What do you see when you hear Hip Hop or Rap? Do you see chains, gold teeth and bunch of illegal drugs and money? If so, you might have a very strong misconception of what the Hip - Hop culture is actually about. Often times people incorporate aspects of Hip Hop culture into their lives and they have no clue. Today let's ask more specifically, do you speak Hip Hop?
Vernacular is the native speech or language of such a place. So what's the Vernacular of Hip Hop culture? I walk down my campus nowadays and overhear a lot of conversations with people incorporating the vernacular of Hip Hop into their everyday conversations.
How can you tell? Does everyone nowadays use the terms "Bae" and "Wifey" as terms of endearment? The answer is yes and these words originated from the Hip Hop Vernacular. Way too often people disregard how impactful the Hip Hop culture is to American Culture and by extension the African American community.
So, most of the everyday media have drilled endlessly into our youth that Hip Hop breeds criminals and an overall sickness of corruption and lack of morals permeates from this music. However, look at what rappers do today from a business standpoint. Rappers are now movie stars. Eminem in "8-Mile" and his hilarious Cameo in "the Interview" by Seth Rogen and Ludacris and Tyrese in the very lucrative Fast and Furious franchise. P. Diddy, Jay-Z and Kanye West all have their own clothing lines. When Cadillac wants input on new models of Escalades, they invite Rappers as focus groups. And let's not start with movie soundtracks and the plethora of Hip Hop infused in all of them.
These aren't thugs who got lucky in the music industry, these are very intelligent businessmen who have capitalized on harsh situations and have now spread a beautiful culture across the country. The misconception of Hip Hop and the minority communities by extension are misconstrued heavily.
Hip Hop embodies the struggle of everyday minorities against a conglomerate of industries that oppress and exploit them. Hip Hop is a roar of people who express their lives through their art forms. Last I heard, art isn't limited to just limited to one culture here.
The next time you're in your "Whip". The next time you're "hella" hungry. The next time you ask someone "What's up?" You have become a piece of Hip Hop Culture. Dive deeper into the story of a culture that influences the very way you form words.
