The 4 Elements of Hip Hop

THE 4 ELEMENTS OF HIP HOP

Since the beginning of the United States in 1776, New York has been a central place for innovation and creativity. From Broadway to Ellis Island, it has contributed many things to American society and the world. However, recently, New York has been the birthplace of another arguably important movement – hip-hop. The culture of hip hop has been a way for people to express themselves in a manner that very much fits the lifestyle they’ve lived on the streets of New York – hard and without mercy. With the culture of hip-hop came four elements, all equally important in developing the way hip-hop is today It was Afrika Bambaataa and Zulu Nation that first actually spoke about the four pillars of hip hop culture as a whole. The four pillars consist of MCing, DJing, breakdancing and graffiti. Even though people don't rap about them in today's mixes, the truth is that there's no doubt that these four elements are just as relevant in modern hip hop as they were back in the early 90s.

MCing

Now known as rapping, spitting, cyphering, or rhyming, MCing is a very obvious mainstay in hip hop culture. The original idea behind MCing is that it was originally a form of poetry that would discuss a lot of issues people were going through. MCing is delivering rhymes to a rhythm, often with background music or even a capella. Raps can either be pre-written or freestyled. A group of MCs often gather together to “cypher,” or show off their skills to one another. Additionally, MCs can test their skills against other MCs by “battling.” The content of the rhymes are very important and rappers often integrate wordplay and rhetoric to make their rhymes as complex as possible. A lot of kids who were growing up in inner city systems were able to find a positive outlet for their struggles thanks to MCing. Rappers like Nas also are known for bringing positive lyrics into hip hop, making it a very popular outlet to help people avoid buckling to pressures of inner city life. To this day, MCing is the most visible pillar of hip hop.

DJing

DJing often accompanies MCs by providing the background music for rappers. One of the major aspects of DJing is sampling, which is grabbing a small part of another song in order to make a beat. Additionally, a famous DJ by the name of Kool DJ Herc created the breakbeat, which is the part of the song that is solely the beat, often the drums, which contributed much to DJing. Scratching is also another part of DJing. With scratching, DJs move their vinyl disc back and forth along with manipulating the crossfader to make a peculiar sound that is now one of the most popular aspects of DJing or even hip-hop itself.

DJing, beat making, and turntablism was one of the founding pillars of hip hop. Hip hop was actually one of the first genres of music to really get innovative with beat drops and was the genre that brought record scratches and beat matching to the forefront.

Breakdancing

Another element of hip hop culture is known as b-boying, or more popularly known as breakdancing. B-boying, which has been known to stand for Bronx Boy, Beat Boy, or Break Boy, came from the “breaks” that Kool DJ Herc invented in DJing. B-boys dance to the break of the songs, and express themselves in four different types of moves – toprock, downrock, freezes, and powermoves. B-boys participate in cyphers and battles much like MCs do. The musicality of a b-boy is very important – that is, the ability to take apart the song and dance to every single aspect of the song. While often lumped in with other dances such as popping, locking, or other styles of dance, b-boying is a different style that evolved separately from those dances.

Breakdancing is meant to be a little bit different from person to person. That's why so many breakers have signature moves that they flaunt on dance floors - and why so many moves have multiple names they go by.

Breaking is both a personal and regional thing. Like DJing and MCing, it's a form of art that allows you to show your love for music and let loose your emotions in a beautiful way.

It's breakdancing's individual focus that really shows hip hop's true spirit. Someone might have high windmills, another person may be known for their ability to rest their ankle on their shoulder while twerking. Others still might pop and lock like a living statue. Breaking is all about you and your love of hip hop.

Graffiti

Graffiti is also another element of the hip hop culture, and often one of the more controversial elements. Graffiti involves artists spray painting complex writings or images onto various pieces of property. Many times graffiti falls under vandalism and as a result, is illegal in many places. Graffiti artists, like the other elements of hip hop, use graffiti as a means of self-expression and oftentimes used as a political message. Graffiti can range from a simple tag of the artist’s name to a more complex, “wild style” of art that can appear to be incomprehensible.

Part of the entire culture of hip hop deals with aesthetics, rebellion, and to a point, individuality. Though graffiti itself has been around for millennia, Zulu Nation called it a main element of hip hop because of its pervasiveness around inner cities, its tendency to celebrate one's unique style, and the fact that it somehow just went well with the music.

Graffiti, at the time of Zulu Nation's rise to fame, was an activity that many people who partook in breaking, DJing and MCing did. In a way, it's considered the visual version of rap music by those who are very much into hip hop culture.

Even today, this element tends to be seen in hip hop clothing, sneakers, and even art galleries. As such, it's time we start being honest. Hip hop has become a mainstay of American culture - and it's time we embrace it as the inspiration that it is.

Sources: https://beat.media/the-4-elements-of-hip-hop https://greatmentor.net/2011/12/29/hip-hop-the-four-elements/