Hip Hop Culture

Hip Hop is the courage to being yourself. It is the knowledge of self. It is having knowledge of your inner being. It is consciousness. It is not accepting the falsehoods of reality and being ones true authentic self. If this is the case, then that’s the only thing that matters. Where you come from, what language you speak, what race you are has no meaning if you adhere by these principles; you are Hip Hop. Real Hip Hop is a culture of acceptance of all people regardless of where you come from or what you look like. Hip Hop in its truest form is liberation for all people.

The culture is shown through action. It comes from acts of Hop Hop, such as break dancing, graffiting, DJ’ing, MC’ing, beat-boxing, street fashion, street language, street knowledge and street entrepreneurship.

hip hop products

KRS goes into the concept of hip hop products. With an understanding of the Hip Hop conscious, and the Hip Hop culture you can integrate into the final form which is hip hop products. This can be many things, it can be making music, it can be dancing, it can be fashion, anything with a product label or something that can be for sale is a hip hop product. The product is what you give the people. It is a integration of all 3 of these concepts. It is understand that these things go together or are meant to be together. You can’t have a hip hop product without the understand of the conscious or the culture.

Conscious, Culture, and Product

How do these three elements all tie in together? It starts from the bottom down. This initial steps to Hip Hop start with the conscious. The conscious effort to be your true authentic self, asserting your right to be yourself. You understand the real issues in Hip Hop and in life. You have an idea or knowledge and you use that knowledge to teach others in an effort to liberate the mind. When you have the conscious, you can understand the culture. If what KRS-One says is true and there is a collective conscious in Hip Hop so to speak, then you can relate your ideas to the culture and for the culture. The can be done through all the acts of Hip Hop aforementioned earlier in this post. You understand the culture because you are the culture, being a true and authentic version of yourself. From there the hip hop products are made, whether you are discussing hip hop or performing it, that’s a product of the Hip Hop itself.

Hip Hop’s History and Cultural Significance

We started from the top, on that fateful day August 13, 1973 in South Bronx with DJ Kool Herc Hip Hop was born. What has grown and flourished is a beautiful idea and culture that has stood the test of time. It is a tool for liberation of a people oppressed and has transformed beyond that into an idea and art form that looks to connect all people. Starting with humble beginnings Hip Hop in all its forms has influenced the minds of generations of people and has claimed its spot as one of the most poignant and popular art forms in modern society. Hip Hop is everywhere you are, because the essence of Hip Hop is you. When you go to seek truth, when you teach others truths, when you know the truth about yourself and can be yourself; that is Hip Hop. This is the lesson that KRS-One A.K.A. The Teacher explains in “40 Years of Hip Hop”.

“Rap is something we do, hip-hop is something you live.”

“Well, well, today hip-hop, we are advocating that hip-hop is not,
Just a music, it is an attitude, it is an awareness, it is a way
To view the world. So rap music, is something we do, but HIP-HOP,
Is something we live. And we look at hip-hop, in it’s 9 elements;
Which is breaking, emceeing, graffiti art, deejaying, beatboxing,
Street fashion, street language, street knowledge, and street
Entrepenurialism – trade and business. And uhh, that’s where y’know
That’s the hip-hop that that that we’re about “

“Hip Hop Knowledge” KRS-One