What is Hip-Hop?

Hip-Hop is a conglomeration of rap, DJing, graffiti, fashion, dance, visual arts, creative expression, political activism, and commerce. Although this might encompass much more than the 4 essential elements emphasized by its founders, the overall culture of hip-hop has grown astronomically since its inception and their personal view on what it consists of. Charnas takes it upon himself to add two crucial elements: style and marketing--but even those additions cannot encapsulate what it has become today. It can no longer can be categorized into such countless distinctive elements so I would rather define it by the philosophy that created it: hip-hop is the art of taking nothing and making it into something.

In response to the title of this class, most people would almost immediately ask, “What is Hip-Hop entrepreneurship?” Personally, I feel the two terms are practically redundant. Virtually every element of hip-hop represents or is birthed from an entrepreneurial principle and experience. Namely, the creation of hip-hop music is what I consider the element most steeped in entrepreneurial spirit. I recall a documentary I watched on the rise of Run DMC and the pop culture explosion of rap music. The infamous DJ Grandmaster Flash details how even in the middle-class neighborhood of Hollis in Queens, NY the local high-schools didn’t have the well equipped music programs that many white schools had access to. Since traditional music instruments were often much too expensive, they instead used turntables and found records with the same instruments and replayed their snippets to get the familiar sounds they otherwise couldn’t get.

Sampling, as it is now known, has since evolved into the de facto way of recording music nearly all pop music--and primarily rap. It allowed an entire generation of musicians who wanted to explore sound to do it at a hundredth of the cost. That technology has since disrupted the entire field of music, allowing bedroom musicians to produce entire albums with solely a computer and microphone. I would argue that hip-hop, at least in an economic sense, has almost single-handedly transformed the music industry more than any other genre. Its rapid ability to innovate and adapt is what I believe has kept it from turning it into another fad genre. Coincidentally, during class we mentioned the breakout success and immediate fall of Disco. The reason disco failed is because as the music became overly commercialized and homogenous in a time where it could not afford to. The originators who traditionally drove the genre’s creative development, urban black youth, couldn’t afford to put out another tacky disco record that lacked distinctiveness in an era of studio time that cost thousands of dollars per hour and expensive distribution. Not to mention the necessity of knowing the right executives and movers. They were literally priced out of the industry and as disco became more commercialized it lost its distinctiveness and crashed only to be replaced by the next fad, flashy pop and hair rock. If the technology and practices surrounding disco had evolved at the rate of music today, it would likely still exist.

Hip-hop music and the technology that accompanied it, made the ability to produce music completely democratized, in the same fashion that the home computer made word processing and cross-country communication an affordable domestic convenience. The production of rap music especially throughout the 90s reflected how hip-hop had grown up in an era of living room studios and sound-proofed closets. Distinct styles had sprung up from different regions since the technology could be available cheaply and virtually anywhere. This allowed a multitude of distinct styles and genres, completely independent from its home of New York. Technology didn't just communicate its narrative, it created it. It is the first truly entrepreneurial music genre that reflects the innovative ability of impoverished youth who were able to build multimillion dollar enterprises and sub cultures with what little resources they had. This is even more evident today, with rap stars owning everything from the record labels themselves to clothing lines, liquor labels, audio companies, movie studios, and even fragrances. Overall, I think this has been a positive impact on the impressions of millions of black youth who now have a generation of successful black entrepreneurs and culture influences who now own a commanding role in our public discourse. They have helped elect presidents, shed light on public injustices, spawned multi-billion dollar industries--and did it all starting from the literal bottom.  Hip-Hop, especially rooted in its music, perfectly encapsulates the entrepreneurial spirit of innovation and excellence that has made it the worldwide dominant culture that it is today.