Hip-hop. A simple, two-syllable phrase heard often in the rhetoric of today’s youth. To many, the word suggests flashy music videos with diamond-draped rappers, SUVs and half-naked dancers. It is often considered to be no more than shallow clubbing music filled with heavy bass, repetitive beats and sexually explicit lyrics. But these definitions of hip-hop are empty and incomplete.
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While it may not be common knowledge, true hip-hop culture exists at UCSD. Here, B-boying, graffiti, DJing, and MCing may seem out of place. After all, we’re talking about a nationally ranked university in a quiet city with only 1 percent of students identifying themselves as African American. But the free spirit, outspokenness and outlet of hip-hop are universal reasons why Earl Warren College junior Marcus McGhee believes hip-hop culture is important at UCSD.
“People here are too concerned with school and getting a 3.5 GPA,” McGhee said. “Hip-hop creates an atmosphere where studying isn’t everything.”
UCSD offers only one ethnomusicology upper-division course focused on hip-hop culture. Courses focusing on ethnic music were once popular and taught by professor Jason Stanyek, who no longer teaches at UCSD; now courses are seldom offered. However, hip-hop culture still remains.
L.I.F.E., a UCSD hip-hop club started in 1997 by a small group of students active in the hip-hop community, is dedicated to “Living In Four Elements [of hip-hop]” —breakdancing, street art, DJing and MCing. Originally led by Maricel Elacio, a cousin of the late 1990s DJ champion Qbert, along with Chrissy Sa and Claudia Lam, the founding goals were to explore elements of hip-hop culture, learn about hip-hop’s history, allow students to use the club as a creative outlet, offer a truly diverse club and remind UCSD students that hip-hop is not only a genre of music but also a subculture and a way of life. Currently, L.I.F.E. boasts about fifteen members.
Behind the MTV-crafted facade lies more than just a popular genre of music. Hip-hop group Digable Planets expresses the relief and sense of escape brought about by indulging in hip-hop’s “beauty as it floats.” Deep within the origins of hip-hop and its remnants today exists this sense of serenity and escape, as well as an art form, a culture and a peaceful, yet rebellious, way of life.
Thurgood Marshall College senior Erica Kermani, a member of L.I.F.E., believes that true hip-hop is a strong culture for people who come from areas where cultural activities are limited, such as urban communities like the Bronx in New York.
“People in the Bronx wanted to create a place and space that didn’t already exist for them,” Kermani said.
Many agree that hip-hop was established by legendary DJ Afrika Bambaataa. Born as Kevin Donovan in 1960 in the Bronx, N.Y., Bambaataa spent most of his youth engaged criminal activity as a leader of the Black Spades gang. After taking a trip to Africa, Bambaataa underwent a spiritual transformation and changed his name to Afrika Bambaataa Aasim, which translates to “affectionate leader,” a title that fit his new mentality and way of life. Taking advantage of his new authority in the Black Spades, Bambaataa transformed the other members into positive influences in the community. Inspired by the Zulu warriors of Africa, Bambaataa established Zulu Nation, a group of politically and racially conscious B-boys (break dancers), rappers and graffiti artists. This new lifestyle spread outside its original circle into popular culture, evolving into today’s influential subculture of hip-hop.
Even today, rap is seldom heard at hip-hop “jams,” or gatherings. The vital distinction between rap and hip-hop is stressed by anyone who is truly involved in the culture. As said by legendary rapper KRS-One, “Rap is something you do, hip-hop is something you live.”
Second to music, hip-hop enthusiasts often recognize “B-boying” as one of the oldest elements of hip-hop. Breakdancing was sparked in the 1970s as people began to dance to the “break,” or the continuous back-and-forth looping of a drum or bass solo.
Popularized in New York in 1975 by two feuding gang leaders, Apache and Rubber Band, b-boying was a method of peaceful “attack” against another person through dance moves that mimicked violent acts. During a “battle,” two B-boys engage in dance moves, and if a particular move offends the dancer’s opponent, it is considered a “burn.” Based on the response of the audience, one dancer will defeat the other.
An experienced B-boy and a member of L.I.F.E., McGhee began B-boying his freshman year in college and soon started “Bodyrock,” a campus breakdancing club. B-boying is now an essential part of his daily life, he said.
“I have to do it every day,” McGhee said. “It is something that has helped me out a lot in college. It is my creative outlet.”
Like B-boying, the initial purpose of graffiti was to serve as a peaceful yet outspoken creative outlet for gang members. The popular slang term “T.A.G.,” used in reference to the act of creating graffiti, is actually an acronym for Tuff Artists Group, the name of an early crew of graffiti artists. This visual element of hip-hop has spread all around the world and continues to become more common among people who have no connection to gangs or crews of any sort.
As the most marketable artists of the culture, DJs and MCs have contributed the most to the popularization of hip-hop. A DJ’s music and an MC’s lyrics can easily be recorded and sold, while B-boys have no real way of selling their art other than by performing. According to Rapworld.com, underground hip-hop slipped into the mainstream within a few years due to recording artists such as DJ Grand Master Flash of the early 1980s.
Eleanor Roosevelt College junior and adept DJ Larry Sun uses the stage name DJ Predakon. While most hip-hop enthusiasts at UCSD relate to the B-boy aspect of the culture, Sun stresses the importance of DJs.
“DJs are the backbone of hip-hop,” Sun said. “Hip-hop started with DJs doing street parties, then rappers rapped to that, and then came the break-dancers.”
For Sun, DJing is a method of expressing himself.
“It’s a way of taking something and making it your own,” Sun said. “There are no coaches. It’s all you.”
Whether people are conscious of it or not, hip-hop has left a mark on the dominant culture. Terms like graffiti, DJing and MCing are all understood in the lexicon of modern society.
Revelle College senior Brian Leung, a student and member of L.I.F.E., agrees that hip-hop culture is a positive influence on UCSD students.
“I would like to see more hip-hop culture at UCSD,” Leung said. “But only for those who really appreciate it.”
While hip-hop’s beginings are quite specific, the form has now become altered and interpreted in a variety of ways. McGhee, Leung and Sun all agree that hip-hop serves as an outlet, an escape and a sense of relief from the stress of their college experience.
“Hip-hop is a break from the mundane routine of everyday life,” Leung said.
But there is more to hip-hop than just an escape. Used as temporary relief from daily stresses, hip-hop also appeals to many people because of its versatility and lyrical power. According to L.I.F.E. members, hip-hop music is appropriate for parties and politics, anger and love, philosophy and dancing. Hip-hop is flexible and able to match people’s shifting moods. For them, hip-hop’s poetic yet powerful lyricism is able to make its messages clear while enforcing them with style.
True hip-hop is not what it is commonly perceived to be. It is not the shallow, money-flaunting, misogynistic images that appear in music videos. It is a peaceful method of combating an enemy. It is an outlet for self-expression. It encompasses versatility and power. It requires dedication, appreciation and an open mind. As the Digable Planets attesting, hip-hop is about losing oneself, escaping, and creating beauty.
