Kultura
Culture
Gimme the beat, Gimme the mic Get your old ghetto blaster tape deck from the closet, pump up the volume, don a tracksuit, slip on your Adidas, head outside to the street and – breakdance! T he previous year was marked by various mu- sical phenomena. However, here we’ll stick to the one that means the most to me per- sonally: to the phenomenon according to which hip-hop culture has been part of our lives for half a century. This movement that originat- ed in the poorer neighbourhoods of New York, a gen- re of music that was defined by the skills of disc jockeys and shaped by the words of rappers, has survived and thrived despite being protested, repressed and shunned. Once hip-hop entered the mainstream, in the early ‘80s, it was clear that it was here to stay. And here it remains, for fifty years already. Its emergence is something that we mostly associ- ate with rebellion, so the first bands to cross the mind are the likes of Public Enemy, Run-DMC or the Wu-Tang Clan. That rebellious streak has somehow gradually shift- ed to the backburner. The segment that “really says some- thing” became less interesting to the music industry’s big structures, so that which we today categorise as hip- hop would probably seriously disturb the eternal peace of departed greats like 2Pac, the Notorious B.I.G., Ol’ Dirty Bastard et al. Interestingly, hip-hop not only has a precise place of birth, but also an address where it was born – 1520 Sedgwick Avenue, Bronx, New York. It was there, on 11 th August, 1973, that DJ Kool Herc first discovered that which would go on to become one of the foundations of hip-hop: in an attempt to extract the rhythm “breaks” of popular funk and soul records, he began performing with two turntables, extending these parts for an audi- ence that was eager to dance. By the early 2000s, popular music had become more or less dominated by hip-hop, while rap had reached a level of cultural influence that had seemed unimagina- ble just two decades prior, with artists like Eminem and 50 Cent. Some of the leading figures in the genre have even transcended their roles and become firmly rooted in culture generally. That’s how Jay-Z, for example, became as much a brand and a businessman as he is a rapper...
Daj mi bit, daj mi majk
G odinu koja je za nama okarakterisali su razni muzički fenomeni. Međutim, ovde ćemo se zadržati na onom koji je meni lično najznačajniji – na fenomenu koji kaže da je hip-hop kultura već pola ve- ka prisutna u našim životima. Pokret koji je nastao u siromašnim delovima Njujorka, muzika čije su okvi- re svojim veštinama definisali disk-džokeji, a rečima uobličili reperi, opstala je nasuprot osporavanju, re- presiji i ignorisanju. Jednom kada je hip-hop ušao u mejnstrim početkom osamdesetih godina, bilo je jasno da će tu i ostati. I tu je, već pedeset godina. Njegovu pojavu mahom vezujemo za bunt, pa će nam prvo na pamet pasti bendovi poput „Public Enemy“, „Run-DMC“ ili „Wu-Tang Clan“. Ta bun- tovnička strana je vremenom nekako ipak ostala po strani. Segment koji „ima šta da kaže“ postao je manje interesantan velikim strukturama muzič- ke industrije, pa ono što danas svrstavamo u hip- hop verovatno ozbiljno narušava večni mir veliči- na kao što su „2Pac“, „Notorious B.I.G“, „Ol’ Dirty Bastard“... Inače, hip-hop nema samo precizno određeno mesto rođenja već čak i adresu na kojoj je nastao – 1520 Sedžvik avenija, Bronks, Njujork. Tamo je 11. avgusta 1973. „DJ Kool Herc“ prvi put poka- zao ono što će postati jedan od temelja hip-hopa – u pokušaju da izvuče ritmične brejkove u popu- larnim fank i soul pločama, počeo je da nastupa sa dva gramofona, produžavajući trajanje ovih deoni- ca za publiku željnu đuskanja. Do ranih 2000-ih popularnom muzikom ma- nje-više dominirao je hip-hop, a rep je dosegao ste- pen kulturnog uticaja koji se samo dve decenije ranije činio nezamislivim, s umetnicima poput Eminema i Fifti Senta. Neke od vodećih figura žanra nadmašile su svoje uloge i čvrsto se usidrile u kulturu u najši- rem smislu. Tako je Džej Zi, recimo, postao brend i biznismen, isto koliko i reper... Ali hajde da se preselimo i iz Amerike stigne- mo na ove naše prostore. Od „Master Scratch Ban- da“ preko „Budweisera“, „Discipline kičme“ i Ramba Amadeusa, hip-hop kultura i rep izraz su pronalazili načine da se kroz lokalni sadržaj predstavi ono što je na Zapadu već bio deo muzičkog establišmenta. Izvucite iz ormara stari geto blaster kasetaš, pojačajte zvuk, obucite trenerku, navucite adidaske, izađite na ulicu i – brejkujte!
years of hip-hop godina hip-hopa
Tekst / Words: Uroš Milovanović Fotografije / Photography: Pavle Kaplanec Impala, Profimedia.rs
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