Meaning of hip hop ?

Answer 1

Hip hop music, also referred to as rap or rap music, is a style of popular music which came into existence in the United States during the mid-1970s, and became a large part of modern pop culture during the 1980s. It consists of two main components: rapping (MCing) and DJing (audio mixing and scratching). Along with hip hop dance (notably breakdancing) and urban inspired art, or notably graffiti, these compose the four elements of hip hop, a cultural movement that was initiated by inner-city youth, mostly African Americans[1] in New York City, in the early 1970s.

Typically, hip hop music consists of intensely rhythmic lyrical form making abundant use of techniques like assonance, alliteration, and rhyme. The rapper is accompanied by an instrumental track, usually referred to as a "beat", performed by a DJ, created by a producer, or one or more instrumentalists. This beat is often created using a sample of the percussion break of another song, usually a funk or soul recording. In addition to the beat other sounds are often sampled, synthesized, or performed. Sometimes a track can be instrumental, as a showcase of the skills of the DJ or producer.

Hip hop began in The Bronx, located in New York City, when DJs began isolating the percussion break from funk and disco songs. The early role of the MC was to introduce the DJ and the music and to keep the audience excited. MCs began by speaking between songs, giving exhortations to dance, greetings to audience members, jokes and anecdotes. Eventually this practice became more stylized and became known as rapping. By 1979 hip hop had become a commercially popular music genre and began to enter the American mainstream. In the 1990s, a form of hip hop called gangsta rap became a major part of American music, causing significant controversy over lyrics which were perceived as promoting violence, promiscuity, drug use and misogyny. Nevertheless, by the beginning of the 2000s, hip hop was a staple of popular music charts and was being performed in many styles across the world.

Answer 2

Hip hop is a cultural movement that began among urban African Americans in New York City in the early 1970s, and has since spread around the world. Some consider beatboxing the fifth element of hip hop; others might add political activism, hip hop fashion, hip hop slang, double dutching (an urban form of rope skipping) or other elements as important facets of hip hop. The term has since come to be a synonym for hip hop music and rap to mainstream audiences.

Answer 3

i read the answers abouve mine and i got lost :~(
here is some of my understanding of hip hop:
hip hop is like rap but the lyrics of the song seems to go along with the music while in rap it seems like the person singing is in a room and the music played is in another even though his body is always moving with the music.
hip hop has a culture refereed too as the hip hop culture it has its own clothing codes usually just clothing that's why more bigger then your size and baggy pants large change on the guys necks and it also has its code for talking they have there own slang's and accent when they talk.

Answer 4

Hip Hop is a cultural movement expressed through the tradional elements of deejaying, emceeing, various forms of dance (breaking, popping, locking)

Answer 5

i really dont think that hip hop has a true defintion. but its a feeling its a mood ..a good one at dat. & are u asking bout hip hop music or lifestyle? two completely different things. but if its music, it has to have meaning and a real good beat dat u can relate to, and if its the lifestyle, one of those things dat indescribable

Answer 6

1. An urban youth culture associated with rap music and the fashions of African-American residents of the inner city

2. Genre of African-American music of the 1980s and 1990s in which rhyming lyrics are chanted to a musical accompaniment; several forms of rap have emerged

Answer 7

Hip hop is a cultural movement that began amongst urban (primarily, but not entirely, African American)

Answer 8

The term hip hop (also spelled "hip-hop" or "hiphop") refers both to a musical (see hip hop music) and cultural genre or movement (hip hop culture) that was developed by African Americans and Latinos predominantly in urban communities over the last quarter-century. Since first emerging in New York City in the seventies, hip hop has grown to encompass not just rapping, but an entire lifestyle that consistently incorporates diverse elements of ethnicity, technology, art and urban life. There are four fundamental elements in hip hop: hip hop dance (notably breakdancing), urban inspired art (notably graffiti), DJing and MCing.

[edit] History

During the early 70s, a Jamaican DJ called Kool Herc arrived in New York City. Herc introduced the Jamaican tradition of "toasting," or boasting impromptu poetry and sayings over Reggae, Disco and Funk records. Herc also was the originator of break-beat deejaying, where the breaks of funk songs—being the most danceable part, often featuring percussion—were isolated and repeated for the purpose of all-night dance parties. Later DJs such as Grandmaster Flash refined and developed the use of breakbeats, including cutting.
DJ Grandmaster Flash, one of the architects of hip hop DJing.
Enlarge
DJ Grandmaster Flash, one of the architects of hip hop DJing.

Herc's idea was soon widely copied, and by the late 70's a myriad of DJ's were releasing 12" cuts where they would rap to the beat. Popular tunes included Kurtis Blow's The Breaks, and The Sugar Hill Gang's Rapper's Delight.

Hip hop as a culture was further defined in 1983, when former Black Spades gang member Afrika Bambaataa and the Soul Sonic Force released a track called Planet Rock. Instead of simply rapping over disco beats, Bambaataa created an innovative electronic sound, taking advantage of the rapidly improving drum machine and synthesizer technology. Many credit the sensation caused by the track as the defining moment in hip hop music and culture. The mainstream media began to focus on one of the greatest impacts of hip hop; instead of fighting with guns and knives, former gangmembers had a new way of battling--though break dancing, rapping, turntable mixing, and tagging (graffiti). By 1985, youth worldwide were laying down scrap linoleum or cardboard, setting down portable stereo and spinning on their backs in tracksuits and sneakers to music by Run DMC, LL Cool J, the Fat Boys, Herbie Hancock, Soul Sonic Force, Jazzy Jay, Egyptian Lover, Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde and Stetsasonic, to name a few.

[edit] Legacy of hip hop

Early hip hop has often been credited with helping to reduce inner-city gang violence by replacing physical violence with hip hop battles. Many believe that in later years (with the emergence of commercial and gangsta rap during the early 1990s) the emphasis on non-violence has come full circle, with many rappers boasting about weapons, crimes and violence. Within this time period, hip hop music has also begun to appeal to a broader demographic. The debate as to whether rap/hip hop actually caused young people to commit crimes is often likened to that of other music such as rock and heavy metal.
A breakdancer performing a one-handed freeze (also known as a pike) in the streets of Paris.
Enlarge
A breakdancer performing a one-handed freeze (also known as a pike) in the streets of Paris.

Within the culture of hip hop, some differentiate between heavily commercialized and "underground" or "alternative" hip hop. Many artists are now considered to be alternative/underground hip hop when they attempt to reflect what they believe to be the positive roots of the culture. Such artists such as Mos Def, Talib Kweli, Dilated Peoples, Dead Prez and Jurassic 5 claim to emphasize messages of unity, activism and verbal skill instead of messages of violence, wealth and misogyny.

Answer 9

Well cc davis, did you come up with that all on your own?
You must be pretty smart!

Answer 10

Great answer by ccdavis give her 10pts