Hip-hop I Mid-term
Rocking/up rock
A b-boying step that involves rocking motions such as toprocking(performed while standing) and floor rocking (performed on theground).
Locking
A dance style created by Don Campbell. The style combines the fluidmovementsof the social dances of the 1970s with short stops orpauses.
Breaking
A dynamic form of dance, also known as breaking, was created by African Americans and Puerto Ricans in New York City. This style of dancing is set to hip-hop, funk, or breakbeat music. After becoming popular in the US, b-boying/.breaking spread to other countries and continues to be danced worldwide. Distinctive traits of the dance style include floor-based movement, physically impressive techniques, syncopated rhythm, and lots of personality. Breaking itself also has 5 fundamental elements: toprock, foot work, back rock, freezes, and power moves. However; as in any art form, there are other elements that make breaking what it is but these 5 are the core categories for different movements that are under the umbrella of b-boying/breaking.
Popping
A form of dance that consistently contracting one's muscles, especiallythemuscles in the neck, biceps, pectorals, and triceps to the tempo of thebeat.
Beatboxing
A form of vocal percussion that primarily mimics a beatbox drum machine. Beatboxing is one of the spiritual foundational elements of Hip-Hop. Typically, a beatboxer will create a repeating beat, using their mouth to create sounds that will be then accompanied by a rapper. In this way, beatboxing sets the scene for important Hip-Hop events like rap battles, transforming the mouth and body of the beatboxer into an instrument. Just as breaking has pulled from other cultures as sources of inspiration (ex: Capoeira) beatboxing has its own inspirations from other forms of vocal percussion (ex: scatting, pulled from Jazz music).
Los Angeles style
A loaded phrase. There are few ways of understanding this term. LosAngeles style was inspired by three dances from New York called Shades. These dancersmoved to Los Angeles and began working with Janet Jackson. Their approach tochoreography was based on multiple dance forms, including New York hip-hop andhouse.Another way to view this phrase is the dance style of young dancers in the Los Angeles"street" dance scene, which was very abstract flows and groundmovements.
Vogue
A modern American dance form created in the African American andLatinoLGBTQ community, with origins dating back to the early 1900s inHarlem.
Hip-house
A musical genre that mixes elements of house music withhip-hop.
Cypher
A practice in which people gather in a circle and use rap or dance to displayskillin a friendly, sometimes aggressivemanner.
Drop
A stylized way to get to the floor when breaking orb-boying.
Funk styles
A term coined by Timothy "Popping Pete" Solomon to cover the forms andstyle performed by West Coast Poppers and Lockers to deter people from putting multipledance forms under one title and to create conversations that differentiated the techniques,forms, vocabulary, and pioneers in eachform.
Boogaloo
A term that may have roots in the Bantu language (with a meaning of "devilishlygood") and has carried various meanings in music and dance, including the following:musical genre created by teenage Cubans and Puerto Ricans that was popular in the UnitedStates in the 1960s; way to say "get down" and "enjoy yourself" during the HarlemRenaissance; and style of music pioneered by Boogaloo Sam that consisted of fluid body rollsof the neck, torso, hips, andknees.
MC Lyte
By tackling issues of sexism, the no-nonsense emcee from Brooklyn, N.Y., broke down the door for other female rappers such as Queen Latifah. With her debut Lyte as a Rock (1988), she became the first female rapper to release a solo album.
Public Enemy
Though the members of Public Enemy hailedfrom the Long Island, N.Y., a suburb of Roosevelt, they would revolutionize the hard-core street sound pioneered by others such as KRS-One. Chuck D famously claimed that rap music was "the black CNN". Their pro-black, politically charged songs forever changed the culture of hip-hop.
DJ Kool Here
Considered the father of hip-hop, the Jamaican-born disc jockey created the "breakbeat" through experimentation at dance parties, during which he'd break the song by isolating and repeating the beats, which would extend the song and create a new track that would keep the dance floor moving.
Waacking
Form of dance also known as punking. This style of dancing was created inLGBT clubs of Los Angeles during the 1970s discoera.
East Coast Hip-hop
Hip-hop didn't develop only on the East Coast, but New York City artists invented a musical style and a dance culture that went viral decades before there was an internet. While it wasn't yet called hip hop dance, this art form really began to develop when DJ Herc moved to Brooklyn at the age of 12, and started an informal performance career that would quickly turn him into one of the most popular DJs in New York City. Moving to New York City from Jamaica, Kool DJ Herc was the first DJ to make unique music by playing two record machines with the same record on both. The rhythms he created were one of the important founding elements of hip hop; he also extended the dance section of songs so the dancers could show off their moves for a longer interlude, laying the foundation for a significant dance culture.
American Hip-hop
IFALL2021While for hip hop dancers, the popping and locking of the West Coast and the breaking of the East Coast are two very separate dance styles, the two regional variants often get blended and grouped into the genre hip-hop. As the dance form continued to evolve, many dancers retained the original styles respective to each region, while other artists brought in not only several different styles of hip-hop dancing but also additional existing dance styles such as swing.
