The "Four" Elements of....?
batmon
27,574 Posts
As a kid the,the 4 elements description didn't exist. Hip hop seemed like something u just did, making all those elements blend together. Now I have embraced this idea without any resistance when it started to appear in many Hip Hop mags/books/etc, but there has always been something about this "4" that has always itched.
I used to tag,electic boogie,and dj at some point in my life. But now I dont "practice" any of the "elements". I dont feel I embody hip hop any less than the 16 year old who rhymes to himself on the train. The elements idea was good for its time when hiphop was striving for some unifying identity, but it limits/set boundaries for a culture whose spectrum has more than 4 elements.
Where does ironing/starching your fat laces lie in the "4".
Customizing Snaekers? Now and Later candy? The kid who dressed fresh but didnt spit/boogie/or tag isnt a peripheral participant. Or the chick who stitched her Columbia blue Lee's just right on the outside from the ankle up to the hip.Even the cat who grabs MP3s of the net to compile hiz favorite joints. We should be able to challenge antiquated ideas that limit the possiblities. I hardly ever use the phrase.
This iz just me pondering.
I used to tag,electic boogie,and dj at some point in my life. But now I dont "practice" any of the "elements". I dont feel I embody hip hop any less than the 16 year old who rhymes to himself on the train. The elements idea was good for its time when hiphop was striving for some unifying identity, but it limits/set boundaries for a culture whose spectrum has more than 4 elements.
Where does ironing/starching your fat laces lie in the "4".
Customizing Snaekers? Now and Later candy? The kid who dressed fresh but didnt spit/boogie/or tag isnt a peripheral participant. Or the chick who stitched her Columbia blue Lee's just right on the outside from the ankle up to the hip.Even the cat who grabs MP3s of the net to compile hiz favorite joints. We should be able to challenge antiquated ideas that limit the possiblities. I hardly ever use the phrase.
This iz just me pondering.
Comments
Somewhere in the 80's..........dont quote me though.
It's just that they live a meager and somewhat embarrassing existence confined almost entirely to non-U.S. nations.
Here we go!
PLEASE TAKE YOUR MOUTH OFF YOU YOU DON'T KNOW THE 4 ELEMENTS AND YOU DON'T KNOW THE TRUE
Isn't this some Zulu Nation schitt?
i think u r right
Everyone should read this.
And yes, I was (sort of) joking about the "alive only in other countries" thing, but I'd like to point out that my man m_dejean lives in Denmark, so fy fan, why can't the rest of you get on his level?
True.
I'm pretty sure the ideal of 4 elements came when Bambaataa coined the umbrella term "Hiphop" to encompass what was happenin in 70's NYC, as well as their parties.
Some folks also took offense to Bambaataa's call. I had a chance to run into pioneerin Hiphop dancer Buddha Stretch, and he was arguin on a technical aspect...bboying is not a Hiphop dance, because it wasn't danced to specific Hiphop records--it was an extension of the Funk movement instead just like in the Westcoast poppin came outta the Funk movement.
Interesting.
Since then, in the 90's you had KRS come out with "refenitions" trying to discretely add more movements and makin like a psuedo-religion outta of it.
Another resurgeance can be attributed to the Rocksteady Crew in the 1990s, their jams, theater productions like Jam on the Groove, and involvements with Zulu preached Hiphop as 4 elements. Rremember this was also a time when Rappin continued to solely define Hiphop. (you see a general resurgeance with DJing and Bboyin in US durin this time)
So fast fwd to 2005, people use this 4 elements motto as a litmus test and the state of Hiphop right now people (esp. promoters) are tryin their best to hold all these very loose-connected, separated and artistically distinct movements together.
I think the ideal of 4 elements is a good starting point, but never intended to limit what Hiphop is.
Bare bones for me...Hiphop is anything that speaks or shares to a larger disenfranchised/underground community in those mediums. People who create the production as well as enthusiasists---a constant conversation.
Peace.
