Hip Hop vs Punk

Hip hop, the creation of electronic sound and enticing language is a style born from the African American and Hispanic cultures. It formed in New York City from block parties and the participation of the youth culture. This style of music began as a minimal change in rhythm to a globally popular culture consisting of graffiti art, dancing, and music. Hip hop was not only a type of tasteful music, but it also became a benchmark in history. When this style of music was created, it served as an outlet for those who did not have a voice, particularly the minority groups. These groups were given rights that they deserved just like everyone else. In the 1970’s is when hip hop began to spread, creating not just

Hip Hop was born in the neighborhood, where young people gathered in parks, on playgrounds, and street corners, to speak poetry over mechanical sounds and borrowed melodies. Hip Hop was always bigger than just the music; it was also break dancing, the gymnastic dance style that valued improvised, angular athleticism over choreographed fluidity. Hip hop was also fashion such as: hats, jackets, gold chains, and brand sneakers. Hip Hop was graffiti, to a new way of expression that employed spray paint as the medium and subway walls as the canvas.

With means to express oneself, helps one overcome the difficulties of life. This approach represents the entire nature of the hip hop culture, especially when dealing with social justice issues. Today, the hip hop culture association revolves around raps (lyrics) and the rappers which reflect how consumers receive messages about social justice issues. Unlike breaking and graffiti, the music/lyrics penetrate society more. However, for this analysis, the focus will rely on a visual element with a connection to hip hop music. Even though a music video would make sense as a visual means of expression, this analysis has more interest in the cover art that goes with a hip hop album. Also, this focus will lead to the question of how important is art

Speak is a book filled with themes, life lessons, symbols, and a lot of situations that teenagers go through. This book is good for young adults our age. It shows them how the real world/high school is, if anyone went through what Melinda went through they could read this book and it will probably help, last but not least it could give them life lessons. It shows them how the real world/high school is.

In Style Wars, there was a scene where it showed that it was traditional for old taggers to pass down graffiti from generation to generation through oral communication; they are expressing these ideas in graffiti in only one expression since it’s the same individuality passed down. This is a representation of how hip hop was folk since everything was oral, and only people within the local community knew the statement that was expressed; there was also only one way of interpreting an idea as well. There was limited diffusion because they could only diffuse these ideas through bombing, which didn’t diffuse the ideas extremely far. Fast forward to now, with one statement comes many different statements evolving from that one statement that is individual to them; any expression can influence other expressions creating numerous interpretations. The reason why there are more expressed ways is because more people know about the hip hop ideas through mass media and extensive diffusion. This shows the transition into pop culture by having hip hop culture at a global scale since any popular idea is rapidly diffused-ex. in a matter of hours, there could be a version of a song that was just published that expresses their own individuality. Hip hop culture has changed from being a folk culture only some knew of to something anyone around the world can express in their own different

Hip Hop was birthed in the neighborhood, where young people gathered in parks, on playgrounds, and neighborhood street corners, to verbalize poetry over spontaneous sounds and adopted melodies. Hip Hop was not just the music; it was also a way for the young to show their skills in break dancing, gymnastic dance style that was valued, and athleticism over choreographed fluidity. Hip hop was also fashion such as: hats, jackets, gold chains, and name-brand sneakers. Hip Hop was a form of graffiti, to a new way of expression that engaged spray paint on the subway walls as the canvas. In addition, today’s hip hop have changed as where the DJ was once is now the producer as the key music maker, and the park is now a studio.

