Edward Holbrook

AFRS 2107-001

Global Hip-Hop

Worldwide Hip-Hop
Hip-Hop was started during the 1970s in New York City, more specially the Bronx. The Hip-Hop culture consists of five basic elements: DJing, Rapping, Graffiti, Break dancing and Beat boxing. After was started, it quickly spread throughout the United States and eventually the entire world. The impact that it had on everyones lives was tremendous. From fashion to slang, people began to take on the ideas followed within the Hip-Hop community. Over the past decades, Hip-Hop has become increasingly global. In China, Hip Hop music is new to the culture. In Beijing, rap music became popular around 2000. Break dancing or B-boying had a huge influence on the Chinese culture. The influences came from movies such as Breakin and Wild Style. The first Chinese rap was recorded by an artist by the name of Harlem Yu during the early 1980s in Taiwan. He was also the first one to experience with R&B music in Chinese

Another popular Chinese artist is Jin. Jin, origin of Hong Kong, gained notoriety when he appeared on the network BET. Jin graduated college in 2000. He began freestyling and selling mixtapes to gain popularity. His stardom came when he appeared on 106 & Park. The show had a segment know as Freestyle Friday where two rappers would freestyle battle each other. One of his most notable lines was You wanna say Im Chinese son, heres a reminder. Check your Tims, they probably say made in China. Jin eventually won seven weeks in a row and went on to become a Freestyle Friday hall of famer. That same night of his Hall of Fame induction, he announced that he had signed a deal with the Ruff Ryders. Jin was signed with Ruff Ryders from 2002-2005. On July 2008 he signed to Universal Music Group Hong Kong. Another country that has begun to get influenced by the Hip-Hop culture is Australia. Australian hip hop, also known as Aussie hip hop, started in the early 1980s. Aussie hip hop was influenced by radio and television from the United States of America but during the 1990s, the country developed its own distinctive style of music. Aussie hip hop has had very few commercial hits. This could be because most of the albums and singles are released by independent record labels. In some of these cases, the labels are run by the artist themselves.

Over the past few years, an Aussie producer by the name of M-Phazes started to gain a lot of popularity. I found out about him during the 2008 One Stop Shop Producers Conference hosted by Sha Money XL. He participated and won a beat battle at the conference. He received a great response from the crowd and also got good reviews from well-known people in the music industry. M-Phazes has now worked with known artists Amerie, Lloyd Banks, and Pharoahe Monch. Hip-Hop continues to grow on a daily basis. Hip-Hop is one of the most influential genres of music throughout the world. But Hip-Hop is more than just music its a culture. From rapping to beat boxing, from fashion to slang, the impact of Hip-Hop can be seen across the globe.