Hip Hop was formed as a cultural movement among the youths of New York City. It is made up of four main elements or aspects which are MCing, DJing, graffiti art, and breakdancing. Hip Hop has also become a synonym for rap music but the two should not be interchanged. The word rap is actually ripped off a 1960 slang word for conversation. Rap consists of street poetry that is chanted to the accompaniment of popular disco music or funk recordings.
Gangs are often related or associated with hip hop but the difference between them is that the latter is a bigger cultural movement while the other is only a small part under it. Hip hop was also developed in the 1970s as an alternative culture to the worship of violence often displayed by gangs.
Many sources point towards the direction of the Bronx in New York as the birthplace of hip hop culture. When an expressway was being built at the heart of the Bronx in 1959, the middle classes started leaving the borough.
The exit of these neighborhoods was replaced by poor families that are either black or Hispanic. They brought along unemployment, crime and drug addiction. Due to the continuous exit of middle-classmen, landlords were forced to sell their properties because of too many vacancies. This resulted to abandoned and vacant buildings.
During the deterioration of the borough, the third element of hip hop culture which is graffiti art was born. It began with a group of teenage boys terrorizing the Bronx vicinity. After that, different gang activities started surging and it went on until the next six years. The group was first called the Savage Seven which was later changed to the Black Spades as more members started to join. Later on, the hip hop movement was organized as a powerful alternative against street violence.
There are four elements of Hip Hop. Firstly, MCing. MC is a short term for Masters of Ceremonies. It was generally associated with rapping in the past. Rapping is a form of rhyming the spoken lyrics and is done over musical instruments. Rapping used to be called MCing until such time it became a subset of MCing.
Secondly, DJing. A disc jockey or DJ creates different musical backgrounds by using techniques such as audio mixing, sampling and scratching. They use the music as party entertainment or as backdrops to accompany a rapper. The third element is Graffiti art. It was used by street gangs in the 1950s to promote their groups, mark territories and intimidate enemies. It was also popularized by a mail courier who began writing his name and courier ID in every bus he rode to deliver mails and packages. The fourth element is Breakdancing. This dancing style was born during the time that hip hop music was undergoing developments. The different moves that comprise breakdancing often stretch the human body to the limits.Hip hop began its earlier developments and recognition through block and house parties where DJs provide party entertainment by playing popular music. They created a signature technique called breaks. Later on, the DJs and MCs teamed up to create rap and it became very popular. After that, the influence of hip hop went on to form another subculture which is breakdancing. While the rap music is for turntables and microphones, breakdancing also began invading not only block party floors but also street floors.
Bryce created the Absolute Pitch Simulator, which is a software application to develop Perfect Pitch. It simulates the experience of someone with perfect pitch. You can find out more about it at: perfect pitch trainer
No comments:
Post a Comment