BoogaLeo
brokebboys.blogspot.com
I was kinda thinking about this a while back with that DU "Nuttin' Dis Funky" lyric about being outta luck/hucklebuck/suck you up like a now & later and all that, and then thinking about all the other now/later lyrics. just wondering. I grew up in the midwest so wasn't there when It happened.
a partially synthetic head would like to know
...and...?
So what if they are.
It's probably because they are passionate & therefore protective of it. Why do you guys have problems with these things. Why do you get your knickers in a knot over them? And what's with the stereotyping that ALL these kids are identical in thought. Stupid.
I know a handful of kids who are the way you guys describe them as. A handfull. They'll grow out of it. Usually its the young kids who realise what the whole shit is about... They feel they are involved in something special. Why slag off youngsters who are still working out thier place in the world? You sound like a bunch of bullies who think you know better.
Our scene has a huge graffiti element. Probably at least 75% of the crews making music here have or had some involvement with graff. And pretty much all the older cats still active used to b-boy & do graff.
I'd say if it wasn't for the graff writers that hip hop would have struggled to exist & it might not have been so strong down here.
The b-boy scene has kind of estranged itself from the rest, most likely due to the late 90s resurgence of it being in nearly every 2nd videoclip, usually non-hip hop related Leaving the youth unaware of it's history. So many kids will want to break to Snoop Dogg or something in the low bpms...
It's pretty obvious that it all coalesced at the same time in New York with many people like Herc, Caz, Rammelzee, Kay Slay, Phase 2 & even then, Masta Ase, Krs, Fat Joe, Tame One, etc.... all doing graff. Denying that would be a overreaching for an non-existent argument. It all makes perfect sense...
It just exist this way, wether you believe it only exists like this overseas is up to you... It's a youth culture that is worldwide & helps a lot of people. Denegrate it all you like, but one doesn't have to walk around with a nameplate on their belt, have a furry kangol & wear Cazals... It's just a mindset. It helps kids get enthused, stay out of trouble, get creative & form close ties with likeminded people. Yet some people overanalyze with their negative superiority. Just let them be...
I started b-boying in 84 & now I dj for b-boys. I did graff straight for almost 15 years of my life & now I do graphic design for a job. Why would I tell some kids...'You'd better stop because apparently they don't really do this in the States anymore...' They'd look at me like I was an idiot & say, 'So fucking what...'
Time for zzzzz. Other side of the planet...
IP
Let it go... Let people have their fun...
Double
Green Apple flavor(as wus mine). Many of my boys at the time where like "Oh" how do they know about that schitt. The Wayans are from NYC.
"Yo shorty, run to the store and get me 5 green apple and 5 watermelon N&Laters."
Jolly ranchers iz what i meant, thanx. Now and laters were second fiddle to JR.
Remember Jolly Ranchers use to come in a stick?
although i can't stand religious bs about hiphop, this is true. it's like realizing that all this ish is dope
I kind of disagree. might be the case for downunder, but over here in europe many cats into graf give a schitt about hiphop. there are punks, skaters, skins (no nazi), normal guys, people into metal or drum'n bass, of course are there the 50time Wild Style guys as well, but...as i said, graff was there b4 it was called the hip to the hop (that's what grandwizzard theodore told me about the origins of the term, it was called hiphop because people used to "hop" at parties and it was a "hip" thing...the term can actually be traced back to the 40's, to some swing record...i have the sample somewhere:"With a hiphop and a clippety clop, verybody's dancin in the brand new spot" or so) ...and I say that Graff would exist, even if this rap schitt would never be known...lotsa my graff partners don't care about rap!
play some manu dibango makossa ish to some of the new cats, and they be like
HipHop police, HipHop police...quick, there's a riot goin on downunder
Because it's really not theirs to "protect".
What is the 5th Element of Hip-Hop?[/b]
Violence
Bitches
Backpacking
Camping
Young Jeezy
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"A pack of franks and a big bag of Frito Lays"
Writing about hip-hop.
I read on a blog that that was the fifth element.