Although the birth of hip-hop was in the Bronx, New York, this culture has spread from local urban communities to other countries and regions. Hip-hop represents a large group of people from all parts of the world because many individuals have adopted it as a lifestyle. Since this lifestyle has been practiced by people of different ethnicities and races, it is safe to say that these people may have incorporated their own culture into it to create something new that defines them and them only. Hip-hop is a language that each individual around the world can speak and also recognize, despite the various versions of it. Therefore, there are plenty examples of hip-hop in Latin America, Africa, Australia, and the Caribbean.
For Brazilians, hip-hop has become an “alternative for education since their educational system is very poor.” They use hip-hop as a means of teaching students about relevant topics that are constantly discussed in the world, like social issues and politics. Hip-hop provides the youth with an outlet to express their minds individually and engage in conversations based on elements of the music. Brazilian rap has also formed within the urban neighborhoods of Brazil, and its aim is to stray away from the profanity that is often heard in hip-hop lyrics in the United States. Brazilian rappers believe that hip-hop should be “educational and create positivity within a community instead of bragging about wealth and exploiting women as sexual objects.”
An example of hip-hop in Africa is tagging, also known as graffiti. Since the beginning of time, Africans have always drawn on walls by painting symbols and animals. This act of painting on the walls still continues throughout all of Africa. There, graffiti is embedded in life in the form of "beautifully painted shop fronts, alternative methods of political campaigning and striking murals." Street art is actively being used in the communities of Gambia and Cape Town, South Africa. Murals can also been seen by travelers in Morocco. Street art has been spreading like wildfire in Africa because it allows people to represent not only themselves but also their culture. A mural that represents a culture can help foreigners understand it and grasp people's concept of life through the images that the artists wanted to portray.
In Australia, there is a school called United DJ Mixing School. The school’s purpose is to unite all DJs in Australia and provide them with the education to perfect their craft. United DJ Mixing School is “known as one of the most innovative and prolific school in this industry both abroad and in Australia.” This school was designed to help up-and-coming DJs in Australia and to connect people who shared the same dream. The instructors developed a curriculum for the students to give them the best education possible in this field and to expose them to people who were already established in this profession, such as Jam Master Jay and DJ Kool Herc.
An example of Hip-Hop in the Caribbean, specifically Jamaica, is dub music. Dub music has become “a hallmark of the hip hop style.” This has been said repeatedly because of the sampling that most artists do in the United States. In the U.S., artists tend to sample another artist’s music or beat to create a new song or style of music. Dub music consists of mixing and/or remixing existing recordings and reshaping them to emphasize the bass or drum sound in the track. Although people were not fond of this sound at first, many have grown to use it and enjoy it.
Hip-hop has become a global phenomenon due to the influence it has had on millions of people around the world. Its five elements -- MCing, b-boying/b-girling, DJing, tagging (graffiti), and knowledge -- allow people to express themselves and engage with others creatively. In this process of creativity, people from different cultures and backgrounds implement these elements to produce new forms of art, music, and dance. These new forms of art, music, and dance illustrate how countries in Latin America, Africa, Australia, and the Caribbean adopt hip-hop as a lifestyle and transform it into a medium that reflects their country and its people.
