The Real 4 Elements of Hip-hop

Hip-hop is just like any other music culture, despite the efforts of Afrika Bambaataa and the early rap journalists who have added elements to it that don't really belong. Typically you'll hear people say that hip-hop culture consists of DJ'ing, MC'ing, Break Dancing, and Graphitti art. This classification never made sense to me. I won't go into why I think this is wrong or why it happened. Instead I'll correct this 25 year old mistake by describing the real 4 elements of hip-hop and leave it at that.

Let the blasphemy begin.

1. Hip-hop Music- it typically consists of MC'ing and DJ'ing but can also be R&B (or as some now accurately call it "hip-hop soul"). For example, Whitney Houston is R&B, Ashanti is hip-hop soul. The common thread of hip-hop music is not rapping, but the beat. Whatever someone does over a break beat can be considered hip-hop music. Ask Andre 3000.

2. Hip-hop Dancing- it's bigger than just breaking. What about the wop? What about the Harlem shake? And Crip walking?

3. Hip-hop Style- as with any music culture the fans of the music always adopt a similiar style of clothes, slang, etc. I think the biggest misconception about hip-hop style is that it's synonomous with Black style. A day's walk through my college campus would prove that there's a distinct fashion that Black folks have that is not influenced by hip-hop culture.

4. Hip-hop Mentality- fans who live hip-hop culture have a similiar outlook on life. For better or worse it seems to be mostly derived from gang culture. That's why we all have street names (mine's Madison), crew affiliations (what up Wordsmiths!), and we rep our neighborhood as if we we were gangster's protecting our turf. Another part of the hip-hop mentality is the entrepreneural spirit or more plainly, the "Get money" attitude. Every rapper has a side business and plenty of my friends have a side hustle.

So there you go. I grouped together the MC'ing and DJ'ing, expanded break dancing to include all of hip-hop dance, and dropped graphitti in favor of the culture's style and mentality. Graph seems to have  it's own laws, history, and culture outside of hip-hop. The only relationship is that both hip-hop and graphitti are done by kids in urban areas.

Nothing about the real 4 elements should seem ground breaking or controversial. For those who live hip-hop culture this is what they've been doing naturally. I'm sure though that the myth of the traditional elements will continue. So much of what's been written about hip-hop culture is structured around it. And honestly, the myth is more exotic then the truth- hip-hop is just like any other music culture.

Comments

[Bol]

>A day's walk through my college campus would prove that there's a distinct fashion that Black folks have that is not influenced by hip-hop culture.

Expand on this.

[Bemused]

damn! i SWEAR i just had this very same conversation - with the same breakdown - this morning with one of my students. i would switch your categories slightly, though - i believe that the hip-hop mentality should go first, not last. moreover, it's not about "where you're from"; it's about claiming a voice where we didn't have one before. even if we're talking bitches, blunts, and brews, we never had a chance to talk about it to so many people before. every gangsta/crunk rapper prepares the way commercially and culturally for political/jazzy/experimental rappers.

also, i added that hip hop (and i like your inclusion of hip hop soul) is powerful music that grabs your attention because it uses the percussive effect of voice as an instrument. people clown kanye - even though the kid got lyrics - cuz he can't ride the rhythm. say what you want, but those cats who make hooks we can't get out of our heads - Lil Jon, Missy, Beanie Sigel - are as important to rap as those whose voices makes you jump up - Rakim, Kane, Black Thought, Eminem, and Snoop.

just a few words from a life-long hip-hop head...good work on the post and on the blog...

[ej]

I think that Bemused pretty much says what I was going to comment about, being that I've been a life-long hip hop head, so I won't expand there. The voice of an instrument is what gets little to no mention these days.

Excellent, excellent post.

[Ahsmi]

Great post H, but I'm going to have to disagree with you on this one: "The only relationship is that both hip-hop and graphitti are done by kids in urban areas."

