Street dance and culture

In this article, I'll tell you Hip hop culture.

At first, the etymology of Hip hop.

Hip hop is the combination of two separate slang terms—"hip", used in African American English as early as 1898, meaning current or in the now, and "hop", for the hopping movement.

Keith "Cowboy" Wiggins, a member of Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, has been credited with coining the term in 1978 while teasing a friend who had just joined the US Army, by scat singing the words "hip/hop/hip/hop" in a way that mimicked the rhythmic cadence of marching soldiers.　Cowboy later worked the "hip hop" cadence into his stage performance. The group frequently performed with disco artists who would refer to this new type of music by calling them "hip hoppers". The name was originally meant as a sign of disrespect, but soon came to identify this new music and culture. (Wikipedia)

So, Hip hop have to evolve any time.

Hip hop culture is not only Hip hip dance. Hip hip culture consists of almost all street dance (mainly B-boying), DJing, MCing and Graffiti. They are said to be related to culture of street gangs in the United States and they used to end the conflict bloodless. There are form of battle in street dance and MCing called free style battle.

DJing is manipulating sounds and creating music using phonograph turntables and a DJ mixer or computer and DJing software. There are some techniques in DJing. Scratching is technique which is scratching turntable to wind back music and controlling speed and pitch of music. DJs' main work is spinning music without pause continuously. DJs have to choose musics to suit the atmosphere in the dance hall and they must spin musics running on each other naturally.

MCing is speaking or chanting rhyming lyrics with a strong rhythmic accompaniment. When MCs put on a MCing to tunes, it is called rapping. MCs use MCing to prompt audience,to get at the government, to mickey other Hip hop communities, and to represent their feelings.  They are spokespeople of their community, so they put their lives in danger in struggles between Hip hop communities.

Graffiti is painting which is painted on wall in street. At the beginning of Graffiti, it was only political activity. But today, they sometimes include the meaning of patch. It is considered modern art today, but many people consider it mischievous thing.

These four elements are essential in Hip hop culture.I will tell you other two elements, they are music and fashion.

Hip hop music is thought to be born in the early 1970s. It was spread by three great DJs Cool Hark (the inventor of break beat) , Grandmaster Flash (the founder of Scratch)  and Africa Banbata (the creator of the word Hip Hop) beyond the community.

Hip hop fashion is divided into two ages. They are old school and new school. In old school age (1970-1980), people in Hip hop culture wear gold accessories, jerseys made by Adidas and athletic shoes. In new school age (1980-), they wear silver accessories with diamonds which have the figure of successful people, oversized clothes and athletic shoes.