Abstract
The paper is an in-depth study of the history of hip hop dance, from before and after the 1970s, and its effects on society. It explores how this type of dance is unlike other dance forms and the elements that make it up. There are no fixed forms to dance, but only styles. The rest is up to the dancer. It is a style of dance for all society giving the freedom to all to dance according to their desires. The paper also shows how hip hop is very much an American product. The hip hop trend enables the path for several dancers, and at the same time it also fosters and promotes more suggestive dance moves. The paper provides clear indications of the effects on culture; some hip hop is racist in theme, while others are sexist. Many hip hop musicians concentrate on such issues like social inequity and the dangers of heroin use. The conclusion is that hip hop is more than just music. It is becoming the soul of pop culture as never before, and steadily moving from the street corners and music videos towards usage in the fitness centers, dance studios as well as television shows.

From the Paper
"Hip hop may be viewed as a culture and is often used to refer to commercial rap music, but hip-hop is not only music. It is loved by the American ghetto youth who claim that it is their method of self-expression and use hip hop to rise over their physical situations. The culture of hip hop has its roots based on truth, self-determination, courage and pride. This is the reason why it has grown to have its impact on almost every part of the world. (Hip-hop History) Some hip hop is racist in their themes, while others are sexist. At the same time, there are also many hip hop musicians who concentrate on such issues like social inequity and the dangers of heroin use. From its early days in the US, the music is being played in projects and some underground clubs, but, now it has achieved a profile that has led to include it in the 1992 presidential debates over Sister Soljah. In the 20th Century Fox movie, Bulworth, there is Warren Beatty playing a Senator who berates his opponents using rap. Hip hop, it would seem, has become a part of our lives. (Classified Hip-Hop or I wanna blow up like Marilyn Monroe's skirt) At the same time, hip hop is not only music. This form of dancing has become very popular and this is clear from the opinions of some experts. "There's a definite surge in the white neighborhood that wouldn't necessarily be exposed to hip-hop in their everyday life," says Keith Pinto, who is an MC and hip-hop dance teacher at the Dance Attack in Los Gatos, California. "They watch MTV, see other kids doing it and want to be a part of it. You can pretty much go to any dance studio in the Bay area and they'll have a hip-hop class." (Hip-hop dance fever)"

Tags:break, dance, graffiti, rapping, afrika, bambaataa, grandmaster, flash, universal, zulu, nation, scratch, rapping, djing, don, campbellock, bboying, scooby-doos, popping, boogaloo, krump, popping

Abstract
The paper discusses the history, elements, culture, rhythm, dances and influences of hip hop and rap music.

From the Paper
"Hip hop music is characterized as a genre of music typically consisting of a rhythmic style of speaking called rap over backing beats. Generally, hip hop is the term given to the culture in which rap music, fostered in part by individual artists and driven early on and throughout its evolution by DJs who speak over music, has developed. It is said to have been developed in New York City in the ...s, predominantly among African-Americans, Jamaicans and..."

Tags:hip hop, rap, culture

Abstract
This paper discusses how the musical styles of hip hop and rap create a powerful venue for African Americans to express their feelings regarding politics, racial discrimination and society in general. To compliment the main thesis, this paper includes an in-depth history of the origins of hip hop, analysis of politically significant songs and the effects of mass media on hip hop.

From the Paper
"In the United States of America we pride ourselves as being the freest nation in the world. Unfortunately, there are times in our history in which certain groups have been unrightfully deprived of their freedom. This can be said for African-Americans who endured 244 years of slavery and another century of institutionalized racism. As Ralph Ellison has suggested, "Afro-Americans have had rhythmic freedom in place of social freedom, linguistic wealth instead of pecuniary wealth" (West, 1999, p. 474). The late 1970s signaled a new era of rhythmic and linguistic wealth: rap music. Hip hop and in particular rap music gives African Americans on the margins of society a powerful voice to express political discontent, but these messages are being obscured by the violence and sexism in some rap music. While political discontent is expressed through all the elements of hip hop, rap music has become the most powerful, creating a link that transcends location, age, religion, and race."

Tags:expression, break, dance, political, politics

Abstract
This paper analyzes the slang that reflects the evolution of Hip Hop from the 1950s to the present. In many ways, Hip Hop offered an outlet about the realities of African American culture under the oppression of a white hegemonic American society. The paper further discusses how by using the Disc Jockey (the DJ) to bring this message to the masses, the issue of black identity was made into a unique and constructive base for activism and political awareness.

From the Paper
"This anthropological study will examine the evolution of language surrounding Hip Hop music in the African American culture. In many ways, the difference between earlier black slang and the present day use of the Hip Hop language are significant in how "Gangsta" culture defines a new evolution in youth communication. By analyzing the way that consumerist markets target this Gangsta culture, one can realize how language has developed within the African American community in relation to street behaviors and communicative tradition from the 1950s to the present. The early traditions from what would eventually become Hip Hop culture had evolved from the radio disc jockey movements of the 50s and 60s."

Tags:rap, hip, hop

Abstract
This paper compares two books on hip-hop by Bakari Kitwana and Chuck D. It discusses the social and political meanings of hip hop. The paper expands on the rivalry between the East Coast and the West Coast. The author explains the place of hip-hop in American popular culture and with young African American males.

