The Hip-hop Corner #2

The 4 Elements of Hip-hop: Hip-hop as a Force of Nature

Jay MadHatter

According to Greek Philosophy, the universe consists of four elements: earth, air, fire, and water. These elements are all forces of nature that have come together to create all matter on the planet. Without these forces interacting, we would not have this beautiful blue planet we all share. Pressure builds diamonds, and Hip-hop culture is that diamond that was created out of the stress of poverty and urban renewal in the 1970s South Bronx, NY. The South Bronx was on fire and falling apart when a new cultural movement began to rise from the rubble. The new art form, Graffiti, was displayed on subway trains and New York City walls, and DJs were setting trends and blazing a new music path by transforming the turntable into an actual instrument. The DJ introduced rappers to keep the party entertained with witty rhymes, while on the dance floor, B-Boys showed off their moves with a new form of dance called Breaking. Graffiti, Emcee (Rapper), Disc Jockey (DJ), and Breakdancing all came together during desperation and abandonment. Through racism, politics, a high unemployment rate, and greed, The South Bronx was allowed to be destroyed by rapacious slum lords who were encouraged through police corruption to enable their properties to be set on fire for the insurance money. Hip-hop Culture is a fantastic example of what happens when you attempt to destroy a class of people bound together through poverty and despair. With a large population of youth struggling to find jobs, they found themselves with a lot of time on their hands. Of course, what do young people do when they have tons of time to kill, they rebel and do things that make adults angry.

GRAFFITI

Graffiti, tagging, and street art are all names created out of the desire to be seen by a generation of youth who were considered forgotten. Graffiti ranges from simple words to complicated wall paintings. While Graffiti is primarily created with spray paint, graffiti artists have utilized many different forms of color and markers to create their pieces. Although there were a few people already practicing this new art form called “graffiti,” a young Greek-American “tagger” who went by the tag name “Taki 183” was making a name for himself and Graffiti by getting his name in the New York Times in 1971. Graffiti began to take off and get recognized by the mainstream contemporary art scene. Notable graffiti artists such as LADY PINK, IZ THE WIZ, DONDI, and FAB FIVE FREDDY were among the first to bring Graffiti to the mainstream. Movies such as “Wild Style” shows the interconnections between music, dance, and art in the evolution of hiphop culture. Unfortunately, Graffiti became synonymous with gang culture. This “art” was considered vandalism causing city officials to pass strict laws prohibiting the sales of markers and spray paint to minors and implementing stiff jail sentences for people arrested for practicing Graffiti. Today, street art, aka Graffiti, has grown worldwide and is recognized by contemporary artists as a legitimate art form. Museums have emerged to showcase this great new form of street ghetto expression.

BREAKDANCING (B-BOYISM)

With music comes to dance, and with a new form of music, it is only natural that you have a new form of dance emerge. Breakdancing or “B-Boying / B-girling” is an extremely physically demanding type of dance broken down into four types of moves, top rock, down rock, power moves, and freezes. Most commonly, breakdancing is done to Hip-hop music, but funk, r&b, and soul music have all been backdrops to this fantastic new dance form. Jeff Chang writes in his critically acclaimed book “Can’t Stop Won’t Stop,” “During the 1970s, an ./array of dances practiced by black and Latino kids sprang up in the inner cities of New York and California. The styles had a dizzying list of names: ‘up rock’ in Brooklyn, ‘locking’ in Los Angeles, ‘boogaloo’ and ‘popping’ in Fresno, and ‘strutting’ in San Francisco and Oakland. When these dances gained notice in the mid-’80s outside their geographic contexts, the diverse styles were lumped under the tag ‘break dancing.’ Jeff Chang 2005.

Breakdancers in 1984. Photo by Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images

Breakdancing took over the world when movies like “Wild Style,” “Breakin’ & Breakin’ 2 Electric Bugaloo” and “Beat Street” showcased this stunning new art form. Breaking was born at the same time as hip-hop. DJs developed the “Breaks” for dancers to perform. The dance form has since expanded globally, with various organizations and independent competitions supporting its growth. Breaking will now be featured as an Olympic sport, debuting in the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics.

The MC is the core element that is closest to my heart. The Emcee or Rapper was the one thing I could be a part of in hip-hop, and I was good at it. I wasn’t physically strong enough to breakdance, I couldn’t mix records or make beats to save my life, and I didn’t have a graffiti artist bone in my body. But I could rap circles around almost everyone I battled against in my day; I’m still pretty good. Rapping or MC’ing is a rhythmic form of street poetry in which urban slang and swagger are incorporated into rhymes over breakbeats. The earliest forms of “Rapping” can be argued back to West Africa, early Jazz musicians, or beatnik poets, but I subscribe to rapping’s Jamaican roots. Toasting, which is talking or singing over a reggae beat played by a Disc Jockey or a reggae artist, promoted their music or the party they were hosting. A young Clive Campbell, Aka DJ Kool Herc, The Godfather of Hip-hop, would be a young teenager in Kingston, Jamaica, who would soak in this entertaining new form of rhythmic communication and eventually introduce it to the world as “Rapping.” DJ Kool Herc would decide he needed cool, witty, charismatic people to entertain his guests at his house parties. So he assembled a crew of “Rappers,” both men and women, who would be the first real MCs to grab a mic and rock the crowd.

1985 in New York, New York. (Photo by Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images)

DISC JOCKEY

Last but not least is the DJ, an acronym for Disc Jockey. The term disc jockey has its roots in the early radio business; it was the term for the person on the radio who played actual vinyl records. But, in this article, we will focus on the Hip-hop DJ who started in the background. The hip hop DJ played the music for the other core elements to thrive, but today would see themselves as the most critical element in the sales of Rap music. DJ Kool Herc would pioneer the art of featuring and focusing on a particular “break” on popular records at the time. The trend in music at the time was to have a long “break” where there were no vocals, just drums, and sounds played for an extended amount of time.

DJ Jazzy Jeff performs during the Hangout Music Festival Kick-Off concert on May 18, 2017 in Gulf Shores, Alabama. Josh Brasted/FilmMagic

DJ Kool Herc noticed that the crowd he was playing for would react differently, excitedly, when these “breaks” would blast through the speakers, so he would showcase them by doing a trick which he called “the Merry-go-round” where he would use two turntables to continue the “break” as long as he wanted. This new technique which would become the foundation for hip-hop music, would create a culture of change and change a record-playing device into an actual musical instrument.

CONCLUSION

These four elements of hip-hop, Breakdancing, Emceeing, DJing, and Graffiti changed the world and have continued to shape world culture, music, and art to this very day. Everything from fashion to car commercials to cleaning products has changed its marketing strategies to include hip-hop themes, slang, and music. As a young rapper in 1988, I remember listening to Salt-n-Pepa’s “Push It” on the radio and my father telling me that hip-hop was a fad and would not last very long. My father once told me, “Oh Mijo, that’s not music; that will never last; it’s too negative.” I responded, “Dad, you have no idea how big this music will be.”

Interestingly, my dad and I were talking about a new hip-hop project I’m involved in and this fantastic writing opportunity I have now. I asked him if he remembered that conversation we had 35 years ago. My father said, “Yes,” and I was right; hip-hop did get more significant than anyone thought. Even as a 13-year-old kid, I knew that the core four elements of hip-hop were something universal, something magical, and that hip-hop would change the world forever, and it did and is still at it.