Surely everyone has heard hip-hop music at least once in their life. But today, hip-hop is a whole industry, a subculture that has its own distinctive features and brings fabulous money.
The birthplace of hip-hop is considered to be the Bronx District of New York. In the 70s. of the last century, the legendary trinity of Afrika Bambaataa, Grandmaster Flash and Kool Herc stood at the origins of a new culture that became mainstream in a fairly short period of time.
The word "hip-hop" is translated into Russian as "movement of the mind." Initially, it appeared in protest against pressure from the authorities, injustice of all stripes, social inequality and, especially, the oppression of African Americans by white people. That is why for many years hip-hop was considered a music exclusively for African Americans, until the first white rapper Eminem managed to gain worldwide popularity in the mid-90s. Later, hip-hop artists began to appear all over the world, gaining prestige in their countries.
With the rise of hip-hop, the following attributes of this style emerged:
- MC (Master of Ceremonies).
MC should be able to "light up" the crowd, speaking to the audience with a pre-prepared recitative or impromptu (freestyle). MCs still exist, but now they most often read lyrics live to dance music of different styles at parties and promotions. In the modern commercial hip-hop industry, rappers are reading text.
-DJ
The task of the DJ is to reproduce the recorded monotonous beat sound, under which the MC broadcasts its "manifesto" to the crowd. Moreover, a DJ can spice up the music with special effects, for example, a scratch.
- Graffiti
Graffiti is hip-hop painting on the walls of buildings, train cars, fences, garages, etc.
- Break dance
Breakdancing or b-boing is the art of street dance to hip-hop music. Dancers compete with each other in the mastery of the body in battles (individual or group).
- beatbox
The skill of imitating various rhythms and sounds with a vocal apparatus.
Also, hip-hop was noted for some features of the style in clothing: wide pants, white T-shirts, hoods, chains, rings, various headdresses.
Soon, many ramifications arose from the hip-hop culture: rap, gangsta rap, r'n'b, etc. Now, both in Russia and abroad, there are commercial and non-commercial hip-hop performers. The former still support the idea of style, writing clever, sharp, exciting lyrics with extraordinary rhymes for the thinking part of society, and the latter record platinum discs in studios, appear in clips and films, receive prestigious awards and tour actively, involving everyone in the hip-hop industry. new connoisseurs.