From the Paper
"In his critique of the evolving subculture of hip-hop, Kitwana sounds a cautionary note on what he acknowledges has been an influential contributor to the character of American black youth culture. As part of a larger and more complex multi-ethnic society that ..."

Tags:hip hop

rap, culture

social critique

Abstract
The paper discusses how hip hop has become a major music form used to market and sell all forms of products including clothes, cars and jewelry in the US, and it has spawned movies, television shows, academic journals and books. The paper asserts that hip hop is an undeniable force and a fixture of American music that shows no signs of leaving. That being said, the paper posits that hip hop music is definitely mainstream and not an underground art form from the black ghetto.

From the Paper
"Hip Hop is one of the most prolific forms of American music today ("US music fans prefer rap to country"). In an industry where many artists fail to sell enough albums to garner the Recording Industry Association of America's (RIAA) gold status(500,000), hip hop artists often sell platinum (1,000,000) and occupy top places on Bill Board's Top 100 list (Gold and Platinum Certification Requirements). In the early 80's, hip hop music was an underdog. It fought to get played on mainstream radio stations, concert venues imposed high prices for promoters - giving them the least favorable dates - and demanded increased security for hip hop shows (Simmons and...)"

Tags:hip hop, relevance, music

Abstract
The paper discusses how hip-hop, rap and gangsta rap are not just entertainment, but are a cultural force that black leaders have come to see as a Pied Piper leading its children down a dark road. The paper considers the hip-hop ethos.

From the Paper
"Public conscience has dumbed down under electronically hyped but primitive sounds, words and social insults of hip-hop sneers and a stomping beat. It generates a billion dollars in sales thereby winning friends in high commercial places. Beyond the profit circle, concerned black leaders count the social cost. Cedric Muhammad thinks rapsters and hip-hoppers ought to stop behaving like strutting juveniles and grow up. He draws an analogy between Puffy and Shyne in the hands of the law they hold in contempt..."

Tags:Entertainment. Race relations. Music. Popular culture. Black studies. Urban studies. Gangsta rap, hip hop

Abstract
This paper offers an account of the development of hip-hop and rap music in the decrepit neighborhoods of the South Bronx, where disc jockeys developed rap as a means of self-advertisement, which gradually became a polished and sophisticated verbal art form that took the New York club scene by storm, and in its very success destroyed itself.

From the Paper
"The beginnings of music, especially popular music, are often unrecorded. Jazz for example, has been dated as early as 1890 (Taylor 44-45), with almost the last date suggested for this emergence being March, 1917, when the Original Dixieland Jass Band issued their recording of "Livery Stable Blues" and "Dixieland Jass Band One Step" (Taylor 39; Schuller 63, 175-84). Whenever jazz began, it arrived in the mainstream of American culture on January 16, 1938, when Benny Goodman and his Orchestra played Carnegie Hall, the ostensible temple of high culture in America. As the curtain rose on the historic concert, Goodman's trumpet virtuoso Harry..."

Tags:hip, hop, rap, music

Abstract
The paper tells us that Hip Hop artists powerful lyrics describe the crack cocaine epidemic in detail. For examplethe paper tells us that many songs describe The ''Dark Alliance", which attempts to link the CNA and the crack epidemic. The paper also explains that other songs describe the tragic results that blacks underwent due to the crack epidemic and also the torment that the black city communities faced. The paper notes, however, that many Americans do not believe that these songs are a legitimate source of information.

From the Paper
"Hip hop artists powerful lyrics have been ringing throughout popular culture in America for years; however, it was not considered a legitimate source of information in the eyes of many powerful Americans. This is painfully apparent when in the 1980's rapper Chuck D famously said "rap is the CNN of Black America.(np)" It would take nearly two decades after the crack cocaine epidemic for a "legitimate" source of information to not only to tell the story, but also put it on center-stage. In 1996 a journalist named Gary Webb from a small California newspaper wrote an article that put the world of media in absolute turmoil. Webb wrote about the racist travesties that had been affecting Los Angeles since the 1980's. His article titled "The Dark Alliance" attempted to definitively link a connection between the CIA and the crack epidemic in 1980's. Webb argued that the CIA, in an effort to raise money to finance the Contra revolution to overthrow the Nicaraguan regime, funneled crack cocaine from South America to the streets of Los Angeles. This elaborate system focused on two people, Danilo Blandon and "Freeway" Rick Ross. Blandon, who was apparently working with the CIA, supplied Freeway Rick and in turn Freeway Rick sold it."

Tags:Hip, Hop, lyrics, crack, epidemic, Dark, Alliance, black, torment

Abstract
This paper examines the art of graffiti. The author focuses on the history and meaning of street graffiti using the work of one well-known graffiti artist to draw from for examples. The work of world renowned graffiti artist, Cool Disco Dan, is examined and explored.

From the Paper
"If one drives through any inner-city area in the nation one will see graffiti along the walls, subways and sides of buildings. Many people believe that graffiti is little more than gang vandalism, used to tag and mark areas that they believe they "own", but with graffiti's long history and widespread use it represents much more than that. While it is true that some gangs use a tagging process to mark their geography grounds, true graffiti has nothing to do with tagging. Graffiti is an art form and is often referred to as the language of the street."

Tags:write, greek, draw, scribble, flat, surface, walls, sidewalks, hip, hop, rapping, break, dancing