Prove to me you're Hip Hop!

I love Hip Hop! If it wasn't in my life I would not be who I am today, straight up! There are so many great things that come from Hip Hop, and so many reasons to be a part of the kulture. I've made many great friends from Hip Hop, and I've met other great people from taking the unwritten principles that Hip Hop teaches and provides.

What I really don't understand is how "Hip Hop" is this...icon, for something that is somewhat urban. I try not to listen to mainstream stuff, or what counts as "Hip Hop" in the charts, but I'm hearing the craziest of shit - like N'Dubz is Hip Hop. Also this messed up perception that if you are Hip Hop you gotta wear baggy clothes, all the "bling" in the world and walk with some NYC swag. A Geography101 lesson: Gangbangers from the ghettos of NYC wore baggy clothes and had a swag that's unmatchable; go to the Bronx and you will see that - I've not been to the Bronx to see it personally but I have seen it...if you're not from NYC or from a ghetto that resembles this, fuxisu? I know that Hip Hop came from NYC, and from an "urban" environment, but to use "Hip Hop" as loosely as something that seems rugged in mainstream society...that's wack!

I'm not some prodigy, or some sort of master or sifu, but I am a student and I'm always learning about the culture I live. If someone was to ask me to educate them on Hip Hop, I would be able to tell them enough for them to say "You seem to know a lot"...but I don't know enough! Instead, if someone was to ask someone who casually breaks like some mainstream dude that watches ABDC or Britain's Got Talent the same thing, they'd just say "Look I just breakdance I don't know what you're talking about". That's what we gotta iron out of society.

One thing that you definitely begin to appreciate from Hip Hop is how hard these rappers etc work to just get a tiny bit of credit; cause we're a worldwide community in Hip Hop we support each other, therefore we support the underground...or rather those that represent well!

I'm glad I'm exposed to underground artists, MC's and funk bands. I'm happy I'm someone who isn't mainstream and supports those that stay true, than to follow every mainstream act and suddenly front like I know shit after listening to KRS-One. Too many people think they know everything about Hip Hop after listening to some DJ on the radio play LL Cool J or Gangstarr. Hip Hop is not something that you can learn from TV nor is it something that you sit an exam on. If you really think you're Hip Hop you gotta live the kulture and appreciate the elements like everyone else in Hip Hop does!

I'll give you an example:

There's a girl I know - I won't tell you her name, she'll cry - that listened to a DJ in the UK called Jaguar Skills. It was after listening to him that she began to listen to artists like LL Cool J and EPMD, but she also began to front how much she knew about Hip Hop - and also trying to tell people about Tupac's life...basically she memorised a few paragraphs from Wikipedia. As she was influencing other people to listen to the classic era, I was getting confused. She was being seen as someone who "knew their stuff", and starting another fad...with Wu-Tang Clan. I feel sorry for the Wu, being used as a fad by some **** (make up your own derogatory term against the opposite sex).

If I was to walk right upto her and say "Prove to me you're Hip Hop!", she would most likely: list all the artists who she listens to from the Golden Era, say every rapper in some group (eg if she said Mobb Deep it'd be Havoc and Prodigy), and try and give some bio on them...like I need that shit! It's not about how much info you know about each artist - or knowing how many shits they take a day on average - it can't be explained, it has to be felt.

You can try your best to describe Hip Hop but the clarification and the verification comes from experiencing it all, feeling the kulture, feeling you're a part of something beautiful.

If you break, you're Hip Hop. If you DJ (in the true sense of the meaning), you're Hip Hop. If you write, you're Hip Hop. If you MC, you're Hip Hop.

If you beatbox, you are appreciated and respected in Hip Hop. If you do popping or locking, you are appreciated and respected in Hip Hop.

Also, there are some dance crews in Glasgow that front like they're "Hip Hop" when they do Street - a commercially grown dance that has no real foundation or roots...in fact it was originally called "Umbrella Popping" and was first started by Mr Wiggles...someone that is appreciated to the fullest in Hip Hop! If you do street you are not a Hip Hop crew. I'm glad to be a part of a family that represents Hip Hop, maybe that is why the Flyin' Jalapenos is a known name to those that are a part of the kulture.

You can say all the things underneath the sun to me to try and persuade me you're Hip Hop, but the only way you will prove to me you're Hip Hop is when you start living Hip Hop.

*Signing Out*