Hip Hop music has become an identity, a character, and a new world on its own. It may be now a craze but it can be originally traced back to South Bronx in the 1970s. This style of music is a worldwide genre now, but this culture developed amongst the African Americans and it was their way of life

1. Hip Hop Music on the Whole
Author: Luke Thomsen
Hip Hop music has become an identity, a character, and a new world
on its own. It may be now a craze but it can be originally traced back
to South Bronx in the 1970s. This style of music is a worldwide genre
now, but this culture developed amongst the African Americans and it
was their way of life. No wonder, we hear about violence, crime,
gangsters, mafia, drugs, guns, women, money, cars and such, all the
time.
Hip hop has a history of DJ battles, graffiti, disco
rap music and the new emerging techniques like
Jamaican toasting, scratching, MCing and Old
School Hiphoppers like DJ Kool Herc, who is
known as the Founding Father of Hip-hop, Afrika
Bambaata, Grandmaster Theodore, Grandmaster
Flash and the Furious Five, Lovebug Starski who
coined the term ‘Hip Hop’, The Cold Crush brothers and many other
legends.
The advent of New School Hip hop was around mid 1980s with hip-
hop collective like Public Enemy, Boogie Down Productions, Eric B &
Rakim, A Tribe Called Quest, Def Jam, Juice Crew, Busta Rhymes,
Charlie Brown, Dinco D, ODB, Native Tongues, Jungle Brothers, De La
Soul, Wu Tang Clan, Kool G Rap, Outkast, Black Sheep and many
more. The list now keeps on increasing as artists like Puff Daddy,
Eminem, Jay-Z, Snoop Dogg, 50 Cent, Kanye West, Linkin Park,
Destinys Child, Missy Elliot and many more.
Hip hop lyrics, the face of hip hop culture, have mostly been
controversial, encompassing the life of ghettos and economy and
decrying poverty to godly lyrics of conscious and Christian hip hop. To
speak about controversies, this culture brags about having murders
and mafias, and also juicy hip hop gossips about “beefs” and

2. “missions”. Rumours may be spread by stars to be in the limelight,
just as the apparels of stars become the latest trend. Fashion in hip
hoppers is ever-changing but the general picture depicts African-
inspired clothing with colourful shirts or oversized basketball jerseys,
military baggy denims or cargos, Nikes and baseball caps. The surge of
designer labels and bling accessories is ever-increasing with
accessories for every body part.
As hip-hop is traced back to origins, it is a must to mention its
predecessor, Rap music; it had a great influence on this music style
and it combined funk and R&B as well as poetry. New rap songs and
new rap music lack the old charm and
thought provoking, metaphor-laden
lyrics and social commentary to its
finest with gut-wrenching tales of the
street life combined with innovative and
experimented music. With rap as its
history, hiphop gradually became the
origin of many sub-genres like country
and freestyle rap, Reggae, rap core,
conscious hip hop, Ragga, alternative
and avant-garde hip-hop, G-Funk,
chopped and screwed, christian hiphop,
electro hop, gangsta rap, house music, mafioso rap, reggaeton, New
Jack Swing or dance-pop, etc. as a perpetual list. But the new hiphop
music is criticized to not being real anymore. And not only the music
or the lyrics, but even the videos of albums have become a rage. The
all time great videos are Eminem’s Not Afraid, We made you, Lil
Wayne’s Lollipop, Black Eyed Peas’ my humps, Missy Elliot’s Work It,
Lose Control and many more. And now, a new trend of mixtapes have
emerged which has many artists featuring in the same album and also
going on world tours together.
Hip-hop On the Whole has risen from being a local culture in the
streets of Bronx to an international, multi-billion dollar industry.