When you hear the phrase "hip-hop" often music, dancing and rapping come to mind. Hip-hop is all of that and much more. Hip-hop is a culture. When you look up culture in the dictionary it is defined as "the concepts, skills, arts, instruments, etc. of a given people in a given period." To be more specific hip-hop is a combination of graffiti, break dancing, DJing, and rapping (also known as MCing) that creates its own lifestyle and is continuously evolving. Most of these forms of art were originated in New York City. In the early 1970's hip-hop was born on the crime-ridden streets of south Bronx. Gifted teenagers with plenty of imagination but little money began to forge a new style. Hip-hop back then was a product of pure ingenuity; extracting rhythms and melodies from existing records and mixing them up with poetry chronicling life in the "hood." Major credit is given to Kool DJ Herc, who along with others started the hip-hop culture in the south Bronx. Kool DJ Herc moved from Jamaica to the west Bronx area of New York. Herc's initial style had a lot of Jamaican style with it, but people in New York were not into reggae yet. Kool DJ Herc then changed his style by chanting over the instrumental portion of songs. .
From the housing projects in south Bronx hip-hop poured onto the streets and subways, taking over in Bronx clubs like Savoy Manor Ballroom, Ecstasy Garage, Club 371, The Disco Fever, and the T-Connection. From there it spread downtown to the Renaissance Ballroom, Hotel Diplomat, the Roxy, and The Fun House. It migrated to Los Angeles, where a whole West Coast hip-hop scene developed, sporting its own musical fad, its own wild style.