Hip hop (culture) facts for kids

Two hip hop DJs creating new music by mixing tracks from multiple record players. Pictured are DJ Hypnotize (left) and Baby Cee (right).

Hip hop or hip-hop is a culture and art movement that was created by African Americans pioneered from Black American street culture, also known as hip hop African American culture, that had been around for years prior to its more mainstream discovery while later reaching other groups such as Latino Americans and Caribbean Americans, starting in the Bronx, New York City. Hip Hop is one of cultural movements that has been shaped and dominated by African American males though female hip hop artists have contributed to the art form and culture as well. Hip hop culture is characterized by four key elements: rapping, DJing and turntablism, breakdancing, and graffiti. Other elements include historical knowledge of the movement, beatboxing, street entrepreneurship, hip hop language, and hip hop fashion. Some of these are argued to be the “fifth element”.

The Bronx hip hop scene emerged in August 1973 when brother–sister duo DJ Kool Herc and Cindy Campbell hosted the first hip hop party in the Bronx, sparking the rise of the genre. Hip hop culture has spread to both urban and suburban communities throughout the United States and subsequently the world. These elements were adapted and developed considerably, particularly as the art forms spread to new continents and merged with local styles in the 1990s and subsequent decades. Even as the movement continues to expand globally and explore myriad styles and art forms, including hip hop theater and hip hop film, the four foundational elements provide coherence and a strong foundation for hip hop culture.

Hip hop is simultaneously a new and old phenomenon; the importance of sampling tracks, beats, and basslines from old records to the art form means that much of the culture has revolved around the idea of updating classic recordings, attitudes, and experiences for modern audiences. Sampling older culture and reusing it in a new context or a new format is called "flipping" in hip hop culture. Hip hop music follows in the footsteps of earlier African-American-rooted and Latino musical genres such as blues, jazz, rag-time, funk, salsa, and disco to become one of the most practiced genres worldwide.

Etymology

Keith "Cowboy" Wiggins, a member of Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, has been credited with coining the term in 1978 while teasing a friend who had just joined the US Army by scat singing the made-up words "hip/hop/hip/hop" in a way that mimicked the rhythmic cadence of marching soldiers. The name soon came to identify this new music and culture.

The song "Rapper's Delight" by The Sugarhill Gang, released in 1979, begins with the phrase "I said a hip, hop, the hippie the hippie to the hip hip hop, and you don't stop". The 1980 hit Rapture by Blondie contains a rapping part with the line "And you hip-hop, and you don't stop..." Lovebug Starski — a Bronx DJ who put out a single called "The Positive Life" in 1981 – and DJ Hollywood then began using the term when referring to this new disco rap music.

Hip hop pioneer and South Bronx community leader Afrika Bambaataa also credits Lovebug Starski as the first to use the term "hip hop" as it relates to the culture. Bambaataa, former leader of the Black Spades, also did much to further popularize the term. The first use of the term in print, referring specifically to the culture and its elements, was in a January 1982 interview of Afrika Bambaataa by Michael Holman in the East Village Eye. The term gained further currency in September of that year in The Village Voice, in a profile of Bambaataa written by Steven Hager, who also published the first comprehensive history of the culture with St. Martins' Press.

Social impact

Effects

A b-boy performing in San Francisco

Hip hop has made a considerable social impact since its inception in the 1970s. "Hip hop has also become relevant to the field of education because of its implications for understanding language, learning, identity, and curriculum." Orlando Patterson, a sociology professor at Harvard University, helps describe the phenomenon of how hip hop has spread rapidly around the world. Patterson argues that mass communication is controlled by the wealthy, the government, and major businesses in Third World nations and countries around the world.

He also credits mass communication with creating a global cultural hip hop scene. As a result, the youth are influenced by the American hip hop scene and start their own forms of hip hop. Patterson believes that revitalization of hip hop music will occur around the world as traditional values are mixed with American hip hop music, and ultimately a global exchange process will develop that brings youth around the world to listen to a common musical form of hip hop.

