What is Hip-Hop?

Hip-Hop is a way of life, and as a way life, it involves doing.

The culture is a mere derivative of its primary enactors -- while those who are less participatory, can be classified as mere consumers and appreciators. The latter group provides Hip-Hop with its power. Yet, Hip-Hop’s inventiveness lies in the hands of the folks who use the visual and performative arts for cultural, political, and/or economic purposes.

This said, Hip-Hop is the Silicon Valley of music. It harbors and produces innovation -- that's how the culture keeps an edge and widening appeal. When young people of the 70’s grew discontent and bored with Disco, they played and mixed the breaks (as opposed to the entire song). Soon, they spoke over the records. Some were clever -- using rhyme and wit as elements to enhance their disc jockeying.

Later, Hip-Hop’s dedicated technicians nuanced the sound; their inquisitiveness propelled them to strip records of their pop-influences, focusing on the drums and hard synths (like, Def Jam pioneer Rick Rubin). Participants used the platform to evolve cadences and flows. Some influenced urban fashion trends, deepened the market-permeation of luxury brands (e.g., cars and liquor), and used Hip-Hop to backdoor their way into affluent art spaces such as the MOMA and New York Fashion Week. And now, as the foreman of youth culture, Hip-Hop has influenced technology, especially sound engineering; respectively, HTC, Tidal, and Samsung have mediated Hip-Hop culture or led efforts inspired from Hip-Hop’s biggest names. Point in case: Hip-Hop is entrepreneurship, and that gives it many arms to serve the needs of the people that wield it.

When you think about it -- it’s quite astonishing and brilliant: Hip-Hop was birthed from the ghetto (that was generally neglected by comfortable working/middle/upper class Americans and public institutions) -- and it was done through the efforts of young people! It’s a prime example that there is, in fact, genius in the ghetto; innovation in the streets; and power nestled in the minds of Black folks (and largely, people of color).