Is the most controversial element on hip-hop, and tends to be its visual expression. The definition of graffiti could be that it is a mural interpretation of the artists’ inner that can be resulted in a drawing, writing, or a symbolic projection (Edwards 13-17). There are three types of the graffiti art: the Tagging, which can be a simple form of one color only; second, is the Threw-Up in which the artist may use more than two colors, and the Spray is the third type where more colors and complexity is used. (Gross 285)

In order to understand hip-hop dance, it is important to recognize hip-hop music and where it came from. Many scholars of rap music relate the founding of rap to African and African American oral and musical traditions, specifically African griots and storytellers. They link the rhythm of rap to the use of drums in Africa and to African American music in the United States, from slave songs and spirituals to jazz and R&B. Scholars have found very interesting connections between rap music and Black nationalist traditions (traditions historically practiced by black people that serve as part of their racial identity). Rap is similar to the “call and response of the black church, the joy and pain of the blues, the jive talk and slang of the hipsters and jazz musicians, the boasting of street talk, the sidesplitting humor of comedians, and the articulateness of black activists.” All of these African American oral traditions, including rap, can be traced back to West African oral traditions. In traditional African societies, the spoken word and oral culture included poetry, storytelling, and speaking to drumbeats. The links between rap music and African American oral and musical traditions demonstrate that hip-hop music represents more than just sound. It represents history. This aspect of it, in my opinion, makes this type of music very unique and makes it carry more value.

Hip-Hop culture is often confused with the Hip-Hop genre. Hip-Hop as a culture is more than just the music, it is a way of life. Hip-Hop music as a genre has changed from being Rap to including Pop. Hip-Hop is an evolving culture, constantly changing as the older generation fades and the newer generation carries on the legacy along with incorporating it's new style. The new generation of Hip-Hop or rather Hip-Hop today focuses more on Partying, music, and Swag rather than the original elements: Deejaying, Emceeing, Graffiti, and B-Boy or break dancing. These elements are still seen in today's Hip-Hop but have adapted a new style.

Punk rock music has been used for decades to express dissatisfaction with society, government, or any idea common in mainstream media. Yet punk rock is not simply a tangent of the mainstream, it is a dynamic and fluid genre with many distinct songs. Don Letts, a mainstay in the London punk scene during the 70’s and 80’s, went as far to say that hip-hop was essentially “black” punk. While punk and hip-hop music are stylistically different, the fundamental tone of the two genres is the same. Even throughout the decades, hip-hop has sang the same issues as punk, including the plight of the lower class, police brutality, and gang violence.

Fashion is used to assimilate with peers. Hip Hop aficionados’ objective is to stand out in a crowd. Signature style is like a freestyle performance. It demonstrates an individual’s special skills. Hip-hop style is not a uniform but speaks to personal style and swagger. It reflects a flamboyant lifestyle. Customization is a big part of distinction because the lack of funds made followers work with what they have. In fact, haggling was a big part of shoppers experience

In the movie A League of Their Own (Abbott & Greenhut, 1992), discrimination of gender was the main diversity issue. Discrimination of gender, according to FindLaw is the unfair treatment of someone based upon her/his gender, and “is a common civil rights violation that takes many forms, including sexual harassment, pregnancy discrimination, and unequal pay for women who do the same jobs as men” in the workplace (FindLaw). Another underlying diversity issue the movie dealt with is feminism. Feminism is “an organized effort to give women the same economic, social, and political rights as men,” including in the workplace (Cambridge dictionary).

In the article, Hip-hop; Music and Cultural Movement written by Alan Light, Greg Tate stated that “The term Hip-hop refers to a complex culture comprising four elements: deejaying, or turntabling; rapping, also known as “MCing” or “rhyming”; graffiti painting known as “graf” or “writing”; and “B-boying,” which encompasses hip-hop dance, style, and attitude, along with the sort of virile body language that philosopher Cornel West described as “postural

The information that has been provided about the subcultures of Hip Hop and Punk shows there are many differences between Hip Hop and Punk and several contributing factors that shape these subcultures but ultimately each one’s existence serves a similar purpose: a form of escape and expression. Prior to research, I was an outsider looking in on the two subcultures. Assumed no similarity at all, but I learned, when you take a deeper look and explore the pages they are different books carrying the same message.

As a movement encompassing various elements of surf, skate, and hip-hop culture, the true origins of what is considered the modern-day “streetwear craze” are questionable. Streetwear is as much a distinct fashion movement, as it is a lifestyle, a culture promoting a sense of individuality, freedom of expression, and an anti-authority outlook. However, a general consensus