The love of my live: Hip-Hop. To me hip-hop is misinterpreted as being a genre of music, but it's a culture first and foremost. It's an urban dialect and style complete with mannerisms and unique dress. It encompasses many different forms of expression such as graffiti and breakdancing. Many of the other elements in this series are vital pieces of the larger hip hop mosaic, but it's important to give the culture it's shine. With hip-hop, life is better.
Element #1 is the emcee aka MC. He or she is the voice that moves the crowd and provides lyrics to go with any beat.
Element #2 is the DJ (or Producer): the spine of urban music. They get the party jumping and make us dance a night away. The lay down the beats and melodies for an MC to flow over. DJs are masters in turntablism, production and percussion. The DJ is the yin to the Emcee's yang in rap.
Element #3 is for graffiti writers. If you Google urban art you're sure to find plenty of graffiti pieces bringing some beauty to drab and blighted areas. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but hip-hop was in love at first site. The cultures rose together and have become inextricably intertwined. Movies like Wild Style and Style Wars are firmly positioned within the hip-hop canon, and today's views of artists such as Jean-Michel Basquiat and Bansky have evolved to be lauded in traditional art communities.
Element #4 is for breakdancing (breaking) and hip-hop dance. Dance has a special place in hip-hop culture, more so than it does in any other modern music genre. Breaking was there at the beginning and now has evolved yet still exemplifies urban culture and its affinity for physical poetry in motion. Breaking is even an Olympic sport now!
