Hip-Hop Culture in the US and China - Report Example

Hip hop culture in the US and China (Name) (Institution) (Course name) (Course code) (Module) (Instructor’s Name) Date of submission Table of Contents Table of Contents 2 Introduction 3 History and acceptance 4 Core issues 5 Dj-ing 6 Graffiti 7 Rap music 8 Fashion sense 10 Conclusion 11 References Introduction The hip hop culture in the global arena is recognised by American standards. This is confirmed by a number of definitions. The online free dictionary defines it as an urban youth culture related to rap music and fashion sense of inner city African Americans. Price (2006) says hip hop is a culture that evolved from a liberation movement of the 1970’s involving inner city oppressed youth from marginalised communities predominantly from African Americans, Latinos and Latinas. Pastor Phil Jackson offers a deeper definition; Hip hop is an urban subculture that seeks to express a lifestyle, attitude or theology. Rejecting the dominant culture, it seeks to increase social consciousness, cultural awareness and racial pride. Rap music functions as the vehicle by which the cultural messages are sent, and the industry by which hip hop culture is funded and propagated (Hodge 2010, 38). This culture is basically rooted in four core elements, rap music, graffiti, break dancing, DJ-ing cum MC-ing (sic) (Garofoli & Price 2010). Breakdancing is also identified as b-girling or b-boying (Price 2006). As is common in all types of culture, the hip hop culture is about expressing inner feelings through lifestyle and accepted way of doing things. With its origin in the US among African American youth in 1980’s, the hip hop culture has spread far and wide in the world. In the process, it has interacted with other cultures and has been influenced or influenced others. This has created a richer hip hop culture that varies from one region to another owing to the interaction with pre-existing cultures. Many scholars attribute the spread of hip hop culture to other regions in the world to globalisation westernization. This paper will specifically compare and contrasts the hip hop culture in the US and China. History and acceptance The history of American hip hop culture is founded on black consciousness. The movement was strongest during the black arts movement in the 1960’s which was the artistic and aesthetic complement of the black power movement. This movement, motivated by the black renaissance of the 1920’s and 30’s was popularised by people such as Larry Neal, Amiri Baraka, Ed Bulls among a host of other poets, thespians writers, musicians, artists and playwrights (Price 2006). These people sought to tell history from their African American perspective and often criticised the white dominated government policies. One on the most notable areas was the immigration issue where there were restrictions on non-European immigrants. In response to the pressure, the government through the Immigration Act of 1965 removed the nationality prerequisite for immigrants. Consequently, there was a huge surge of immigrants from Latin America, Asia and Africa. This widened the American cultural diversity which would also affect the hip hop culture in the country. The hip hop culture is a relatively new phenomenon in China. Although this phenomenon emerged in Beijing in 2000, the hip hop culture in china was recorded as far back as 1981 (Cultural China 2010). The first hip hop music was recorded by one Harlem Yui in Taiwan in the 80’s. In the 90’s, the LA boys rap group introduced hip hop culture further in Taiwan through stage performances. The group inspired Chinese underground and mainstream rap groups such as The Party and TTM. The popularity of these groups was highly dependent on the language used. For instance, hip hop groups in Hong Kong using the Cantonese dialect had difficulties in penetrating the mainland mandarin speaking region (Trindle 2007). The hip hop culture both in China and the US has faced foreign influence. However, hip hop in China remains a totally foreign concept while Americans have owned the culture despite the foreign content. The New York Times reported in 2009 about the growing component of hip hop music among Chinese urban youth though the music genre never gets broadcasted (Wang 2009). The Chinese government and the older generation citizens view hip hop as something alien (Trindle 2007). Given the past state of diplomatic relations between China and the west especially during the cold war, it would be expected that, hip hop culture, an icon of western values would be suppressed. As such, while hip hop in the US face persecutions over its content and ideals of the culture, China rejects the culture based on its source and political reasons. Again, the American hip hop culture has strong social background as opposed to China’s case. The motivations for the hip hop culture in China are basically aspirations for a westernised image. Core issues Through its core elements, the hip hop culture in its original American form is a means and method of expression based on celebration of African culture, social commentary, political critique, economic analysis, religious exegesis and street awareness (Cohen 2011). These expressions are all aimed at combating long standing issues especially those affecting the African American youths and other minority groups such as racial