A BRIEF INTRODUCTION INTO HIPHOP

by Ivan Vuković

Hiphop is definitely a part of Croatian popular culture. You can see it everywhere (at least some parts of it) - just turn on the TV or the radio, or take a walk around town. You'll see youngsters wearing baggy pants 3-sizes too big, Eminem T-shirts and hoodies, walking around with a limp walk, with a walkman on injecting new MTV hits into their brains. You can't miss a 10 metre tall super-size poster of Jay-Z and 50 Cent in Savska street (obviously someone's going to buy those sneakers when they see that Jay and Fifty are wearing them). And, as you are probably aware of, everybody from kids in kindergarden to old men in retirement homes is listening to Edo Maajka. Hiphop has bumrushed Croatia through mass media and is recruiting new followers on a daily basis. Clubs which offer Hiphop programs like Aquarius on Fridays (Blackout Lounge) and Gjuro II on Wednesdays are packed (ok, maybe not as packed as folk singers' concerts, but what the hell, we are in the Balkans after all). But at the same time as many people are starting to like this kind of expression, just as many are starting to grow an aversion towards it, stating the following arguments: rap = blacks, black music is unnatural and it'll never be accepted in our culture, it's full of posers, fakers babbling monotonous sermons over something which is not even music, and so on and so on. I hear a lot of these sorts of comments all the time. Then the argument begins, because to us who love Hiphop that is just nonsensical bullsh@t. You have to take a look at the whole picture before making judgements based on tiny bits and pieces of something. First, I need to explain to the person who's saying these things the difference between rap and Hiphop. Hiphop is a much wider term, it is a whole culture which encompasses many elements and rap is just one of those elements, the oral expression. To us who love it, Hiphop is something sacred, a culture that we respect and that we are part of. This culture has its history, language, attitude, fashion, its own state of mind and it consists of numerous elements, not just those that are seen on TV. Four elements are considered to be the most important and influential :

1. DJ-ING from which it all started (in the 1960s in the Bronx – one of the five boroughs of New York; the founding father of Hiphop is considered to be DJ KOOL HERC). Dj-ing is the art of playing records. A dj uses two turntables as instruments to cut, scratch, loop, mix records and you wouldn't believe what they're capable of producing with their bare hands.

2. BREAKDANCING which is the Hiphop dance (it's not the only one though, there's also popping and locking among many others). It is a dance which took over elements of the Brazilian martial arts technique – Capoera. I don't know whether you've ever had a chance to see breakdancers perform live but they are truly breath-taking acrobats and definitely worth seeing.

3.MC-ING (or RAPPING) which is the art of rhyming over the instrumental music (the beat). MC stands for : a) Master of the ceremony – the one who animates and moves the crowd with his/her rhymes and b) Microphone controller – the one that uses clever wordplay and is master of words which he composes into rhymes and raps on the microphone. This art of composing highly complexed rhymes enables an mc to rap about any possible subject known to man and he or she is definitely not limited to rhyming only about money and murders (although they can, of course). Unfortunately, most of the Hiphop music we hear nowadays deals with these subjects, so I understand that an average listener can bite the hook and start deprecating the whole culture. But not on my watch. Other oral elements of Hiphop include BEATBOXING (an incredible technique of producing drum sounds and other instruments (sometimes even more than one at a time) just by using your mouth and hands), and SPOKEN WORD (specific poetry recital) among others.

4. WRITING (GRAFFITI) is the visual representation of Hiphop, the art of drawing by using spray paint and markers. Graffiti was used primarily by political activists to make statements and street gangs to mark their territory. Even today people confuse it with punk-is-not-dead-like inscriptions on walls, instead of seeing its real works of art. It was around the late 1960s that writing's current Hiphop identity started to form, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and it was rooted in bombing (graffiti writers' tags and pictures illegally drawn on walls and trains, because this kind of art was prohibited by law).

Maybe you've noticed that I used the word ''art'' every time with each of the elements. And that is something you need to realise. Hiphop is an art. Not every Tom, Dick and Harry can rap, scratch, bomb the trains or spin on his head. It takes innate talent and hard practice to master these arts.

Hiphop is strongly rooted in black tradition and one who deals with it has to acknowledge its black heritage. However, it has become worldwide now and every country where it appears gives Hiphop its own idiosyncrasies through its particular culture and language. Because the first germs of Hiphop appeared only some 15 years ago in Croatia, and its public acceptance is just slowly beginning, some still believe that it is not a part of Croatian culture and that it can't be. But it IS a part of Croatian culture. A relatively new part, but it is here. The people who are Hiphop culture are here. You can't deny the people. The growing number of mc-s, djs, writers, breakers and just regular people who live by this culture are proof of this. Although I have to argue with people about it now, our children and grandchildren will accept it as something normal and natural because they will look upon it as something old that began in the ancient 1990s.

Hiphop is creativity. It creates worlds that make our lives better. It says what's wrong with our society, it exposes all that stifles us and that has to be removed. It praises all that is good in our society. It is very powerful because it deals with the power of music, the power of the word and the power of movement, which are unstoppable. It encourages individuality and the revolution of the mind. It is spiritual. Its basic ideas are love, peace, unity and having fun. Everyone who loves it, loves it to the fullest. And I feel sorry for those who can't stand it because it's not going anywhere – it's here to stay. It will only grow. Better join it because you sure can't beat it.

Discussion concluded.

I dedicate this short essay to the loving memory of two recently passed away Hiphop greats who truly lived for Hiphop to the very end of their lives:

R.I.P. GORAN KOLAREK a.k.a. FLOOR KILLAH a.k.a. BREAK ( 1979 – 2004 ) – the best Croatian breakdancer of all times ( picture : R.I.P. graff by YCP graffitti crew )

R.I.P. RUSSELL JONES a.k.a. OL' DIRTY BASTARD from the Wu-Tang Clan – one of the illest and the sickest mc-s of all times.