PEACE, LOVE, UNITY AND HAVING FUN
A STORY OF THE HIP HOP CULTURE
Afrika Bambaataa (DJ, rapper and founder of the Zulu Nation) about Hip Hop:
"A lot of times, when people say Hip Hop, they don't know what they are truly talking about. They just think of the rappers. When you talk about Hip Hop, you're talking about the whole culture and movement. You have to take the whole culture for what it is."
Read more at https://www.brainyquote.com/authors/afrika_bambaataa
"How you act, walk, look and talk is all part of Hip Hop culture. And the music is colorless. Hip Hop music is made from Black, brown, yellow, red and white."
We aim to provide a wide range of knowledge regarding the history of Hip Hop, its diversity of characteristics as well as its influence in our modern society.
However, we do not claim that the information given here is entirely correct since we did not experience the environment where the culture roots on our own.
This is based on personal research (books and documentaries), conversations with other Hip Hop enthusiasts and of course our own passion for this subject.
So please enjoy and feel free to contact us if you come across any false information.
We also value it highly that credit is always given where it's due so if there are any misconceptions we will gladly correct them.
THE FOUR ELEMENTS OF HIP HOP
The Universal Zulu Nation defined the four pillars of the Hip Hop Culture as:
Rapping
Also known as MCing
(MC = Master of Ceremonies)
is the vocal interpretation of the beat which usually consist of fast, spoken rhymes.
"
B-Boying
"Back then, everybody just bugged out. There was no certain style. You're letting yourself out. You're getting loose." (Free, Circle of Fire and Shape Shifters)
Breaking or Breakdance is a style of streetdance which originated in the 1970s when the African American youth was presented with new genres of muisc due to new techniques
from the DJs.
Graffiti
"The stories that I do in my graffity - I don’t really care if people understand what I’m saying or if they get what I’m saying. It’s more important that I need to get something off my chest
- I need to say something." (Lady Pink)
Graffiti is an art form which is usually expressed in urban environments through markers or spray paint.
DJing
A DJ or Disc Jockey mixes already existing records (back in the days from vinyls and today digitally). The techniques of pioneers like DJ Kool Herc were crucial in order to develop a genre (Funk) which resonated with the youth better than the previous disco music.
"He wanted to give us the music that we grew up on, the soul music."
(Kurtis Blow)
