Hip Hop - My MicroCulture

The ridicullusness of it all. The flamboyant clothes, speech, and attitudes, dynamically moving to some funky drums and heavy bass. Each person uniquely themselves, standing alone from the pack. Yet, each person is a part of the whole, a part of the unique microcosom of hip hop.

To be a hip hop head, is, what is wanted.

The obsessive, borderline compulsive behavior, that drives many to listen to records on end, spit rhymes all day, knock on lunch tables till their hands bleed, and debate about the greatest rhyme, record, artist, and/or golden era - is what hip hop heads do.

Some wear baggy clothes. Some wear flashy clothes. Some wear tight clothes - And some just mix it up. To a hip hop head there is no set uniform - though many claim there is. There is no certain demographic that is more "ill disposed" to being a hip hop head - but like most things, "it doesn't hurt to get em young". And don't let public opinion fool you - superficial raps are not what hip hop heads are about.

True hip hop heads, the die hards, are intellectuals.

Studying hip hop like a law student studies the BAR; reading dictionaries for the fun of it; doing as deep of research as our average Einstein; philosophizing with the best of 'em, and politicizing with the rest of 'em ... but they are few and far between, it seems.

Our average hip hop head simply lives hip hop. His favorite artist(s) represent who he is, what he's experienced, and what he wishes to experience. She is soothed by the kicks and snares, entangled by the melodies, but captivated by the lyrics.

Every move taken, every word spoken, and every thought created, is hip hop.

They surround themselves with hip hop: in their art, on their clothes, on their computers, phones, emails, and screen names. Even the globe can be divided into generalized, geographical hip hop regions...

But if its hip hop, its hip hop. Period.

Like life, hip hop can be fun and lighthearted, but it can also be rugged and shocking. It can be ignorant, and it can be intelligent. It can be weaved so gracefully through metaphors that even a poet's poet would applaud, or be so direct that even Richard Prior himself, would have to say "that took some balls kid"...

But all in all, hip hop at its pinnacle, moves people.

At the lowest vibrations, the foundation of hip hop, the purely physical, the body cannot help but move to the head-knocking, neck-breaking, face-smacking drums; but in the higher realms of hip hop, like all great music, it not only mentally moves you, but spiritually moves you.

The frequencies vibrate so deep within a hip hop head's soul that it wakes the funky drummer within, to flow perfectly to a slightly off-kiltered drum pattern and create something timeless ...

Reminding us that we should all, never "fake the funk", and be authentic to our true (hip hop) selves ... because when its all said and done, we all got our own little funky drummer inside trying to break out.

Peace.
Love.

✌💖

*Originally, written as a fB note on July 15, 2012 at 3:34pm .... no one read it there hahah
** Though hip hop has changed a lot since this was written, i still feel it holds stronger than ever.