Emceeing/MCing
Involves the voices and storytellers of the community. In Hip-Hop culture, MCing /emceeing is the most visible individual role. MCs are responsible for entertaining the crowd through the rhythmic delivery of rhymes, keeping in time with whatever music might be playing in the background, and providing a canvas for the dancers to work with. As an art, it takes time to be comfortable with capturing the flow of rhymes and matching those words with the beat of the music.
West Coast Hip-hop
On the West Coast, hip hop dancing borrowed from the Bronx but developed its own style. The Jackson Five's music and performance in the '60s and '70s was one inspiration for roboting. Robotic moves were based on popular TV shows and films about aliens and robots. While the East Coast b-boys were Freezing in power moves in their breaks, West Coast hip- hoppers were mimicking department store mannequins in theirs. Wanting to replicate the movement of artificial life, the following pioneers shaped hip hop on the West Coast.
Graffiti art
The visual language of the hip-hop community. As an art form, graffiti is much more than just tagging - it shows the expression of Hip-Hop culture that belongs to its listeners. There are many different forms and elements of graffiti itself: tags, slaps, paste-ups, throw-up, blockbuster, wild style, heaven, and stencil. These are all different styles and mediums of graffiti and all have their own history of development.
Burn
Personal improvisational gesture that is designed to insult an opponent and isperformed in partnership with a jerk as part of a four-count step or set up to deliver theburn.
Deejaying
Represents the sounds and memories of the hip-hop community. DJing was done to loop drum breaks of certain songs using turntables to make the "break" last longer than a few 8-counts. This changed music in a drastic way because it layed the foundational looped drum beats that b-boys break to and MCs rap to. Like the other four elements of Hip- Hop, DJing is an intensely creative process that results in innovation not only in music but in the culture of Hip-Hop as a whole.
Nu style
Shortened term for "New York Style". The term is used in reference tohip-hopdances and culture in New YorkCity.
Biz Markie
The 80s sensation proved that hip-hop could be funny and melodic, without sacrificing its street cred. His hit single "Just a Friend" earned him legendary status, though shortly after, Markie would maintain a low profile, returning to his DJ roots instead of a recording.
Grandmaster Flash
The DJ virtuoso took the craft to new heights when he introduced back spinning and perfected the art of scratching by mixing and extending the beats of the same song on two turntables. "I learned you could actually do things with the vinyl —touch it —which was unheard of for the time," said the legendary disc jockey in an interview.
Kurtis Blow
The Harlem, N.Y.-born rapper began as a Kool DJ Kurt at his college radio station. After making the transition to emcee in the 1970s, he changed his name to Kurtis Blow. He was the first rap artist signed by a major label, helping usher in hip-hop as a bankable music form.
Sugar Hill Gang
The Jersey-based SugarhillGang's 1979 hit song "Rapper's Delight" introduced hip-hop to the world. The group was the brainchild of producer Sylvia Robinson, who was considered "the mother of hip-hop." At first, some involved in the hip-hop scene lamented the fact that the Sugarhill Gang was getting credit for something they didn't create. Then there's also the controversy surrounding who actually wrote the song.
Queen Latifah
The Newark, N.J.-born emcee was hip-hop's first bona fide female star. Her hit "Ladies First" gave voice to women in a male-dominated art form. Latifah would go on to blaze trails in other media with a successful TV and movie career, eventually earning an Oscar nomination for her role in the musical Chicago.
Wu-Tang Clan
The Staten Island, N.Y.-based collective redefined the notion of a crew with a 10-member group that worked together as a unit but could also spin-off into individual solo careers, thus expanding the group's brandand reach. Their melodious synergy was unrivaled, making them one of the most revolutionary rap group of the 1990s.
Boogaloo Sam
The creator of popping, Boogaloo Sam was an important influence in hip hop evolution. Contributing to the early West Coast hip hop scene in the 1970s, he had an innate gift for music and movement and was the founder of the dance group Electric Boogaloo.
Doug E. Fresh and Slick Rick
The duo made an enormous splash in the 1980s with seminal hip-hop hits "The Show" and "La-Di-Da-Di." Though the pair parted ways soon after the success of those hits, they would bothgo on to become pioneers in the genre. Fresh, who could mouth pitch-perfect imitations of a drum machine would define the art of beatboxing, while Slick Rick became an innovative hip-hop storyteller.
Dr. Dre
The former NWA member solidified West Coast hip-hop with G-funk, which is characterized by synthesizer and bass-heavy beats. But it was as a producer that Dr. Dre paved the way for other West Coast rappers like Snoop Dogg.
A Tribe Called Quest
The hip-hop group from Queens, N.Y., followed the lead of De La Soul by popularizing the fusion of jazz and hip-hop. Like De La Soul, Tribe Called Quest's politically conscious songs provided an alternative to the hardcore gangsta rap that was taking over hip-hop in the '90s.
