Hip Hop Defined

Hip hop is a cultural movement developed in New York City in the 1970's primarily by African Americans and Latin Americans. Since first emerging in The Bronx and Harlem, the lifestyle of hip hop culture has today spread around the world.

The four historic "elements" of hip hop are: MCing (rapping), DJing, urban inspired art/tagging (graffiti), and b-boying (or breakdancing). The most known "extended" elements are beatboxing, hip hop fashion, and hip hop slang.

When hip hop music developed in the 1970s, it was originally based around DJs who created rhythmic beats by "scratching" a record on one turntable while looping the break (an upbeat drum and rhythm phrase of a song often found in soul and funk music) of various records on another, which was later joined by the "rapping" (a rhythmic style of chanting) of MCs.