What is Hip-Hop?
Alonzo Williams
Issue date: 11/18/09 Section: Music
The definition of hip hop is probably the most controversial definition in history. That is because there probably is no one definition. There's hip hop worldwide that many people don't even know about. Here in our American culture we have countless ways to describe this thing called hip hop. The definitions change along with the styles, beats, cultures, places, languages, artists and ways of life. One thing that many, if not all, people can agree on. Hip Hop is an art and a lifestyle.
This is the main reason I have so many issues with it today. Many people forget these aspects of truth and originality, which are just a couple of the main ingredients of this movement. So many people have just gotten comfortable with being followers that they don't understand good music in general unless it's on the radio. Some of the songs that are overplayed and reach top of the charts makes one second guess the intelligence of a lot of people. There are those people who still know what great hip hop is. Those are the people who have fought hard to keep hip hop alive. Still too many people are forgetting what the movement is all about.
You can tell the difference between people who see a painting and those who just look at a painting. The people who see a painting are the ones who can read the emotions that are within every stroke on the canvas and those who look at a painting, are usually the ones who have the same painting as everyone else with the same famous name. The people, who see the painting, are looking at some kind of story no matter the emotions it displays. They are going on some kind of journey that the artist is taking them on. Hip hop is no different when it comes to the artist and the listeners. Hip hop is a way of expressing oneself with stories of their past or dreams yet to come. Hip hop was the door that let suburban and rural America know what urban life has been like through the decades and changes. It is supposed to be a source of information that will give insight that is unable to be obtained from text books and news stations.
This is the main reason I have so many issues with it today. Many people forget these aspects of truth and originality, which are just a couple of the main ingredients of this movement. So many people have just gotten comfortable with being followers that they don't understand good music in general unless it's on the radio. Some of the songs that are overplayed and reach top of the charts makes one second guess the intelligence of a lot of people. There are those people who still know what great hip hop is. Those are the people who have fought hard to keep hip hop alive. Still too many people are forgetting what the movement is all about.
You can tell the difference between people who see a painting and those who just look at a painting. The people who see a painting are the ones who can read the emotions that are within every stroke on the canvas and those who look at a painting, are usually the ones who have the same painting as everyone else with the same famous name. The people, who see the painting, are looking at some kind of story no matter the emotions it displays. They are going on some kind of journey that the artist is taking them on. Hip hop is no different when it comes to the artist and the listeners. Hip hop is a way of expressing oneself with stories of their past or dreams yet to come. Hip hop was the door that let suburban and rural America know what urban life has been like through the decades and changes. It is supposed to be a source of information that will give insight that is unable to be obtained from text books and news stations.
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