What is a hip hop culture?

Hip-hop - it's not easy direction in the youth subculture, and a certain credo of the young generation, a kind of way of its self-expression. More details on its appearance and features will be discussed later in the article.

Development of subculture

A modern fashion trend has appeared in America. The first dancers and performers in this style were African-Americans.

Speaking of what hip-hop is like a musical and dance flow of youth culture, it must be taken into account that initially this style bore a very bright social direction. It was a kind of challenge to the rich hypocrites and corrupt officials. Later hip-hop became a fashionable trend, which means that it was started to be supported commercially.

The word "hip" was borrowed from the adverb of African Americans, it meant mobile parts of the body. Another of its significance is "the desire for improvement." "Hop" means a jump. When these two words are combined, it turns out - development, forward movement, rethinking of life and so on.

In 1974, the DJ Africa Bambaata identified 5 components of hip-hop, and the benchmark Keith Wiggins and Grandmaster Flash began to develop further in 1978. It all started with an ordinary joke. When the young men escorted their friend to the service, they laughed, marched and humming, like rhythm, the word "hip-hop." So the musical rhythm of the music was born.

One of the founders of this subculture is Kul-Herk. At his parties, he accompanied the sounding music with a recitative, later such a manner of performance would be called Rap. In order for the dancers to show their talents, Kul-Herk made musical breaks between his performances (breaks). Thanks to this, those willing to go out into the circle and demonstrate their abilities in dance.

Kinds

Hip-hop, being the direction of youth culture, calls for self-expression. Girls and boys in dance or music show their individuality. This current includes five areas:

• Musical (rep);
• Dance (break-dance);
• Art (graffiti);
• Sports (basketball and streetball).

In the 1990s, another trend developed - the gangster rap, which was saturated with aggression and cruelty. It was a kind of propaganda of the criminal world and its values.

Dancing

What is hip-hop dance? For today it is a dynamic style. Hip-hop dancing includes elements such as movement, rotation, jumping, "kach" body and so on. Hip-hop dancers can show their cheekiness, ostentatious relaxation, softness and so on.

The birth of hip-hop dance takes place in the 70s, and the basis of it - African-American jazz (in translation "improvisation"). It was conceived by the Americans as a confrontation with the outside world, a struggle for freedom. Hip-hop dances assume freedom in everything: in movements, clothes, emotions.

Now African-jazz is a separate direction. But if you look at it as a special dance of the black tribes, you can see much in common with the hip-hop dance of modern times.

African-American youth in the dance around the fire revealed their feelings and emotions. There was some relaxation in their movements. According to the belief of the local tribes, God dwells in the earth. This religious moment found reflection in African-jazz: many movements in the dance are turned to the floor. This explains the low landing of the dancers, and the slightly relaxed knees. All this allows us to talk about hip-hop as a street dance based on improvisation and freedom of movement.

Today, new directions are emerging, numerous dance schools are opening, and competitive hip-hop is one of the popular dance destinations around the world.

Music

What is hip-hop music? This direction, which is based on two main elements: rep (recitative) and rhythm, which sets the DJ. The performers of the named music call themselves "em-si". A rapper must own the art of rhyme. It is rep that is considered the ancestor of the described youth culture.

First the hip-hop songs were the singer's own speeches, the purpose of which was to address the listener and the surrounding society with a specific question (usually on social topics). Public Enemy - a well-known hip-hop group, thanks to which this trend began to develop.

Hip-hop becomes popular in the 1990s, when this trend is put on a commercial level, new trends are emerging in it. But the basis for them all is one - the recitation of a rhythmic recitative (rep) to a melody and rhythm.

Features

Originating in America among ordinary blacks, hip-hop has stirred up numerous problems at the social and political level. Therefore, this culture assumes unordinary attributes:

• The clothes of the performers are loose trousers or pants, hooded sweaters, caps, baseball caps, ski hats, etc .;
• Accessories - bright wide laces, massive chains, wristbands and so on.

Talking about what hip-hop is today is simple - it's an incredibly popular trend of the youth culture of our time. Before mastering this musical or dance style, you need not only to master the basic movements, but also to understand the true meaning and basis of the modern subculture.