The annual Blockfest in Tampere, Finland is the largest hip hop music event in the Nordic countries and also one of the best-selling festivals in advance. Picture of Blockfest in 2017.

It has also been argued that rap music formed as a "cultural response to historic oppression and racism, a system for communication among black communities throughout the United States". This is due to the fact that hip hop culture reflected the social, economic, and political realities of the disenfranchised youth. In the 2010s, hip hop lyrics are starting to reflect original socially conscious themes. Rappers are starting to question the government's power and its oppressive role in some societies. Rap music has been a tool for political, social, and cultural empowerment outside the United States. Members of minority communities—such as Algerians in France, and Turks in Germany—use rap as a platform to protest racism, poverty, and social structures.

Fashion

Rapper Snoop Dogg at a 2009 show

Clothing, hair and other styles have been a big part of hip hop's social and cultural impact since the 1970s. Although the styles have changed over the decades, distinctive urban apparel and looks have been an important way for rappers, breakdancers and other hip hop community members to express themselves. As the hip hop music genre's popularity increased, so did the effect of its fashion.

Diversification

Breaking in Ljubljana, Slovenia

Hip hop music has spawned dozens of subgenres which incorporate hip hop music production approaches, such as sampling, creating beats, or rapping. The diversification process stems from the appropriation of hip hop culture by other ethnic groups. There are many varying social influences that affect hip hop's message in different nations. It is frequently used as a musical response to perceived political and/or social injustices. In South Africa the largest form of hip hop is called Kwaito, which has had a growth similar to U.S. hip hop. Kwaito is a direct reflection of a post-apartheid South Africa and is a voice for the voiceless; a term that U.S. hip hop is often referred to. Kwaito is even perceived as a lifestyle, encompassing many aspects of life, including language and fashion.

Kwaito is a political and party-driven genre, as performers use the music to express their political views, and also to express their desire to have a good time. Kwaito is a music that came from a once hated and oppressed people, but it is now sweeping the nation. The main consumers of Kwaito are adolescents and half of the South African population is under 21. Some of the large Kwaito artists have sold more than 100,000 albums, and in an industry where 25,000 albums sold is considered a gold record, those are impressive numbers. Kwaito allows the participation and creative engagement of otherwise socially excluded peoples in the generation of popular media. South African hip hop has made an impact worldwide, with performers such as Tumi, HipHop Pantsula, Tuks Senganga.

South Sudanese musician Emmanuel Jal uses hip hop to heal war-torn African youth. Jal pictured at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York.

In Jamaica, the sounds of hip hop are derived from American and Jamaican influences. Jamaican hip hop is defined both through dancehall and reggae music. Jamaican Kool Herc brought the sound systems, technology, and techniques of reggae music to New York during the 1970s. Jamaican hip hop artists often rap in both Brooklyn and Jamaican accents.

Arabic hip hop artist Klash Loon

In the developing world, hip hop has made a considerable impact in the social context. Despite the lack of resources, hip hop has made considerable inroads. Due to limited funds, hip hop artists are forced to use very basic tools, and even graffiti, an important aspect of the hip hop culture, is constrained due to its unavailability to the average person. Hip hop has begun making inroads with more than black artists. There are number of other minority artists who are taking center stage as many first generation minority children come of age. One example is rapper Awkwafina, an Asian-American, who raps about being Asian as well as being female. She, like many others, use rap to express her experiences as a minority not necessarily to "unite" minorities together but to tell her story.

Many hip hop artists from the developing world come to the United States to seek opportunities. Maya Arulpragasm (A.K.A. M.I.A.), a Sri Lanka-born Tamil hip hop artist claims, "I'm just trying to build some sort of bridge, I'm trying to create a third place, somewhere in between the developed world and the developing world.". Another music artist using hip hop to provide a positive message to young Africans is Emmanuel Jal, a former child soldier from South Sudan. Jal is one of the few South Sudanese music artists to have broken through on an international level with his unique form of hip hop and a positive message in his lyrics. Jal has attracted the attention of mainstream media and academics with his story and use of hip hop as a healing medium for war-afflicted people in Africa and he has also been sought out on the international lecture fora such as TED.

