Evolution of Hip Hop
Published on Nov 18, 2015
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Hip hop is a very well known style of dance. Or so you might think. Hip hop is actually one of the most "unknown" dance styles out there. No one really knows what hip hop was before the popping, locking and twerking. Well that is about to change because we bring to you, The past and Present of Hip Hop.
Photo by tuli nishimura
Hip hop as music and culture formed during the 1970s when block parties became increasingly popular in New York City, especially among African American youth living in the Bronx. Compared to many other dance forms, hip hop has a relatively short history. The beginnings of this dance form date back to the 1960s and 70s. During this time, people without professional dance training but with a natural instinct for movement, brought dancing to the streets. A dance form meant to be popular in the original sense of the word, meaning that it was for the people and not for the academy, hip hop moves were inspired by complex rhythms and the down-to-earth movement style of African dancing.
Photo by David Gallard (Mr Guep)
The roots of hip hop on the East Coast are widely known, but there is also a West Coast hip hop history from which many of the most well-known hip hop moves originated. "At the dawn of the hip-hop era, all rap was East Coast rap." Early artists of the form, including DJ Kool Herc, Grandmaster Flash, Afrika Bambaataa, the Sugarhill Gang, Kurtis Blow, Jam Master Jay, and Run-D.M.C., started East Coast hip hop during hip hop's development.
Photo by Gil Laury
West Coast: Some think that the five elements of hip-hop culture, which include B-boying, beatboxing, DJing, graffiti art, and MCing, existed on the East and West Coasts of the United States during the mid-seventies. By the mid 1970s, the hippie look had completely left, although casual looks continued. In the mid 1970s women wore sweaters, cardigans, kimonos, graphic t-shirts and sweaters, jeans, khakis, gauchos, workmen's clothes, and vintage clothing.
Photo by harshxpatel
Fashion:
By the mid 1970s, the hippie look had completely left, although casual looks continued. In the mid 1970s women wore sweaters, cardigans, kimonos, graphic t-shirts and sweaters, jeans, khakis, gauchos, workmen's clothes, and vintage clothing. Extra baggy clothes, jerseys, and some bling. In the early 1990s, pop rappers such as The Fresh Prince, Kid 'n Play, and Left Eye of TLC made baseball caps and bright, often neon-colored, clothing popular. Late R&B singer Aaliyah created a fashion trend among women. Wearing over-sized pants and big flannel shirts, they would couple the over-sized clothing with a tight shirt.
Photo by marcusuke
Hip hop is a very well-known genre and popular among today’s youth. Hip hop is a product of cross-cultural integration, as rap is deeply rooted within ancient African culture and oral tradition. Hip hop began to evolve very slowly at first, but towards the end, there was a lot of development in hip hop dance. Towards the 20th century, hip hop dancers began to experiment new dance styles, and break dancing began to evolve.
Photo by David Gallard (Mr Guep)
Break dancing evolved in the streets in around the late 1980s. Hip hop just started out as a few shifty dance moves, a few floats and slides, and has evolved into what may be the most popular dance form among teens today. First, decades before hip-hop would become popular, Earl Tucker created a new type of dance move. He used floats and slides to invent new dance moves, and these dances were the inspiration behind breakdancing. Breakdancing started out as only toprock and footwork-oriented dance moves performed while standing up. Toprock is is usually the opening to a breakdancer’s performance before transitioning into other dance moves.
Photo by David Gallard (Mr Guep)
A different dance style that influenced breakdancing is uprock, which is also called rocking. The uprock dance style was inspired in gangs. Although it looks similar to toprock, uprock is danced with a partner and is more aggressive, which involves fancy footwork, shuffles, hitting motions, and movements that mimic fighting. When there was “turf wars” between two gangs in the late 1990s, the two leaders of the gangs would uprock-dance-battle each other, and whoever won this dance battle decided where the real fight would be. Because uprock's purpose was to moderate gang violence, it never crossed over into mainstream breakdancing as seen today. However, uprock dance moves have become less and less popular among gangs, which is an example of the evolution of breakdancing.
Photo by sergiodenheijer
Another form of evolution in hip hop dance was the cultural boundaries. Hip hop dance was mainly invented by a Jamaican DJ, and was then to become popular first with African-Americans. Then many Latin American dancers started to discover it, and then it lead to many people on the street. After the uprise of hip hop dances, many different cultures began to evolve it into their dance style, which lead to different hip hop styles of dance, such as the Capoeira (a martial-arts type of dance which has a style similar to hip hop), and the whole evolution of hip hop dance.
Photo by Leon Fishman
Before, hip hop gained momentum in the 19th century, many people on the street would resort to begging or singing to try their luck at getting spare change. However, once hip hop became popular, a lot of street dancers started to practise hip hop and inspired other people living on the streets to do so as well. Many of the people who were inspired by the hip hop street dancers started to learn hip hop dance, but then took their own spin on it, such as adding famous hip hop dance moves such as the “Crazy Legs”.
Photo by gilmorec
Back in the 20th century, many popular hip hop dance moves were “The Charlie Brown” and the “Stanky Leg”. However, some dance moves started to change and now many different new ones are the most popular hip hop dance moves, such as popping and locking, or the Moonwalk. This shows change in the hip hop world because hip hop dance moves evolve with the trends and changes or the “YMCA” dance moves.
Photo by El Chico Iwana
In all, hip hop has evolved a lot through the 19th century, all the way to present day. It has gained popularity, and changed through various different styles. Many new moves are “all the rage” which helped evolve the style of dance by itself. A lot of new dance style emerged from hip hop, like small veins connecting to the larger one. It is clear how much hip hop has evolved up until today. How will it evolve in the future? I guess we will just have to wait and see!
Photo by Leon Fishman