I think graf and hip hop are a little bit more closely related than that. Graf is a perfect example of the same mentality you described above, it's just that instead of getting paid, your getting up. And graf really is an artistic representation of hip hop itself, I mean if you look at the lettering and characters, they embody the same sense of style and swagger that you see in my style of dress or walk. Sure you have raver and heavy metal kids doing graff, but the artform is undeniably ours. Graff may not be as relevant to the culture as it was 25 years ago, but I don't think you can ever really seperate the two.

[Hashim]

Bol, let me give an example. One Black style that is popular at my campus but isn't influenced by hip-hop is the "soul brother style". There are dudes who rock their hair in dark ceasar's or twists, with a goatie, and a black leather jacket, with Maxwell pumping out their headphones.

[Bol]

It's an interesting point you bring up.

[el Q-Albany Hustlerz]

very interesting post..one question tho'. what do you mean by "despite the efforts of Afrika Bambaataa and the early rap journalists who have added elements to it that don't really belong"
What elements in particular, graf?
I always loved graf but didnt think the connection to hip-hop was that strong, espceially in smaller cities and towns or in places that graf is really not tolerated. We had cats that would write in my hometown in Tn., but most of them were horrible toys. Graf was like a stepchild to the real elements of the life, like "hip-hop dancing" and of course the heart of it all,rhyming and making beats..oh yeah, smacking opponents and fans, throwing chairs, getting caught up in sex scandals..oh my bad, thats the NBA mentality.....

[Mister A]

Very good post on what means Hip Hop Culture...could talk about it for a while but thanks for bringing it up

[Lester Spence]

The powerful thing about the original typology that is taken away here is that the original elements were MATERIAL PRODUCTIONS. that is you can SEE dance, SEE mc'ing, dj'ing, and graffiti.

You can't see a "mentality." You can see fashion...but it's a secondary thing. A white suburbanite spitting verses over a DJ's beats is an MC. No doubt about it. But a white suburbanite wearing Tims? If a relationship exists at all it is secondary.

Keep the three elements. Maybe toss graffiti. Mentality and style have got to be separate manifestations.

(sorry to get academic. i'm in that mindset right about now.)

[Bemused]

Back again, thanks to differentkitchen. Spence, i understand where you're coming from on the material aspect. but strictly segmenting an artform based on our sensual perceptions of it (see/feel/hear) encourages the naturalization/glossing over of the ideologies and circumstances behind to the creation of the aesthetic. as a citation, let me reference a recent post by lynne where she put up bell hooks' article "misogyny, gangsta rap, and The Piano". hooks points out that the materialistic, violent, misogynistic (sp) lyrics and images in rap are drawn directly from American culture - especially the linkages to black bodies and behaviors.

so the white suburbanite wearing Tims does have a connection to hip-hop: he's wearing black style, thus associating himself with American ideals of hypermasculinity, violence, and sexuality. not to mention he and his friends purchase more hip-hop albums than anyone else...

[cholo]

coOL isnt it !! g fo lyf!

[Nate1 MPC]

...someone else touched on this...

you cannot separate writing graffiiti from the
true elements of hip hop..that is ridiculous.

writing goes hand in hand with mcing, djing..
and predates all of those elements.

graffiti is hip hop and everything else follows.

Nate1 MPC

[NYC Hoodlum]

man. how can you leave out beefs, beefs as true to hip hop as 50 and the game are. man, you prolly just some shitass rich white guy, you live one day in my hood, you see why beefs a 100% element of rap culture. shit asses

[Alex Miller]

I hate how graphitti is considered an "element of hip-hop". Sure, hip-hop and graphitti are closely related, but to claim that it is an ELEMENT of hip-hop?!?!?! It's pure nonsense.

Even if hip-hop spawned from graphitti (which it didn't because hip-hop is mostly MUSIC and graphitti doesn't have anything to do with music), someone can be a hip-hop head and have NOTHING to do with graphitti.

good call.

