What a great experience...Intro to Hip-Hop Studies!

I wanted to say that taking Intro to Hip-Hop studies was a great experience. Hip-hop is not all about rapping which is what I thought before I took this course. Graffiti, emceeing, d-jing, break dancing and knowledge all falls under the umbrella of Hip-Hop. I got to learn about the history of graffiti and b-boying. I also had the opportunity to meet a French rapper who Professor Dru bought to introduce to our class. It's amazing how people can relate to hip-hop from all around the world and through different languages. It was an interesting course because we broke down lyrics in class which is something I have never done. I also learned alot from Professor Dru as much as I did from my classmates. Thanks for an unforgettable experience!!

Graffiti as an element of hip-hop

Graffiti is one of the four main elements of hip hop culture along with emceeing, djing and break dancing. The relationship between graffiti and hip hop culture arises both from early graffiti artists practicing other aspects of hip-hop, and it's being practiced in areas where other elements of hip-hop were evolving as art forms. In America around the late 1960's, graffiti was used as a form of expression by political activists, and also by gangs such as the Savage Skulls, La Familia, and Savage Nomads to mark territory. Towards the end of the 1960's, the signatures-tags of Philadelphia graffiti writers Cornbread, Cool Earl and Topcat 126 started to appear. Cornbread is often cited as one of the earliest writer of modern graffiti. Around 1970-71, the centre of graffiti innovation moved to New York City where writers following in the wake of Taki 183 and Tracy 168 would add their street number to their nickname, "bomb" a train with their work. Bubble lettering held sway initially among writers from the Bronx, though the elaborate writing tracy 168 dubbed "wildstyle" would come to define the art.

Lebanese Hip-Hop

Lebanese hip hop has had a huge impact on Lebanese youth and they were the first to be effected by hip hip culture. Also considered Lebanese hip hip is the output of palestinians living in refugee camps in Lebanon and they add to the Lebanese hip-hop culture. "AKS'SER", an Arabic hip-hop group from Lebanon, was formed by two Beirut based rappers whose music is a discourse about a society marked by civil war. The act is currently signed with EMI, Rayess Bek, one of the AKS'SER members, has gone on with a solo career, releasing a widley acclaimed album. Another solo Lebanese rap artist by the name of 'Ramez" signed to an independent producer reaches the highest rap sales at Virgin Megastores in 2007 and became the first Lebanese rapper to hit the top charts on NRJ with the Lebanese rap song "Leich Heik Balade" (Why is my country this way). Later on he aired in 2008 on "Lebanon's number one" radio one with "Is it too much asking" a controversial song and video calling for Peace widely viewed on Youtube throughout the world. In 2009 Ramez creates his own company RAMEZ Productions (RAP) and continues to promote Lebanon in a positive way for after 10 years of international work on radio. He said "I have a voice through rap and it's different for my people but through rap I stand by what I say". This made me think about how b-boys talk about expressing their selves through dance. Ramez is expressing his self through rap!

Arabic Hip-Hop

Arabic hip-hop is hip-hop music and culture originating in the Arabic speaking world. It is performed in Arabic and different dialects of Arabic. Also considered part of Arabic hip-hop are emcees of Arabic orgin in the Arab diaspora including Europe, North America and Australia. These emcees are at times well-renowed beyond Arab audiences and are often successful international hip hop acts. Arab hip hop is played on radio stations and shown on TV programs, but live performances only began in the 1990's. Many hip hop groups are still underground because their political views could lead to government censure. Therefore, the internet has been a major outlet for most groups. In the past, it was rare to hear Arabic hip-hop and rap in Egypt. The pioneering Egyptian rap crew was "MTM" formed in 1999 the first rap group to actually rap in Arabic. Egyptian rap has more recently become more heavily promoted in Egypt and the Middle East. Egyptian underground rap is now growing rapidly, due to the feeling of injustice that mainly affects youths in the country.

History of Hip-Hop dance in Japan

In Japanese Hip-Hop, dancing has been the center of the main culture, other than rapping, graffiti and Djing. This is because dancing has a visual impact so everyone can understand, when it comes to dance there is not a language barrier.
Before Hip-Hop was introduced to Japan there was soul dancing, the heart of a revolution of ongoing dance. Soul dancing was introduced to Japan through such shows as "Soul Trian" in the 1970's. I would say this soul dancing played a role as foundation that enabled Japanese people to learn and accept black or street dance culture. Hip-hop dance culture in Japan started after the movie "Flashdance" appeared to the public in summer of 1983 through some people had already known about it and started doing it before. Although the movie was not about breaking (or b-boying), few kids doing electric boogie and breaking on the street caught many Japanese people's attention. After Flashdance, many other movies followed such as "Wild Style", "Beat Street",and "Breakin 2". Rock Steady Crew came to Japan in 1983 and Boogal Shrimp A.K.A Turbo from the movie "Breakin" came to Japan and planted the seeds of hip-hop dancing in Japan.

I Love Hip-Hop in Morocco

H-Kayne made history in 2005 by becoming the first Morccan rap group to be signed to a major label, Platinum Records (an affiliate of Universal Music Group). The group's founding memebers hail from the city of Meknes and began performing together over ten years ago. In 2000, they were joined by DJ Khalid (a semifinalist at the 2000 DMC world DJ competition) and released their hugely popular debut album, #4 Son de bled Art, which they distributed themselves and followed up with performances all over Morocco. In 2006, they released their much anticipated second album, " HK 1426" and toured throughout Europe and the Middle East. They are currently working on their third album and touring France and the Netherlands.
Our story begins with a group of Moroccan Hip-Hop artists who share a single dream: to rock a professional concert for a hometown crowd. Unfortunately, resistance is strong in their society and resorces scare. With the help of the American Embassy for funding and begin the journey that will lead to the "i lovev Hip-Hop in Morrocco festival." This film reflects the thoughts and dreams of the future of the Arab world: it's youth. These are not the images portrayed by the media; these are the real people of Moroccan Hip-Hop!