The Four Elements

This is like hip-hop 101 guys, so listen up if you don't know this stuff already. If you do know it already read this anyway cause I'm gonna put funny pictures and what.
Oh, this is one of them educational-type blog entries, so just walk away now if you're not about that. I made fun of eminem yesterday, that's one that you might like.

So, anyway, hip-hop is not just a type of music. This is something I've been trying to communicate here, it's a full cultural movement. This movement, both in it's roots and throughout it's history has been divided up into 4 elements. It's about inclusion, if you can't rap than you're still in the movement. Get it? These elements are

MCing (or Rappin')
This is the one you already know. Dope skills on the mic, etc. Rappin' emerged from the back and forth style of insulting called "playing the dozens" practiced by urban youth. Call and response hip-hop still exists today, if you look really hard.

DJing (or Scratchin')
Can you believe the DJ used to be just as important as the MC back for about a week in 1985? Unbelievable but true. There was a great amount of resentment about the MC's rise to popularity, prominence, and pwealth while the DJs stayed kind of behind the scenes toiling thanklessly. Thankfully these issues became unimportant once hip-hop died (in 1987 for the first time, and every year after that).

Break Dancing (or Breakin') (if it doesn't have the capacity to have an apostrophe instead of the last letter it's not a real ELEMENT, important knowledge)
This is generally what kids with no artistic talent did when they wanted to be in what we can collectively begin to refer to as 'the movement'. This is the least important one.

Grafitti (or Tagin')
Just kidding, this is the least important one. I mean, come on, they're just ruining property, right?
You'll notice that besides rapping many of these things have achieved only minor public recognition. Some people decry this as the bulldozing of a lot of important culture. Nonsense, I say. Because commerical Rap, as distinct from Hip-Hop, has it's own 4 elements that I certainly am not just making up now.

Rap (similar to Rappin')
Having evolved directly from Rappin', you might think that these two elements are pretty similar. Actually, you couldn't be more wrong, you fool. The largest difference is the focus on the chorus, marketability, and thug posturing rather than any of the things you normally might think are important.

Producing (similar to Scratchin')
Basically the producer does the same job as the DJ, but gets paid a lot more and makes the song sound much better. A good producer can turn Eminem into a success, or Kanye into a rapper. The other difference is that producers make millions of dollars. In their free time they hunt down the few remaining DJs for sport, just to add insult to injury.

Music Videos (similar to Breakin')
Just look how much better than breakdancing this music video is. It's easy to see why the transition occured.

Merchandising (similar to Tagin')

Also defined as putting grafitti on a hat and convincing someone with no money to pay 20 dollars for it. Mainly these hats end up in the hands of lame white people however, so their success is arguable.

I hope we learned a lot today. Actually, I only care about you learning one thing- that Hip-hop is different than mainstream Rap. Maybe I'll talk more about this some other time.

Enjoy you're knowledge, I'm going off to celebrate rap-easter, when hip-hop rises from the dead for 3 days before being shot by Suge Knight.
Happy rap-easter everyone!