Walk This Way: A Hip-Hop Post

Hip-Hop was born in the late 1970’s in the Bronx, New York. The underground scene developed in this city after this borough became heavily populated with African Americans and Latinx people in the community. One thing that contributed to the generation of Hip-Hop was socioeconomic issues in the borough. After “white flight” the cities infrastructure, family wages and education began to struggle in the community. One of the unique characteristics to Hip-Hop is DJ-ing, MC-ing, and graffiti. The art of Dj-ing began in the early 1970’s when DJ-Clive was spinning on the turntables at his sister’s party and he began experimenting with the turntables. From this, mc-ing or rapping was developed. Rapping can be described as rhymes and wordplay over a beat. Some of the most notable MC’s during this time include Run DMC, Grandmaster Flash, and Kurtis Blow. From the 70’s until now, Hip-Hop has evolved from storytelling, and sending a message, to a form of resistance, and also a way to flaunt what fancy things one has. Many can agree that Hip-Hop has changed from the beginning, but it’s reign is something that has lived on for decades. Artists like J. Cole, Kendrick Lamar, Dom Kennedy, TuPac, Notorious BIG, MC Lyte, Queen Latifah and more have helped shape the Hip-Hop movement. Now that we are entering a new decade in the next month, we can expect this culture and genre to continue to evolve even more.