[muMs]

there is no way you can seperate Graff from Hip Hop. Hip Hop is NOT all or mostly music. it is urban ideology. in the seventies, in the Bronx (my hometown), the same feeling you got from hearing a dope rap over a dope breakbeat also came from seeing hot lettering in a graff piece. Djing Breakdancing, Rhyming and Graff all came from the same place and the same ideology. who knows what it is/was. all of these other things you bring up like other styles of dress and hip hop soul are subcatagories or off-shoots of what grew out of the Bronx over 30 years ago. the mentality of it all comes from it all. just because you as a lover of hip hop doesn't feel a connection to Graffiti doesnt discount it's importance or validity as an element of Hip-Hop. But all of this is of no matter. whatever credibility Hip hop had as a culture of it's own is gone as most that are at the forefront and reresentatve of Hiphop have no moral structure or integrity outside of lining their pockets. hip hop will become rap and the newness will be hip hop-insipred.

[iLL BeLLa]

u must believe urself....hahaha. u think u know what ur talkin about, but it seems to me u need to be schooled.because you obviously dont. u can make up ur own lil theories in ur head...but none are reality
it is what it is....if u dont appreciate it. your not hip hop. so don't waste your time.
the elements are the elements. you cant change them..no matter how strongly in your mind,u believe that they are wrong. u think ur correcting a mistake?...hahah...i laugh.
try learning all the elements
read up on this and then you will know the facts, and stop acting like some know it all who thinks they can change the elements with 5 paragraphs of nonsense. there is not only 4 elements. if u didn't know...u shoulda asked somebody.... but thanx for ur opinion.

[Worldwide Underground]

actually you got it completely twisted..Hip hop is a culture consisting of 4 elements..true..however the elements are as follows..-clears throat- the arts of DJing, Graffiti, BBoying and Rap....while the first three are interchangeable in order depending on what history route you wanna go but Rap was the last and most prevalent element created..if you have a hard time understanding it then you don't really know Hip Hop or what your talking about. It is obvious that these elements truely are the originals because each is contingent upon the other..one cannot exist without the other...i guess I'll give a brief..keyword brief because I can go in depth if necessary on how your elements are skewed...

"Hip-hop Music- it typically consists of MC'ing and DJ'ing.." umm how bout no..DJing came long before Rap did..thats like a what came first the chicken or the egg...as in the words of KRS hip hop is something you live, rap is something you do...calling anything "hip hop" music would belittle it's significance as a culture..ur use of the terms R&B and hip hop soul are also off..r&B was chaka kahn and them yea but contemporary r&B includes artists like ashanti..me,myself,personally would consider her pop music for obvious reasons but back to the term..hip hop soul is a mainstream coined term..i believe neosoul wa the term you were looking for..as in new generation soul music i.e. jill scott and erykah badu who continue to demonstrate their talents in uncomputerizeable soul vocals over rap, soul and R&B inspired beats..not to mention their lyrics dont sound like radio rap songs gone bad..

"Hip-hop Dancing- it's bigger than just breaking. What about the wop? What about the Harlem shake? And Crip walking?"...there is no art to that..any average mofo can do the wop..bboying takes skill possessed by few among the extremely large hip hop community...

"Hip-hop Style- as with any music culture the fans of the music always adopt a similiar style of clothes, slang, etc...A day's walk through my college campus would prove that there's a distinct fashion that Black folks have that is not influenced by hip-hop culture."..you sound like you just watched a MTV special..while clothing style is prominent..its not a main element..it did not have a part in creating the culture..the culture created it..."hip hop style" as you so call it is not synonymous with "Black Style" because black style is not to be generalized to this one generic brotha...of course you find Black people with styles different from the most popular themes in Hip Hop but thats where you got it twisted once agian..Black people are not influenced by Hip Hop for style..Black people were the ones who influenced "Hip Hop style" which by the way varies upon geographic location and sub genre if you really tryna break it down...Hip Hop is not some machine creating style and people just follow suit..people create a style which is later mimmicked by their peers...

"Hip-hop Mentality- fans who live hip-hop culture have a similiar outlook on life. For better or worse it seems to be mostly derived from gang culture." ok your irritating me now...you definitely get your facts from some overly commercial source...so now everyone thinks the same?..musically you can see obvious mentalities that do not always agree on everything and for the most part have their own take on well..everything..to be cliche you can note backpackers vs. ballers...gangster vs. candy rap..and Andre 3000 is allocated his own catergory :)....

