Hip hop as a
cultural movement manifest in B-boying (breakdancing), graffiti writing, DJing and eMCeeing – is an artistic commitment to seize freedom from oppressive social conditions. This artistic commitment inherent in Hip Hop culture expresses a reality of human transcendence which was originally born out of the creative impulse and cultural improvisation of the oppressed
African American, Afro-Caribbean and
Latino American communities of
New York City(with the
South Bronx as the epicenter) in the late
1970s.
[1][2][3][1][4] It was DJ
Afrika Bambaataa that outlined the five pillars of hip-hop culture
MCing,
DJing,
breaking,
graffiti writing, and knowledge.
[5][6][7][8] Other elements include
beatboxing,
hip hop fashion, and
slang. Since first emerging in the
Bronx, the lifestyle of hip hop culture has spread around the world.
[9] When
hip hop music began to emerge, it was based around disc jockeys who created rhythmic beats by looping breaks (small portions of songs emphasizing a percussive pattern) on two turntables, which is now more commonly referred to as sampling. This was later accompanied by "rapping" (a rhythmic style of chanting or poetry more formally in 16 bar measures or time frames) and beatboxing, a vocal technique mainly used to imitate percussive elements of the music and various technical effects of hip hop DJs. An original form of dancing and particular styles of dress arose among followers of this new music. These elements experienced considerable refinement and development over the course of the history of the culture.
The relationship between graffiti and hip hop culture arises from the appearance of new and increasingly elaborate and pervasive forms of the practice in areas where other elements of hip hop were evolving as art forms, with a heavy overlap between those who wrote graffiti and those who practiced other elements of the culture.
Herc and other DJs would tap into the power lines to connect their equipment and perform at venues such as public basketball courts and at 1520 Sedgwick Avenue, Bronx, New York, a historic building "where hip hop was born".[12] Their equipment was composed of numerous speakers, turntables, and one or more microphones.[13] In late 1979, Debbie Harry of Blondie took Nile Rodgers of Chic to such an event, as the main backing track used was the break from Chic's Good Times.[14]
Herc, along with Grandmaster Flash[15] was also the developer of break-beat deejaying, where the breaks of funk songs—the part most suited to dance, usually percussion-based—were isolated and repeated for the purpose of all-night dance parties. This breakbeat DJing, using hard funk, rock, and records with Latin percussion, formed the basis of hip hop music. Campbell's announcements and exhortations to dancers would lead to the syncopated, rhymed spoken accompaniment now known as rapping. He dubbed his dancers break-boys and break-girls, or simply b-boys and b-girls. According to Herc, "breaking" was also street slang for "getting excited" and "acting energetically".[16] Herc's terms b-boy, b-girl and breaking became part of the lexicon of hip hop culture, before that culture itself had developed a name.[citation needed]
