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[cheers] I wanna start by thanking everyone for coming. Tindle your the man. [cheering]
A shout out to everybody in my speech class, thanks for the support.
Welcome to my world, the world of hip hop. This is the evolution of hip hop. In the next few minutes you will learn about the history
and culture of hip hop. Now wither you listen to hip hop or not, in today's world hip hop is everywhere.
Over the last ten years according to csupueblo.edu hip hop music sales have increased 150% and are still rising.
But while hip hop has gained a lot of global success and popularity a lot of its concepts are still misunderstood.
Today I'll clear up those misconceptions and you will gain a better understanding of hip hop and what it really is.
To give you an incite to hip hop I will discuss the origins of hip hop, the hip hop culture, and the state of hip hop today as well as its future.
I am a part of hip hop culture and I've been a fan as long as I can remember. So the information in this speech will be backed by my
knowledge and my sources: Csupueblo.edu, yale.edu, hiphopgalaxy.com, and [unknown website]. So first lets go back
to where it all began. Hip hop is a relatively young music genre and culture its only been around 35 years.
The roots of the music can be traced back to African American music and West African music. The créons of West African are group of
traveling singers and poets who's musical styles are very reminiscent of hip hop. Hip hop music is a combination of many different types of music
like jazz, soul, funk and disco. So some credit the early pioneers in those musics, like James Brown for the birth of hip hop.
Now the birth date of hip hop is relativity unknown. No one knows the exact date that hip hop surfaced. But the known acknowledgement of hip hop is August 11, 1973.
While the birth date relatively unknown the birth place is undeniable. Hip hop was born and bred in The Bronx New York.
Now hip hop became popular in the early 1970s when block parties became common in inner city New York, in places like Harlem, Brooklyn, and of course the Bronx.
These block parties consisted of just music and dance at first, but eventually they incorporated DJs and MCs.
The DJs scratching and pulling the beats and the MCs rapping the lyrics and entertaining.
So the first known DJs and MCs are considered the originators. But the debate for who is the originator is still widely open. The debate between these two men who are both known as the godfather of hip hop.
DJ Kool Herc and DJ Afrika van Wilder. Now I could give a whole other speech on who deserves more credit between these two men
from the creation of hip hop. But the bottom line is they both deserve a maximum amount of credit for the creation of hip hop and its evolution.
Maybe DJ Afrika van Wilder a little more than DJ Kool cause he along with DJ Belize [unknown word] and DJ Hollywood coined the term hip hop.
Now there are a lot of theories about how hip hop got its name. But most say that hip hop got its name because of how the music made people feel
when it first came out. In the early '70s hip hop was new it was fresh and it was something that people had never heard before. What the younger
generations were calling hip and its unique beats drum line and bass made people want to bounce or hop hence the name hip hop.
Now the early goes of hip hop were to talk about unity and expression and deliver messages to the suffering African Americans population.
So now that you understand the history, how and where it started. Lets talk about the culture and what it really is. Earlier
I mentioned their are a lot of misconceptions about the hip hop culture. One of the major misconception is that hip hop is just a music genre.
That is absolutely false, hip hop is a form of expression and hip hop is a culture. Now the culture consists of
three parts: art, fashion and music. There are four fundamental elements to this culture: hip hop dance, hip hop art, hip hop music and hip hop fashion.
Hip hop dance consists of break dancing and other interesting forms of street dance. Hip hop art consists of urban inspired art and graffiti. Hip hop music consists of DJing
beat boxing, scratching, rapping and producing. And the way I'm dressed tonight is a great example of hip hop fashion if I do say so myself [laughing]
Now as I mentioned earlier hip hop in the early stages was all about expression and unity. So while talking about the culture you can't leave out
the art, the dance and the fashion, but with that being said it is undeniable that hip hop music is the lynchpin to the culture.
The overall culture that is being establish and reinforced by this musical art form. Now back when hip hop first started it was something very postive
it was something that DJs would go to bring positivity into their neighborhoods. Today not so much, so there is a lot of criticism
about hip hop. Some people even say that hip hop is dead, some people say that its losing its way and that the culture is headed in the wrong direction.
But I beg to differ that hip hop is very much still alive and that's going to bring me to hip hop today and its future.
In the U.S. today hip hop is the fastest growing music genre in the country. Some even say that hip hop is replacing rock and roll as the most popular music
genre. Hip hop has populated varies industries to pay attention to its appetite. Magazines like Vibe and the Source were created.
Radio stations like Hot 97 and Power 105.1 and T.V. channels like B.E.T. and MTV were all created to appeal to this population.
But while hip hop has gained its biggest platform yet some still say that its dying or losing its way. Mostly because of the messages its sending
and the way people express themselves. But people like this contribute to that, bring down the culture of hip hop. But there still are a lot of strong lyricists out there
who still are strong in their roots, like these guys who keep hip hop every much still alive. Now another major misconception about hip hop is
that it has a selective audience and that only African Americans listen to hip hop. That is absolutely false, approximately 75% of the hip hop and rap audience
is non black. Now that's an amazing fact I mean it could because black people like be are defiantly gonna bootleg the CD before I buy it.
[laughing] But whatever the case it goes to speak about the diversity that hip hop still has. Russel Simmons one of the most innovative people in the hip
hop culture and the owner of Def Jam said this: "Hip hop as just transcended beyond just music. It has become a lifestyle and a culture for people world wide
Hip hop is an attitude and hip hop is a language in which a kid from Detroit can relate to a kid in Hong Kong. 75% of our audience is non black kids.
Now you have kids in Beverly Hills who are now sensitive to the situation in Compton." Which goes to speak for the positivity hip hop still has. Now hip hop
has always been a rebel culture and it has always had naysayers and it has evolved from my Adidas and fit the power to big pimpin' and bling bling. But in
that drastic change hip hop culture still remains. So now after embracing the past and the culture and discussing the state of the music today
you should all have a better outlook on hip hop. So the next time you hear a Jay-Z song or see a Lil Wayne music video you have a better understanding
of the music and my culture hip hop. Thank you. [cheering]