History of Hip-hop
The history of Hip-Hop dance encompasses the people and events since the late 1960s that have contributed to the development of the early hip-hop dance moves, such as uprock, breaking, locking, roboting, boogaloo, and popping. Black Americans and Latino Americans created uprock and breaking in New York City. Hip-hop was born at a birthday party in the Bronx, August 11, 1973. The location was 1520 Sedgwick Avenue, and the man who presided over that historic party was the birthday girl's brother, Clive Campbell—better known to history as DJ Kool Herc, founding father of hip hop.
Run-D.M.C.
The influential hip-hop group from Hollis, Queens, N.Y., was the first rap act to be nominated for a Grammy and the first to get airplay on MTV. Their hit single "It's Like That" blurred the lines between hip-hop and rock. But it was their cover of Aerosmith's "Walk This Way" that catapulted the group further into the mainstream.
Notorious B.I.G
The late Brooklyn, N.Y.-born emcee was a game changer whose early hit "Juicy" displayed his dexterous storytelling that was both humorous and gritty. His style made him one of the most influential rappers of all time, inspiring a generation of hip-hop stars from Jay-Z to Lil Wayne.
Tupac Shakur
The late rapper and son of a former Black Panther member, who famously coined the term "thug life," would merge poetry and politics in songs that painted a grim portrait of black life in America. He would go on to become one of hip-hop's most revered rappers.
Afrika Bambaataa
The legendary Bronx, N.Y.-born disc jockey's Planet Rock with Soul Force is a seminal hip-hop record that embodies the early sound of hip-hop. After a trip to Africa, Bambaataa converted his old street gang, the Black Spades, into an international hip-hopawareness group called the Zulu Nation. The Zulu Nation traveled throughout New York City spreading the four pillars of hip-hop —break dancing, DJing, rapping, and graffiti art.
DJ La Soul
The middle-class trio from the suburbs of Long Island, N.Y., was noted for their heavy sampling of funk, soul and jazz, making them vanguards of an experimental sub-genre, jazz rap. Working with producer Prince Paul, the trio released 3 Feet High and Rising, an album that pioneered the hip-hop skit.
Break
The part of the song where an instrumentalist plays an improvisedsolo.
Luther Campbell - 2 Live Crew
The rapper and hip-hop provocateur put Southern rap (the Dirty South) on the map with hits like "It's Your Birthday." The rapper was the target of a national campaign against obscene music in Florida, making him arguably one of the most controversial hip-hop figures of the early 1990s.
21st Century Hip-hop
The roots of hip hop were informal and group-based instead of audience-based, but that's evolved, too. Hip hop is so powerful it jumped from the curb to center stage in the 1990s and just keeps gobbling up performance turf. Popular hip hop dancers can rock a club scene, but they canalso mesmerize a competition jury of dance experts or wow national television audiences. Choreographer Wade Robson created his television show, The Wade Robson Project, to select upcoming hip hop dance talent, while dance crews like Diversity and iCONic Boyz were busy impressing television audiences with their moves and styles.Since the advent of music television and social media, hip hop has dominated music videos. 21st-century hip hop is a compilation of classic b-boy breaking, popping, locking, tutting, and other refinements, and freestyle forms such as the animatronic hip hop of performers like tWitch and Fik Shun.
NWA
The seminal West Coast group NWA was hip-hop's dark angel. Their music sensationalized gang life, crime, and violence, spawning the genre "gangsta rap" and changing hip-hop culture in ways that are still felt today.
1980's Evolution of Hip-hop
When hip hop first started it was a performative, but informal, dance culture. B-boys and b-girls (terms introduced by DJ Herc) would be invited to show off their moves by other people on the street, on the basketball court, or wherever the group happenedto be. As the moves became more institutionalized (for example, breaking, popping, and locking), and more and more dancers got caught up in the rhythms of the music, the street scene shifted to more formal dance venues. The choreography developed recognizable moves, but the innovative and competitive nature of hip hop remained. It was often danced as a "battle" or one-on-one face-off in a circle of cheering fans.In the 1980s and 90s, more clubs featured hip hop DJs, especially in the larger cities, and dancers of all skill levels would hit the dance floor. Both informal and formal competitions often arose. Informal competitions started when a few truly exceptional dancers were noticed on the dance floor; the rest of the people would back off and allow theleaders to duke it out.As these informal competitions became increasingly common andpopular announced competitions became part of a night out at hip hop clubs.Whether they arose organically or they were advertised in advance, this competitive nature helped hip hop retain the battle culture that has existed since the beginning. This type of competition can also be seen in other dance forms, perhaps most notably in tap dancing of the early 20th century.
Don Campbellrock
While his real name was Don Campbell, his invention, locking, influenced his name. Known as Don Campbellock, this important figure in hip hop dancing created the dance group The Lockers, and his iconic dance shaped the early West Coast scene.
DJ Grand Wizard Theodore
he story goes that while Theodore was practicing his DJ skills at home, the Bronx, N.Y., native's mother told the 12-year-old to turn the volume down, which caused him to stop the record with his hand, creating an interesting sound that he would develop into scratching. There's been an ongoing controversy between Theodore and his mentor, Grandmaster Flash, about who is the true originator ofscratching.