Hip Hop & Racial Politics 2012

Simple C- The element of hip hop that I would practice is the art of Bboying. The Bboy adds a physical element to hip hop. The natural reaction to music, especially hip hop is movement, however the Bboy controls movement in such a way that it titillates the mind of the viewer. Bboys are able to seize the music provided by the Dj, and absorb the hype of the MC to produce a visual expression of hip hop. I think Bboys are important in hip hop as well as life, because they have the skills to infuse their own individual style into something that already exists and create something new and unique. The skills to understand and generate material through dancing or in general, and not just reproduce and repeat existing material is what makes me want to be a Bboy.

My Relationship to Hip-Hop     

The video link below represents my connection to hip hop in a nutshell. Growing up I always heard hip hop music, and was familiar with its sounds and nuances but never actually listened to the music. All of my knowledge came from movies that utilized hip hop songs in the soundtrack. Although I grew up in a household that appreciated hip hop as well as older R&B and Soul artists, I mostly ignored music in its entirety until I started middle school. As one of the black kids in a school that was quite diverse, I was expected to know everything about hip hop. I needed to know the names of every artist old and new, the songs names of every artist old and new, and be able to recite the lyrics to all of these songs, old and new. I was aware of Ice Cube, Tupac, Biggie Smalls, Snoop Dogg, Nas, Ludacris, Bone Thugz, and a few others, but I didn’t know more than their names and maybe one song for each. As a result of my lack of hip hop knowledge, which was proven to be non-existent several times, I was told that I was not black. My skin was black, but I was not black because I didn’t know hip hop.

Part of the reason I didn’t know what I was expected to know about hip hop was because before I started middle school I was able to focus on hanging out with friends and playing outside. The things that I did know from movies, and random songs from the radio where never enough to pull me all the way in, and I had never been introduced to hip hop music or culture properly to value it. Naturally I wanted to fit in with my peers so I began to actively pursue hip hop music, but I also did it to garner my own sense of what it meant to me. I began with Kanye West and the Graduation album from 2007, and was shown Revolutionary Vol. 2 by Immortal Technique by my good friend Nate, I picked up Lupe Fiasco when he first came out and slowly but surely I was putting the pieces of my puzzle together. I never learned enough about hip hop to satisfy the kids in school, but I was able to get to a point where I was comfortable with the music, and listened to it for pleasure, not understanding.