Hip Hop Culture Essay

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When most middle-class Americans think about hip hop, they think of music about drugs, sex, and money; they think of African Americans living in impoverished areas around the country. This view of hip hop is highly skewed, especially since they think of hip hop as just a music genre. It is much more than just that. Hip hop is a culture of artistic expression; it is a lifestyle. The four main parts of this culture are MCing, DJing, breakin’, and graffiti. At the core of each one of these aspects, and at the core of hip hop culture, is the ability for the artists to release their angers and frustrations of the world around them. This has been at the core of hip hop since its beginnings, and is what allows true hip hop to be immortal. Hip hop can trace its roots back to many different factors, music genres, and events, however the South Bronx in New York, New York is considered to be the birthplace of hip hop. The construction of the Cross Bronx Expressway in the beginning of the …show more content…
This includes, but is not limited to, jazz, blues, R&B, reggae, and disco. “Just as classic blues, ragtime, and jazz at each of their emergences reflected the aspirations and frustrations of the majority of African Americans–who were then, as they are now callously quarantined to the ghettos, slums, and barrios–rap and other forms of hip hop music primarily reflect the triumphs and tragedies, the ecstasies and agonies of contemporary black ghetto life and culture” (Amnesia). One major stylistic aspect that hip hop gained from jazz, is improvisation. Just like Louis Armstrong improvised music on his trumpet, rappers improvised lyrics, otherwise know as ‘freestyle’. Having such a big base, hip hop music can take on many unique sounds. This gives the artist a huge amount of musical freedom, making hip hop very acoustically diverse. This also provides artists with the perfect tools to release their
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