Hip Hop   

~ Well, hip-hop is what makes the world go around. ~ Snoop Dogg.

The brainchild of African and Latin Americans, hip hop music was born in New York City in the early '70s, where it grew from simple beginnings at house parties and nightclubs into an entire culture all its own. To look at the history of hip hop it'd be a lot like looking at the history of a large family-- there are many branches in the hip hop family tree, with hip hop influences ranging from African American gospel, jazz and R & B, folk, and blues in addition to reggae and other Afro-Caribbean styles, calypso, soca, ska, and salsa.

The basis of hip hop emerged from looping percussive patterns on two turntables and, later, DJ Clive "Kool Herc" Campbell translated the tradition of reciting impromptu poetry and popular sayings over music in his homeland of Jamaica into what we call rap today. Creating rhythms and sounds using their mouths, lips, tongues, and whatever body parts they could think of, other pioneers developed the now immensely popular technique of beatboxing.

Still alive and thriving over thirty years later, young and old alike find their voice, an identity, and sometimes even their own sense of style inside hip hop music and its accompanying culture. Hip hop is much more than just a musical genre-- it regularly transcends all classifications, anyway. Hip hop encompasses both music and personal expression. Maybe Doug E. Fresh, known as "The Human Beatbox," as well as an American rapper and and record producer, summed up the hip hop movement best when he said of it: "Hip-hop is supposed to uplift and create, to educate people on a larger level to make a change."

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posted May 13th at 4:59pm

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