What Is Hip Hop

I would like to expand the traditional definition of hip hop (MCing, graffiti, dance and DJing) to include other areas. For example, in the movie industry, Jails, Hospitals & Hip-Hop and Hip Hop Homos (don’t let the title make you think it's kitsch) contribute to the scene in the form of documentary and film. Spike Lee movies, and just as importantly, his in-your-face commentary on social issues such as the Rodney King beating (police brutality in the USA, surprised it exists even today?) paved the way. Even helping to make Fort Greene, New York, a hood in Brooklyn, a trendy locale for quality NYC living, just over the Brooklyn Bridge. For those people who like living with some flavor and multi-culturalism, at least.

Hoop Dreams (5 years of filming and 7 years of work, documenting the process of going from b-ball to big time, with sacrifices, pressure and losses reviewed) is yet another. If someone can point me to European releases, I would be happy to add them here.

Then there are the films that are already taking hip hop elements to the level of Hollywood romp, and are probably a strong turn-off for most hip hop fans. Films such as Hip-Hop Task Force and, to a lesser extent, Prêt-à-Porter, whose setting is present-day Paris.

By the way, if you yourself are wishing to make a screenplay or movie and are a bit how to do it, or if you wonder whether you should take the night course in downtown instead of snuggling with your kids or whomever, this is one of the most brilliant and concise places for advice: Esther's Screenwriter News. Helpful, insightful and from the heart.

Graffiti During the Holocaust?
So, as hip hop fans mature, enter society and move into various industries, perhaps adding film to the hip-hop bandwagon is no large task.

But, for the traditional areas, there is an issue of finding acceptance. If you have a relative that thinks your music, scratch, tag or spray paint is worthless, email them a story of how even during the holocaust, graffiti gave HOPE.

But I recommend you check out a tool built in Europe, over the past 5 years, and just finding its potential in society today. It enables you to re-mix music and publish it in their web community. Artists can get recognized here and find new markets without being enslaved by their labels. The community will be up-and-running before spring of 2006. They have a preliminary eCard that can give you a taste of things to come, and don’t forget to click on the GIVE ME MORE button. It is a site that will enable, for example, an American song to be posted, edited by someone in Brazil or China and re-posted. A great place for fans to connect, compete and work their own skill. Users can pick up remixes and listen to them as Internet radio or at their own home poker game or chess party. The same version is also in Taiwanese. These are only demos, you need to go to the home page to download full tracks (ranging from a few MBs to 130 MBs), as well as the plug-in for your favourite music software, such as QT or Windows Media Player. It’s the only software I know to have an auto-improv button. So, when I am busy, and like the groove, I just hit that and keep pouring through my writing and design work. Saves me some downtime searching for a new album or folder in my music libraries.

I did some looking around for hip hop imagery to add to my own web pages, and here is what I found. Big ups to another hip hop genre, fontography. Yeah, that’s right, the people who make text, type, symbols and dingbats for PCs, Macs and the Internet. If you want to find a free cool image from graphxedge to flip some pics or web pages, check out their free stuff, like GE Zoom here. Also, at Iconian, in the dingbat section, you will find Daniel Zadorozny’s symbols of downtown Philadelphia, Ninja images and other hip-hop related imagery. On the other side of the Atlantic, in Italy, check out Gabriele Magurno. You can pick up stuff from turntables to bootylicious (what is the noun form of that?), and from keyboards to splotches. My favourite work of his is THEBOMB.TTF. If you use it, make sure you respect his copyright, by giving him the credit that he deserves for contributing to the community.