What Is...Hip-hop?

As children, we come into the world so innocent. We don't really understand what or why anything is happening around us but that it just is. We just live in the moment of what's happening. Growing up in the 80s, hip-hop was growing up with me.

At 3 years old, I had no idea what hip-hop was. I had no idea what break-dancing was but I knew one thing, it was cool (or tight...or fresh, yeah, that's it, fresh!) I remember being so young and watching my baby-sitter's grandkids break-dancing, having fun. I wanted to do all that too! Eventually, I was dancing non-stop at my aunt's wedding, Breakin' was my favorite movie ever, and I was a b-boy for Halloween when I was in kindergarten. That's right, I was decked out in my black tracksuit with an orange stripe across my chest. It was all fun. And that's what hip-hop was all about back in the day. The deejay's spinning, the emcee's spitting, the b-boys and girls breaking, the graffiti artists spraying.

There's still that aspect of fun in hip-hop today, but our society as a whole has changed. Hip-hop has survived and changed with it. Some say its commercialization has hurt hip-hop but as it survived and lived on, it was certainly a natural step.

Hip-hop is a culture. It is more than just music or style or even the bling. It is a way of life, a lifestyle, a state-of-mind. I look back and think, I definitely was a part of the start of hip-hop, even though I had no clue what it was. In some way, Hip-hop has shaped my likes and dislikes, how I think and certainly my style.