BIGGEST ANNOYANCE OF ALL..."And honestly, the myth is more exotic then the truth- hip-hop is just like any other music culture."...wow how elequintly ignorant and uneducated...Hip Hop was created or more so developed off the need to be heard..the need for self expression..no one wanted to listen to the broke black kids in crime infested neighborhoods..they were part of "the problem"..so since no one gave them a voice they made one and we..well some..continue to use it to express ourselves and the community as a whole's common grievances ith mainstream america..to belittle a culture of millions simply to music and the clothing associated with it is insulting...

..also you write of Afrika Bambataa as if he has no authority what so ever along with many others..how are YOU gonna tell Hip Hop pioneers that they don't know what they are talking about?!? they are the roots of the culture itself...ok now I get it..you did this on purpose to strike conversation and make controversy..you need hits or something right?..this has to be a complete joke

..and rememeber..this was only a brief rebuttal of your ilthoughtout "theory"..if you could call it that..

[Worldwide Underground]

ok..so that was kind of..ok really confrontational..but I can't help being blunt and going off at completely wrong idelogies..i have a fetal allergie to ignorace..

[Bboy Orbit]

Hip-Hop is Djing, Graff, Breakin, and last MCing(point). Sayin that graff dont belong or should'nt be consider an element, there's alot of rap artist out there who claim to do hip-hop but mainly what they are saying is that they rap. They dont show graff much, Djing, and totally have forgotted about B-boys, it is stated clearly not by me, but by many pioners of hiphop. Breakdance was the first true dance that really brought rap outside at the beggining, it was them who made the show back then but it soon these rappers who used breakers forgot about hiphop. There is noway 50 is hiphop. Yall shall see "The Freshest Kids" Afrika Bam.(godfather of hiphop) Dj Kool Herc(father of hiphop) and first true Dj state clearly this elements. Yall shall learn, listin, from the past about hiphop.

[GEE ROCK]

the idiologies stated in this blog have no
relation to hip hop at all. i happen to be one of the first to put hip hop on the map in new jersey, and i think its very unfair to confuse the young hip hop world today, it would be wise for mr. hashim to sit down and talk with the creators, instead of trying to create....much luv and respect
force one networkz!!!!

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[Ron "RBMC" Brown]

Grafitti is the 1st element

[piosenki]

"Hip-hop Mentality- fans who live hip-hop culture have a similiar outlook on life. For better or worse it seems to be mostly derived from gang culture." not everyone thinks the same :)

[graffiti]

Good post

[Bigmoust]

Yo, that's pretty interesting. I never thought about it that way

[KK]

WRONG!, about dancing, dancing is not hip-hop, do you see fiasco dance?, do you see common dance?, "hip-hop dance" is just another stupid fad, made from pop music, crip walking, harlem shakes, are somewhat just connected to old african cultures, you are stupid, and you do not make sense

[nate619]

first of all you dont know what you are talking about. This hip-hop that you speak of was created by people who wanted to make profits using the culture. The 4 elements is Hip-Hop that is it. This Hip-Hop that you speak of was created by the mainstream media again to make money. This mentality and style that you speak of also made famous by the people tying to make profits from. And don't mistake Hip-Hop as a genre of music to the culture. Plus when was these dances like the harlem shake or the wop mentioned to be part of Hip-Hop and how is Hip-Hop derived from gang culture how did you make this conclusion. What are the resources that led you to it. This article is nothing but your opinion on it. This article is nothing more that your hatred for the culture and ignorrance. All these mentioned on your article is what's called "Pop Culture". Next how about doing some actual research and have a list of references to back it up before writing anything as stupid as this article.

[nate619]

ohh yeah slap yourself for writing the most idiotic article ever and these people that agree with you are also idiots. I'm sorry that you don't fit in, was never one of the cool guys, and was bullied in Highschool but writing this article didnt help buddy. Why don't you go and work on you self-esteem or just continue watching porn on your computer and masterbating.