prejudices, crime and street violence, unequal political representation and socioeconomic disparities. Some of the major concerns of hip hop such as racial prejudices have scaled down in the recent past but the momentum for hip hop culture has not slowed down. Racial prejudices have played a great role in fanning hip hop culture. However, the homogenous Chinese community has limited racial prejudices hence low motivation for the growth of hip hop. In China, the core issues behind hip hop are rebellion and westernization. Being ‘American’ in China is a type of sophistication that can be attained by worshipping the hip hop culture (Greeffe, Pflieger & Noya 2005). Dj-ing The rise of DJ-ing came about with the popularisation of broadcasting and the radio in the US. In the 1920’s, radio hosts in music programs were gradually transformed into the current DJ’s. However during this time, China remained very inactive in the global stage hence the influence of DJ’s did not reach China. At this time also, China was underdeveloped hence the use of the radio was minimal. The urban life was minimal as most people were peasant farmers living in rural areas (China travel n.d.). Back in the US, music was changing over the years and so did the DJs. Some DJs opted to stick with certain types of music depending on the target listeners while others sampled various categories of music to blend a unique music and a fan base (Price 2006). This gave rise to some popular DJs such as DJ Kool Herc (Clive Campbell) who decided to mix music sections of a few choice records for the fans. This was most common in parties and dancing competition. The most conspicuous part of playing different sections of certain songs was the percussions or the heavy beats. This was most appealing to the African Americans whose traditional music had heavy percussion instruments. It is from this point that the hip hop culture and music interacted; lovers of heavy beats also happened to be lovers of hip hop culture and so the marriage of hip hop and Dj-ing. This new way of playing music was also warmly welcomed by dancers. Kool Herc also devised ways to amplify the sound and use many speakers at once. Then along came Grand Wizard Theodore (Theodore Livingston) who introduced scratching in music. This practice of scratching and mixing gained global recognition when a collaboration of Herbie Hancock and Grandmaster DST of ‘Rock it’ was played at the 1984 Grammy Awards. This recording is documented as the most influential act on hip hop DJ-ing (Price 2006). The aspects of DJ-ing were popularised by dancing and the choice of music. Accomplished DJs had to play music that fitted the occasion and the message in the song had to concur with the event. As the disco fame grew, came along MC’s. These were people who worked alongside DJs. Their work was to offer motivation to dancers through a microphone connected to the speakers (Price 2006). The idea of shout outs was born. However, some DJs attempted to work was MC’s too in order to offer better synchronization with the music and the shout outs. Unfortunately, this turned unpopular with the people. The DJ’s and MCs played an integral part in determining the success or failure of musicians then depending on how often they played their music and how they personally rated them (Morgan 2009). Graffiti Graffiti in hip hop culture was traditionally rooted in criminal gangs and social rebels in the American case. The gangs used to make writings on walls in street corners, telephone booths and train stations to mark their territories or promote their gangs. In the 1960’s in the west coast, two Hispanic gangs, Cholos and Bachutos were recognised by elaborate wall graffiti in black and white (Price 2006). On the contrary, graffiti in China is very moderate and frowned upon by the conservative society (No graffiti n.d.). Graffiti cannot be compared to conservative canvas art and hence the Chinese people are not yet ready to appreciate it. With the growth of the hip hop culture in the US, graffiti has gradually transformed into a work of art to give messages and for aesthetic purposes which is more appreciated. Both in China and the US, the most popular canvas for hip hop graffiti are walls of public buildings and train cars (Price 2006; No graffiti 2003). While felt pens were used earlier, the arrival of spray cans gave way to more livid and better graffiti (Watkins 2005). Both the US and Chinese authorities condemn graffiti. However, the suppression is more in China than in the US. The Great Wall of China has emerged as one of the favoured canvases for Chinese graffiti (No Graffiti 2003). On this wall, different hip hop artworks have been painted. In fact some lyrics with hip hop undertones are also painted. The American law enforcers view graffiti as vandalism and fight it with all means which only serve to make it more popular (Cohen 2011; Price 2006). Average persons not affiliated to any gangs view graffiti as a platform of expression and have joined the fray. Some graffiti give recognition to idols in the hip hop world such as music artists and DJs. Others are calls for justice and equality and more importantly a call to an end to racial prejudices. Rap music The hip hop rap music took over from where the playwrights and poets left the hip hop agenda. Rap as exemplified by famous stars and groups such as Africa Bambaata