When I was a child, I used to think that hip hop artists were the coolest role models. My list of rappers I admired included the Notorious B.I.G. and Tupac Shakur to say the least. Although none of them have said so directly, present hip hop fans continue to fall victim to the same lures of fame and fortune that once swayed me during my childhood. The current issue is that whereas some are convinced that hip hop is unified culture, others maintain that it is a dead beat. In the purview of my knowledge of hip hop, I will not comment on the comment of the misogynistic and materialistic issues of hip hop that were covered during Wednesday's HUM debate. Instead I look to unobtrusively analyze and investigate the greater debate, is hip hop is truly a culture.
To put it bluntly, the underlying answer to this question lies with the universal consensus of what define a culture. According to definition, a culture is a community or group that is civilized, has set of learned beliefs, values and behaviors that are a way of life shared by the members of a society. In other words, a culture is a structured entity with members that share a common way life. To take case in point, hip hop boasts a unique way of life surrounded by struggle that has thrived in urban communities for over two decades. By this assertion alone, one may be tempted ask is that not enough to be considered a culture. Well, the truth is simple; no.
Though I concede that the unique way of life adds merit to the answer, much is still left to be investigated. A sober analysis of the hip hop culture reveals that it contains five elements. Not to be confused with the student organization, Five Elements, even though they are based on these key principles. The initial five elements of hip hop were the Rapper, DJ, B-boy Graffiti Artist and the forgotten element, knowledge. What is more important is that these finding were mostly conveyed through word of mouth until they were formally defined by the Zulu Nation, the first hip hop activist group.
Having just presented to underlying components of hip hop, let us now turn our attention back to the question of their role in the hip hop culture. Anyone familiar with hip hop should see that these five elements make up foundation of the hip hop society that thrives today. For example, each element shared the common motive of turning the struggles of the community into positives. The rappers created positive impact using words, DJ's hosted the events that brought communities together, B-Boys gave kids that would be otherwise causing trouble, a outlet to fight using dance moves, graffiti artists used buildings in their communities canvases to express the overall emotions around them, and the knowledge set the standard for the unified beliefs that continues to thrive in the 21st century.
What this investigation does then, is correct the mistaken impression, held by many onlookers, that hip hop is not a vibrant culture. Clearly the notion that hip hop is not a culture is debunked because these findings prove that rappers alone could not have taken hip hop further to create the multi-billion dollar market that we buy into today.
Furthermore, hip hop spans far beyond the basic examples that are presented here. As an illustration, different styles of clothing have been created, an elaborate language has emerged and many of the culture's top professionals are respected throughout the world. "Impossible" you say. "Your evidence must be skewed." Well, if hip hop were not a complex, constantly growing culture, its teachings would not have transcended the urban communities and venture across the world into the UK, Japan, and many other countries with members that promulgate its influence.
While I admit that the debate over the current state of hip hop continuous to be a contentious issue, this is not to say that everyone is apathetic. For example, organizations like the Hip-Hop Summit, run by Russell Simmons and Dr. Benjamin Chavis Muhammad, continue remind us of our rich heritage by working with leading artists towards unity to ensure progress and stability.
This understanding of hip hop in a different light should not be something new. I encourage follows of hip hop to delve deeper into discussion and understand the antecedents that truly make hip hop a culture. At the end of the day, the hip hop culture is only getting larger and it is difficult to undermine its influence around the world.
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