Many K-Pop artists in South Korea have been influenced by hip hop and many South Korean artists perform hip hop music. In Seoul, South Korea, Koreans b-boy.

Education

Scholars argue that hip hop can have an empowering effect on youth. While there is violence in rap music videos and lyrics, hip hop also displays many positive themes of self-reliance, resilience, and self-esteem. These messages can be inspiring for a youth living in poverty. A lot of rap songs contain references to strengthening the African American community promoting social causes. Social workers have used hip hop to build a relationship with at-risk youth and develop a deeper connection with the child. Hip hop has the potential to be taught as a way of helping people see the world more critically, be it through forms of writing, creating music, or social activism. The lyrics of hip hop have been used to learn about literary devices such as metaphor, imagery, irony, tone, theme, motif, plot, and point of view.

Organizations and facilities are providing spaces and programs for communities to explore making and learning about hip hop. An example is the IMP Labs in Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada. Many dance studios and colleges now offer lessons in hip hop alongside tap and ballet, as well as KRS-One teaching hip hop lectures at Harvard University. Hip hop producer 9th Wonder and former rapper-actor Christopher "Play" Martin from hip hop group Kid-n-Play have taught hip hop history classes at North Carolina Central University and 9th Wonder has also taught a "Hip Hop Sampling Soul" class at Duke University. In 2007, the Cornell University Library established a Hip Hop Collection to collect and make accessible the historical artifacts of hip hop culture and to ensure their preservation for future generations.

The hip hop community has been a major factor in educating its listeners on HIV/AIDS, a disease that has affected the community very closely.

See also

In Spanish: Hip hop para niños

• List of hip hop genres
• Pop culture

Images for kids

• 

  DJ Jazzy Jeff, who is also a record producer, manipulating a record turntable in 2005.

• 

  Afrika Bambaataa with DJ Yutaka of Universal Zulu Nation in 2004

• 

  The Beastie Boys in 2004

• 

  Grandmaster Melle Mel

• 

  British hip hop artist and poet Kae Tempest performs her signature piece "Let Them Eat Chaos" at the 2017 Treefort Music Fest in Boise, Idaho.

• 

  Rapper, entrepreneur and executive Jay-Z emphasizes his wealth.

• 

  DJ Qbert manipulating a record turntable at a turntablism competition in France in 2006

• 

  DJ Pete Rock mixing with two turntables

• 

  Rapper Busta Rhymes performs in Las Vegas for a BET party

• 

  An aerosol paint can, a common tool used in modern graffiti

• 

  PHASE 2 is an influential graffiti artist who began painting in the 1970s.

• 

  B Boy executing a freeze

• 

  A silhouette shows a man break dancing. One of the 4 elements of hip hop.

• 

  Biz Markie is noted for his beatboxing skills. He is holding the mic close to his mouth, a technique beatboxers use to imitate deep basslines and bass drums, by exploiting the proximity effect.

• 

  A typical rap drum beat, written in drum notation.

• 

  While hip hop music makes a significant use of sampling old records, using turntables and drum machines to create beats, producers use electric and acoustic instruments on some songs. Pictured is an electric bass player at a hip hop show.

• 

  A b-boy performing in San Francisco

• 

  A graffiti artist uses his artwork to make a satirical social statement on censorship: "Don't blame yourself ... blame hip hop!"

• 

  Potato chip packages featuring hip hop-design images (showing Lil Romeo and based on the film Honey)

• 

  LL Cool J in front of a Coca-Cola billboard at a festival sponsored by the soda pop company

• 

  Rapper Dr. Dre has endorsed a line of headphones and other audio gear called "beats", which bear his name.

• 

  Graffiti depicting US rapper 50 Cent.

• 

  Hip hop artist Lauryn Hill has been successful as a solo performer and as a member of the Fugees. This photo shows her performing at the Ottawa Bluesfest in 2012.

• 

  Mary J. Blige performing