Along with the Music of Hip Hop there are a lot of other things that belong to this subculture including Tattoos, the rap beef’s that go on between Artists, and the clothing they wear. For my final research entry, I am going to talk about these four elements of the Hip Hop/Rap Subculture:
Tattoos:
In today’s music world there are many artists from many genres that have tattoos. But the genre that seems to have the most artists with tattoos is Hip Hop/Rap, with many artists having many different tattoos all up and down there arms. This has become a part of who Hip Hop/Rap Artists are. A culture has also developed with many people choosing to have tattoos of their favourite artist put onto themselves. This is because of how the Hip Hop/ Rap Artists are portrayed in their videos with big gold chains, pimped out hummers, and hot babes wearing bikinis hanging off each arm. This is what we see 24/7- the rich player living the good life in Hip Hop/Rap Videos. And it is not just one tattoo that the Hip Hop/Rap artists have - it is quite a few. But this has become a big thing in the subculture of Hip Hop/Rap and not only Hip Hop/Rap but in today’s world as a different fashion accessory like : Hats, Ear rings, and different hair cuts. Tattoo’s have come into the main stream in the last couple of years and this has also transformed the music world. I would go as far as to say that Hip Hop/Rap Artists are using Tattoo’s like record sales to see who can have the best Tattoo. They are trying to out do each other with the number of them and the creativeness of the Tattoo’s on their bodies. Here are some pictures of Hip Hop/Rap Artists Tattoo’s
Beef’s Between Hip Hop/Rap Artists:
This is also a big part of Hip Hop and it is also a big part of record sales too. The fans that love these artists believe in not liking the Artists that their favourite Hip Hop/Rap Artists have a beef (Fight) With ie: Both Artists are putting each other down. The most famous Beef in Hip Hop/Rap History would have to be between 2Pac and Biggie in the early 90's. This was known as the East Coast Vs West Coast Rap War. This was the Artists' two different record labels dissing each other in a way to sell more records. As their side was the better side,these two artists who where once good friends got dragged into the Beef. This resulted in the deaths of 2Pac and Biggie Smalls. Both were very talented artists and had a long way to go in the world of Rap. Even after this there are still many Beef’s going on today between artists. While looking on the internet I stumbled over a web site that had related Blogs on Hip Hop/Rap Beefs. This site talks all about Rap beef’s and how it was in the Hip Hop/Rap culture from day One. It also talks about how these beefs between Rapper start through their lyrics but can turn into something much worse out side the studio and become actual vilonce on the streets ending in deaths of people like 2Pac and Biggie’s Deaths. Though in today’s Hip Hop/Rap World they are trying to solve disputes as men and not let them get out of hand like the East Coast Vs West Coast one did. There are still many going on in today’s Hip Hop/Rap Scene. Here are a list of a few
50 Cent Vs Fat Joe
Ja Rule Vs Eminem and 50 Cent
DMX Vs Ja Rule
Eminem Vs Everlast & Dilated Peoples
These are just some of the Beef going on in Hip Hop/Rap
Clothing: Last but not least is the clothing of the Hip Hop/Rap Culture. It seems in this subculture it is the bigger the better and that goes for your clothes as well. The clothes seen most worn in the Hip Hop/Rap subculture are: Baggie pants, Hats Backwards, NFL football Jerseys, and big chains around the neck. The fashion of Hip Hop was seen early in 1990’s where kids would wear the baggie pant’s and the big (NFL) football jerseys. It was a statement of who they were wearing these clothes. As it came from Hip Hop/Rap, it is in the Dance culture as well. It is in all the dance movies like "Step Up", "Honey" and "U Got Served", and this is because dance is a big part of their subculture. Go out on a Friday, Saturday or Sunday night to a club and many clubs would have a DJ playing Hip Hop/Rap/R&B Songs to a big crowd all dancing. There have also been clubs that hold dance battles just like B Boys and B girls used to do. This style of clothing is a big part of Hip Hop /Rap and has spread a cross its fan base from 12yrs old to 20yrs old alike.
All of these elements of the subculture play a very important role within the culture itself and are followed by artists and fans all over the world.
References:
http://ezinearticles.com/?Rap-Tattoo:--The-Tattoos-of-Rap-Artists-and-Rap-Stars!--This-is-a-Huge-Trend!&id=41208
http://www.hiphopgalaxy.com/rap-beef-hip-hop-2092.html
Waters Rosa "Hip Hop: A Short History Pennsylvania" : Mason Crest ,2007
No comments:
Post a Comment