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Popular Culture Review
Busy Bee Starski, DJ Hollywood, and DJ Afika Bambaataa (founder of
the Zulu Nation in New York) are the three New York artists who have been credited
with coining the term “hip hop” (Fernando, 1994, p.lX). The genre began in the
1970’s with funky beats resonating at house and basement parties, and in the streets
of New York (Dickinson, 1998, p.D3). Geneva Smitherman notes that the foundation
of rap music is rooted in the “Black oral tradition of tonal semantics, narrativizing,
signification, playing the dozens, Africanized syntax, and other communicative
practices” (Smitherman, p.3, 1997).
One can trace the commercial history of rap back to 1979 when the Sugar
Hill Gang produced the enormously successful song entitled. Rapper s Delight.
The raw beginnings of contemporary rap music can be traced even further back to
the Bronx in the mid 1970s (Fernando, p.IX, 1994). Rap music provided a way for
urban black youth to express themselves in a rhythmic form. The music, along
with graffiti and breakdancing, was the poetry of the street.
As interest in rap music grew, so did its messages. The collective message
of rap told candid stories of the urban streets — stories of drugs, violence, and
crime. No matter how hedonistic the message, urban youth found a platform to
outwardly express their rage towards “the system” — which was embodied in the
police forces of New York, Chicago, and other big cities. Hence, vicious verbal
attacks on police behavior reflected urban youths' most intimate conceptualization
of the system.
According to Patricia Rose, writing in The Journal o f Negro Education,
rap music began to blossom after the release o f Rapper s Delight. It was
“discovered” by the music industry, the film industry, and the print media. Artists
such as Run DMC, Whoodini ,and The Fat Boys helped what seemed like a fleeting
phenomenon to persist in changing popular culture (Rose, 1994, p.3). Krush
Groove, a highly successful movie depicting the life of rap music, further elevated
the music into the mainstream. This movie earned Warner Brothers $17 million
worldwide and a gold soundtrack. Most importantly, the movie highlihted for the
general public the power and potential of this art form (Potter, 1996, p.39).
Street language is transmitted to the hip hop culture through rap music.
One can hear a Chinese or Filipino hip hopper using the same slang as the African
American hip hopper. Irrespective of their ethnicity, hip hoppers use adjectives
such as “dope,” “da bomb,” “legit,” “hittin,” and “all that,” to describe something
that is excellent. The word “nigger” is one of the must popular words of hip hoppers.
Contrary to the traditionally derogatory meaning of the word, hip hoppers use the
word as a tenn of endearment. One can hear a white, Asian, or Latino hip hopper
saying, “TJ is my nigger,” which means “TJ is my good friend.” The vernacular of
this culture changes constantly. What might be a cool statement today, might be
“played out” (outdated) in a year.