What is

ABOUT HIP-HOP• Hip-Hop is a music genre consisting of a stylized rhythmic music that commonly accompanies

rapping, a rhythmic and rhyming speech that is chanted.

• Hip hop encompasses music, dancing, art, poetry, language and fashion. Its originators were from the inner-city immigrant strata of society: frustrated young people who felt excluded by the system, left out from mainstream culture, and desperate to express themselves.

• Hip hop as music and culture formed during the 1970s when block parties became increasingly popular in New York City, particularly among African American youth living in the Bronx.

• During these block parties, a DJ would play popular genres of music. They got a positive reception from this and then started to ‘scratch’ different genres of music together to create a whole new sound altogether. After this, people came up with the idea to rap over these new sounds.

• Rappers like to express their views and feelings when they rap. Their raps can be based on political views, world events or just their own feelings and life experiences.

Hip-Hop In Magazines

• These covers show that there is always one dominated medium close up shot of an artist who can be of varied race and gender.

• The male poses are often shown to reflect the attitude and power of the artist as hip-hop is quite a controversial genre as a lot of artists take part in illegal and frowned upon activities like smoking marijuana.

• Male artists are pictures wearing expensive jewellery to reflect their wealth.

• The female poses are quite sexual and seductive so that the magazine cover appeals to the opposite sex as 78% of XXL readers are male.

• The text is placed all the was round the image so that the image clearly stands out.

Four Elements Of Hip-Hop• The term ‘hip-hop’ is most often used to refer to hip hop music, but in its broader sense hip hop culture is

characterized by the four elements of rapping, DJing, break dancing and graffiti.

Rapping• Rapping (also known as emceeing, MCing, spitting (bars),or rhyming) refers to

spoken or chanted rhyming lyrics.• Rapping can be delivered over a beat or without accompaniment, but is

mostly done over a fast beat.• Rapping originated in Africa, centuries before hip hop music existed.

The griots of West Africa would deliver stories rhythmically, over drums and other instrumentation.

• Most ‘rappers’ are also known to be hip-hop artists as both of the genres interlink together.

DJ’ing • A DJ (Disc Jockey) is someone who plays recorded music for an

audience.• There are different types of DJ’s such as radio DJ’s and club DJ’s.• A hip-hop DJ is a bit different as they would play music using

multiple turntables, to back up one ore more rappers (MC’s). • They may also do turntable scratching to create multiple sounds

which adds to the whole unique overall sound produced.

Breakdancing• Breakdancing is a style of street dance that originated as a part of hip

hop culture among African American and Latino youths in New York City during the early 1970s.

• People often breakdance to upbeat hip-hop songs.• Breakdancing consists of acrobatic and creative dance moves.

Graffiti• Graffiti is the term used to refer to writing or drawings

scribbled, scratched, or sprayed illegally on a wall or other surface in a public place.

• In modern times, spray paint is used to create the graffiti on buildings.

• Graffiti is mostly used as a sign of territory marking but hip-hop graffiti is more about expressing views on current affairs in the world.

HIP-HOP ARTISTS

JAY-Z DRAKE SNOOP DOGG

TUPAC KENDRICK LEMAR

MISSY ELLIOT

NICKI MINAJ

KELLY ROWLAND

CIARA AZEALIA BANKS

IMAGES ASSOCIATED WITH HIP-HOP

CLOTHING ASSOCIATED WITH HIP-HOP• Most clothing worn by hip-hop

artists is colourful and bright which represents the artists individuality.

• Hip-hop artists are also associated with wearing caps and expensive jewellery. This is mostly done to represent their wealth.

• However, in modern times, many hip-hop artists have reverted away from wearing bright colours and have started to wear neutral colours but the clothes are branded and expensive.

Interviews With Hip-Hop ArtistsThis a YouTube to an interview with Drake, a very famous hip-hop artist... http://youtu.be/-kRKgZlfhhY

• In this interview, Drake talks about his progress from his first ever tracks to where he is now, collaborating with massive artists in the music industry.

• He also talks about his transition from acting to music, and how much he had to believe in himself to quit acting for music.

• The interviewer asks Drake specific questions to do with his forthcoming album and his connections with artists like Lil Wayne.

• The style of interviewing is very laid back and relaxed. You can see this by the way Drake is wearing a hoody, with the hood on his head. Also, there is a free flowing conversational feel to the interview.

Difference Between Rap and Hip-Hop

Many people do get confused between Rap and Hip-Hop as they are very

similar genres of music. However there is a difference!

There are three main differences between rap and hip-hop: musical features, culture and community message.

Rap has a harder ‘edge’ to it and the way it is delivered is thought to be more passionate than hip-hop, with an hardcore feel to it.

However, hip-hop has more of an R&B feel to it and is delivered with a softer tone and it has more of a groove to it which is why people tend to use hip-hop music to breakdance.