhythmic music of tribal Africa. Much of the music consisted of drum beats and rhythmic chanting accompanied by melodic vocals and other minor instruments, such as, shakers, string instruments, and flutes. Today’s rap music is also centralized around heavy beats and the same rhythmic chanting, which we now call rap.
The art of “battling” goes back to The Dozens. (Art Of Rap Something From Nothing; KRS-One) African American men would shoot short, rhyming insults at each other. Call and response was taken from black churches. The clergyman would sing …show more content…
Emceeing, the art of rapping, is often confused as hip hop itself. Emceeing in it’s simplest form is being able to tell a story, make a point, or insult an opponent with lyrical agility. The Emcee has to be quick on his feet and able to form rhyming sentences at will but, most importantly an emcee has to be original. Amongst hip hop culture the Emcee is one of the most respected individuals. The second element of hip hop is DJing. The Dj (Disk Jockey) is responsible for making only the funkiest of jams. To create the beats the break of a record is played on two records over and over. DJing is what really started hip hop and is essential for the next element. Breakdancing is the third element of hip hop. It’s exactly what it sounds like. Breakdancing is dancing to the breaks of hip hop music. The style however, is like none other. Dancers are known for being able to twist and contort their bodies with ease and grace. Breakdancing got it’s name because that’s just what it is, dancing over breaks. The final element is graffiti. While graffiti is typically looked upon as vandalism it can also be used as an outlet for social change, self expression, and simply as …show more content…
In the beginning there was nothing, and then Kool Herc said, “let there be parties.” DJ Kool Herc is credited with creating hip hop. Herc would take two of the same songs and play them on repeat. Keeping the breaks on repeat allowed people to dance to them even longer and in new ways. Herc went from party to party with his new style of DJing and people loved it. Soon after, breakdancing followed. Once people were dancing to this new kind of music it was only natural to have an MC. At first the MC would give props to the DJ and try to get the crowd hyped. After a while the MC began to sing some rhymes over the beat to hype up the crowd. This was the birth of rapping. Once youths had an outlet to express themselves, they expressed their views. Rappers rapped about what went on around them. They told stories, they discussed political actions, and so much