continued to press for more political rights and socioeconomic equality (Hess 2010). This type of music, characterised by heavy percussion beats and a fast flow of rhyming words, took root in poor neighbourhoods among the African Americans and Hispanic ethnic groups. New York and in particular the Bronx and Harlem emerged as the unofficial headquarters of rap music (Morgan 2009). High street violence, drug use, gangs, poverty and unemployment characterised the Bronx. Films further heightened the prejudice against this neighbourhood. The likes of Dirty Harry (1971), Live and Let Die (1973) among other films depicted the Bronx as an urban jungle (Smith & Jackson 2005). With majority of these films using rap soundtracks and also displaying the hip hop culture in some scenes led to the association of this culture with violence and criminal gangs. Hip hop affiliations succumbed to violence as depicted by the murder of Tupac Shakur and Notorious BIG resulting from a feud between the west coast and east coast (Hess 2010; Forlan & Neal 2004). This kind of rivalry was exemplified by a feature that emerged in hip hop music of dis-tracks. These dis-tracks were born out of freestyle rap battles where two rappers were pitted against one another. The DJ would provide hip hop beats and the rappers were given a specified period of time to show their prowess lyrically which were characterised by mockery. This mockery was extended into recorded music. Record deals and commercial issues also resulted in ‘beef’ (Garofoli & Price 2010). In recent times, the hip hop scene has been under a lot of scrutiny following a release of a track by one rap artist, Nas. The lyrics in the track claim that hip hop is dead. Though this track aimed to mock new generation rap musicians, it indeed called for a deeper look into the original motivation for the hip hop culture (Hess 2010). While poverty, insecurity and racial prejudices were the main motivation for the hip hop culture, attainment of relative equality and scaling down of racial prejudices especially with the election of a black president for the first time in American history implied little motivation for hip hop. However, a flurry of activities by leading heads in hip hop came up to disapprove that hip hop as a culture and music genre is not dead (Garofoli & Price 2010). Fashion sense Hip hop culture is incomplete without mentioning the hip hop fashion sense both in China and the US. In the US, rap musicians coined an articulate image during performances and music videos. Majority of the artists borrowed from the rock and roll artists by dressing in flashy tights and chest revealing shirts accompanied by gloves. Later on, the rap artists kept afro hairstyles or dreadlocks though a number of them also were clean shaved. Break dancers also had a unique fashion sense opting for a dress code that would allow ease of movement during dancing (Hip hop archives n.d). Track suits were most popular and hooded tops. For most male rap artists, fashion was characterised by oversized clothes especially T-shirts and expensive boots and sneakers. Some of the T-shirts had graffiti or personalised images (Price 2006). RunDMC is credited with introducing the now popular designer dress code for hip hop fans and artists (Cohen 2011). The author also notes that the controversial use of bling by rap artists and worship of riches are rooted in African culture. For instance gold and silver were adorned by warriors. The hip hop culture in china has faced a lot of difficulties due to the communist government policy. While the American hip hop culture relied much on radio and television through popularisation of the culture through music and other art forms (Forlan & Neal 2004), the Chinese scene is challenged by to strict regulation of airplay and radio licensing (Trindle 2007). In contrast, small radio stations in American poor neighbourhoods have developed and popularized the hip hop culture. Issues affecting these particular communities are discussed in shows that also featured rap music, the flag bearer of hip hop culture. In China however, government owned radio stations play traditional Chinese music (Trindle 2007). Western oriented music such as rap and rock and roll are frowned upon by the authorities. Rap music in particular is perceived to promote social rebellion and street violence. Conclusion The manner in which culture spreads from one region to another depends on various issues. In this case, hip hop culture originating in the US and spreading to China has been greatly influenced by the media and the internet. It is apparent that the hip hop culture developed independently in the US motivated by a number of issues among them a desire to create social awareness among the impoverished black youths. The greatest influence of this culture emanates from music. Rap music, just like other types of music mirrors the developments in the society. Opposition to rap music has hindered the development of the hip hop culture into the mainstream culture in China. With globalisation however, there is bound to be increased growth in the hip hp culture in China as the culture interacts with other cultures in the country. It can be expected that the culture will develop into something that is very different from the American hip hop culture as it is understood today. 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