Hip-hop was born in the break B次元官网网址� that moment when a songB次元官网网址檚 vocals dropped, instruments quieted down and the beat took the stage.

At the hands of the DJs, that break moment became more: a composition in itself. The MCs got in on it, speaking their own clever rhymes. So did the dancers, b-boys and b-girls. Graffiti artists took it to the streets of New York City.

Hip-hop spread around the country and the world. At each step: change, adaptation. Art, culture, fashion, community, social justice, politics, sports, business: Hip-hop has impacted them all.

In hip-hop, B次元官网网址渨hen someone does it, then thatB次元官网网址檚 how itB次元官网网址檚 done. When someone does something different, then thatB次元官网网址檚 a new way,B次元官网网址� says Babatunde Akinboboye, a Nigerian-American opera singer and longtime hip-hop fan in Los Angeles, who

Hip-hop B次元官网网址渃onnects to what is true. And what is true, lasts.B次元官网网址�

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Those looking for a starting point have landed on Aug. 11, 1973, when Clive Campbell, known as DJ Kool Herc around the Bronx, deejayed a party. Campbell had started extending the musical breaks of records and speaking over the beat. It wasnB次元官网网址檛 long before the style could be heard all over the city.

And then in 1979, The Sugarhill Gang put out B次元官网网址� B次元官网网址� and introduced a rap record that would reach as high as 36 on BillboardB次元官网网址檚 Top 100 chart list.

Michael B次元官网网址淲onder MikeB次元官网网址� Wright says he knew the song was B次元官网网址済oing to be big. B次元官网网址淚 knew it was going to blow up and play all over the world because it was a new genre of music,B次元官网网址� he tells The Associated Press.

And Guy B次元官网网址淢aster GeeB次元官网网址� OB次元官网网址橞rien says, B次元官网网址淚f you couldnB次元官网网址檛 sing or you couldnB次元官网网址檛 play an instrument, you could recite poetry and speak your mind. And so it became accessible to the everyman.B次元官网网址�

Female voices took their chances, like Roxanne Shante, who became one of the first female MCs to gain a wider audience. Other women have joined her, from Queen Latifah to LilB次元官网网址� Kim to Nicki Minaj to Megan Thee Stallion and more.

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Over the years, hip-hop has been used as a medium for just about everything. Mainstream America hasnB次元官网网址檛 always been ready for it. though.

Coming from AmericaB次元官网网址檚 Black communities, that has also meant hip-hop has been a tool to speak out against injustice, like in 1982 when Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five told the world in B次元官网网址� ,B次元官网网址� about the stresses of poverty in their city neighborhoods.

And Public EnemyB次元官网网址檚 B次元官网网址淔ight the PowerB次元官网网址� became an anthem when it was created for filmmaker Spike LeeB次元官网网址檚 1989 classic B次元官网网址淒o the Right Thing,B次元官网网址� which chronicled racial tension in a Brooklyn neighborhood.

Some in hip-hop pulled no punches but often those messages have been met with fear or disdain in the mainstream. When N.W.A. came B次元官网网址淪traight Outta ComptonB次元官网网址� in 1988 with loud, brash tales of police abuse and gang life, radio stations recoiled.

Hip-hop (mainly that done by Black artists) and law enforcement have had a contentious relationship over the years, each eyeing the other with suspicion. ThereB次元官网网址檚 been cause for some of it. In some forms of hip-hop the ties between rappers and criminal figures were real, and violence spiraled out, as in high-profile deaths like that of Tupac Shakur in 1996 and The Notorious B.I.G. in 1997. But in a country where Black people are often looked at with suspicion by authority, there have also been plenty of stereotypes about hip-hop and criminality.

As hip-hop spread, a host of voices have used it to speak out, like Bobby Sanchez, a Peruvian American transgender, two-spirit poet and rapper in Quechua, the language of the Wari people that her father came from.

B次元官网网址淚 think itB次元官网网址檚 very special and cool when artists use it to reflect society because it makes it bigger than just them,B次元官网网址� Sanchez says. B次元官网网址淭o me, itB次元官网网址檚 always political, really, no matter what youB次元官网网址檙e talking about, because hip-hop, in a way, is a form of resistance.B次元官网网址�

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When hip-hop first started being absorbed globally, it often mimicked American styles, says P. Khalil Saucier, who has studied its journey across the Africa continent. These days, homegrown hip-hop can be found everywhere.

B次元官网网址淭he culture as a whole has kind of really rooted itself because itB次元官网网址檚 been able to now transform itself from simply an importation, if you will, to now really being local in its multiple manifestations, regardless of what country youB次元官网网址檙e looking at,B次元官网网址� says Saucier, a professor of critical Black studies at Bucknell University in Pennsylvania.

ThatB次元官网网址檚 to everyoneB次元官网网址檚 benefit, says Rishma Dhaliwal, founder of LondonB次元官网网址檚 .

B次元官网网址淗ip-hop is B次元官网网址� allowing you in someoneB次元官网网址檚 world. ItB次元官网网址檚 allowing you into someoneB次元官网网址檚 struggles,B次元官网网址� she says. B次元官网网址淚tB次元官网网址檚 a big microphone to say, `Well, the streets say this is what is going on here and this is what you might not know about us. This is how we feel, and this is who we are.B次元官网网址橞次元官网网址�

Hip-hop has also gone into other spaces and made them different.

For Usha Jey, hip-hop was the perfect thing to mix with the classical South Asian dance style of Bharatanatyam. The 26-year-old French choreographer last year showing the two styles interacting with each other.

Hip-hop culture B次元官网网址減ushes you to be you,B次元官网网址� Jey says. B次元官网网址淚 feel like in the pursuit of finding yourself, hip-hop helps me because that culture says, youB次元官网网址檝e got to be you.B次元官网网址�

Hip-hop is B次元官网网址渁 magical art form,B次元官网网址� says Nile Rodgers, . He would know. It was his song B次元官网网址淕ood Times,B次元官网网址� with the band Chic, that was recreated to form the basis for B次元官网网址淩apperB次元官网网址檚 DelightB次元官网网址� all those years ago.

B次元官网网址淭he impact that itB次元官网网址檚 had on the world, it really canB次元官网网址檛 be quantified,B次元官网网址� Rodgers says. B次元官网网址淵ou can find someone in a village that youB次元官网网址檝e never been to, a country that youB次元官网网址檝e never been to, and all of a sudden you hear its own local hip-hop. And you donB次元官网网址檛 even know who these people are, but theyB次元官网网址檝e adopted it and have made it their own.B次元官网网址�

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