Style Talk: History of Hip Hop

Hey guys, it’s Jasmine and Ben aka pSyk again. This week, it’s about Style Talk.
Every dancer should know their history regardless of what style you are dancing to. Be it Hip Hop, Ballet, Jazz, Breaking, Locking, Popping, Social Dancing, anything. We need to make the effort in reading up on our history, or by watching videos.

Today, we will be covering on the history of Hip Hop.

In the early aspects of the Bronx before and during the creation of Hip Hop (the late 60s and 70s), there was a drastic change going on in the streets of NYC. A gang is like family members, and by that, it means that your family is your complete neighbourhood.

In Hip Hop culture, there is always an association of gang influence. There were many instances where Hip Hop heads were gang members themselves. DJ Kool Herc earned his respect from gangs by giving shoutouts to them while spinning on the wheels of steel, and he kept peace in the jams.

From South Bronx, the biggest gang leader who changed his gang into the biggest Hip Hop motion in the streets of New York and ultimately, the world, is Afrika Bambaataa and the Zulu Nation.

The first forms of Hip Hop music was born in the African Americans New Yokers block parties in the Bronx during the 1970s. In the first Hip Hop hits, performers began rapping when the music (especially funk and soul music) played. They were originally called MCs.

In the early 1970s, breaking began as part of the block parties as b-boys, and b-girls had cyphers (jams) and they danced to the drumbeats with footwork, toprocks, freezes and powermoves.

Freestyle Hip Hop came around ’84 as the overexposure of Funk and Bboying reached it's peak, with the release of movies like “Breakin”, “Breakin2/Electric Boogaloo”, and “Beatstreet” as well as other various commercials and videos. In ’85, the dance forms died down and it stayed dead til about ’86.

A club called UNION Square, gave birth to was what is known today as Freestyle Hip Hop. Buddha Stretch’s friend, Tron, prepared a show together with some bboys and poppers, to perform one night. On the night of the performance, the dancers decided not to perform due to the rowdy crowds but instead, they jammed. It was after that night that the club wanted them to perform every week.

Buddha Stretch was the choreographer along with Michele Ann Travis’s help who did the promotion for the club. It was the beginning of Freestyle Hip Hop dance as he incorporated all the dances he knew or just learned into their routines. From there onwards, he went on to dance for the famous group WHODINI, in the summer of 87'.

MOPTOP was officially formed in formed in ’91 and Elite Force did not officially come together as a crew until ’93.

Hip Hop dance is basically, as Buddha Stretched said, an "Urban Social Organised Dance".

Why? Hip Hop dance was inspired by the music. The music gave birth to the movement. And each song gave birth to a certain move. Everyone knew the song, everyone knew the move and they would do it together. It didn't matter who you were or where you were from. It didn't matter what dance background you had, or even if you had any. You could have been a popper, a locker, a breaker. No one cared. Everyone just wanted to have fun. If you went to The Monastery in St. Louis, you would be doing the move named after the club. We use this move so often in our choreographies these days but I think, only 10% of those who know the move actually know the history behind it.

Why is knowing your history so important?

Easy: If you don't know where you came from, you won't be able to move forward. Know your foundations, and understand them. Knowing your history helps you understand the foundations even more. And only by truly understanding your foundations, are you able to create something brand new out of it.

Resources:
http://www.breakcheck.com/index.php?pg=Article&id=11
http://www.mrwiggles.biz/hip_hop_influences.htm