Hip-Hop

            Hip-Hop: The Attitude of Today's Generation .
            
            
            
             Hip-Hop: The Attitude of Today's Generation.
             In order to discuss the popularity of Hip-Hop, one must first define Hip-Hop. Hip-Hop is not just about rap music; it is about an attitude. It is the culture from which rap emerged. It is a lifestyle with its own language, style of dress, music, and mindset that is continually evolving. According to the American Heritage Dictionary (2000), Hip-Hop is a popular urban youth culture, closely associated with rap music and with the style and fashions of African-American inner-city youths. Anyone who has not seen, heard, or felt the impact of Hip-Hop on today's culture, must be walking around with blinders and earplugs. Hip-Hop is popular today because of it's universal appeal worldwide, because of it's ability to be highly imitative, and last but not least, because it is literally everywhere.
             Hip-Hop has evolved from America being tagged a "Hip-Hop nation" to all cultures involved being called a "Hip-Hop world"(Terry, 1999). Since Hip-Hop first made its mark on American music nearly 20 years ago with the emergence of rap, Hip-Hop culture has become a worldwide phenomenon. Born in the African-American inner cities, Hip-Hop is the ever-encompassing word for a lifestyle that includes music, language, attitude, and dress. Lewis" 1998 article pointed out the following:.
             To illustrate its widespread popularity, Soundscan, a company in Hartsdale, NY that monitors music sales, reported that at the end of 1998, 9 of the 15 albums on the pop chart were Hip-hop related. Also, three of the top selling albums in the nation was hip-hop. .
             According to Neil Strauss, Hip-hop is replacing rock and roll as the most popular genre of music among youth (Strauss, n.d.). Regardless of race, a generation of youth is embracing Hip-Hop - from Los Angeles to Tokyo, Indonesia to Israel, South Africa to South America.