Hip-Hop Has Saved Me

Electric Relaxation

Its like looking into a beautiful, free flowing river

The sounds mix together to form recurring waves of relaxation

The words, like the glittering pebbles at the rivers floor, sparkle against the sunlight

And combine with the waves to form a stream of pure, genuine magnificence

It’s called a song

You want to jump in headfirst

It’s such an inviting atmosphere

The hardships of life burn down on you like the sweltering heat of the sun

The stories within these songs are so much like your own

You just want to cool off

You surrender to it

The music, like the free flowing river, takes you away

You’re floating within the purity, later submerging into the honesty

It consumes you, making its way into your heart and soul

You’re at peace.

Many people find refuge within music. I personally think of music as a necessity to life. I can’t go anywhere without my iPod and headphones. To me, music is a lot more than a simple form of entertainment; it’s a culture, a way of life. One genre of music in particular that seems to have had a great influence on society (and my personal favorite) is hip-hop.

A Brief History of Hip-Hop

The origin of hip-hop music is from African American and West African music. Contributions of griots like The Last Poets, Jalal Mansur Nurriddin, and Gil Scott-Heron were significant in a big way for the dawn of hip-hop in the 1960s.

In 1975 in the Bronx of New York, Clive "Hercules" Campbell, or "Kool Herc", a Jamaican DJ, started making music with two turntables out of “breakbeats” which was basically separating the percussion breaks from hit songs. They started realizing that these breaks were more entertaining and the favorite part of the song for most dancers. Meanwhile, Theodore "Grand Wizard" Livingstone was accidentally discovering the "scratching" sound of a turntable. The technical foundations of rap and hip-hop music were laid by those two more or less random events.

Just to clear the air, Rap is a form of music that stemmed from hip-hop culture. Hip-hop is a lifestyle with its own lingo, dress code, etc. Many people often confuse both terms thinking that they are the same, but they have separate meanings. In the words of KRS-One, "hip-hop is something you live, rap is something you do."

Hip-hop as a musical melting pot is still evolving. It has beco

me more eclectic, borrowing from soul, jazz and live instrumentations with the likes of De La Soul, A Tribe Called Quest, and most recently Kanye West championing the ‘soulful rap’ movement.

Kick, Push

One aspect of hip-hop culture that is often overlooked is skateboarding. Expression, creativity, rebellion it’s all hip-hop as well as skateboarding culture. Hip-hop began well before skateboarding did as a sport, but they both blew up at the same time. Growing up together, many of their attributes intertwine and feed off of each other. You’d see those partaking within the hip-hop world fashion-wise, wear similar things to skateboarders these days. Many hip-hop artists such as Pharrell and Lupe Fiasco, are known as Skate Fashion Icons. Lupe Fiasco even recorded a song solely about skateboarding called “Kick, Push”, check out the music video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gl83mI69nX4

Skateboarding IS Hip-Hop

Hip-hop has been, and continues to be, one of the most influential genres in music. In my case, hip-hop is my medicine. It is my Electric Relaxation. I titled my poem Electric Relaxation alluding to the song by A Tribe Called Quest (one of the most significant hip-hop groups of all time) it is one of my personal favorites. Just like I find a cure in hip-hop, many find it within their own favorite genre, or music in general. Whichever it may be, music can never be given enough credit.