Hip-Hop Music Movement

A cultural movement that defines hip-hop as "a collective term for black American urban art forms that emerged in the late 1970s; it is also applied specifically to a style of music that uses spoken rhyme (rap) over a rhythmic background mainly characterized by the manipulation of pre-existing recordings." It is of interest to point out right away that this musical style originated in the United States. The key features of this musical style, as articulated by (Grove Online Dictionary of Music), include spoken rhyme (rap) and a rhythmic background. These broad characteristics can certainly be found in hip-hop music in Kenya. Where Kenyan hip-hop music is different than hip-hop music found in the U.S. is in smaller stylistic points. What influenced or caused these stylistic differences to manifest themselves in Kenyan hip-hop music is not clear. These differences, however, make this hip-hop music unique to Kenya. Kenyan artists have made this music their own by synthesizing the hip-hop style from the U. S. with cultural and ethnic elements from the heritage of Kenya to create a style of music that is distinctly of the demographic found within the cosmopolitan youth of Nairobi.

Conscious hip hop, when it’s from the heart can be very powerful. In my opinion I think conscious hip hop is the way. This powerful art form brings messages about our world, self-respect & respecting others. I believe that if radio stations worldwide played conscious hip hop as much as they did commercial hip hop not only would it be a worldwide decrease in violence, and confusion. Listener’s stress and anxiety levels would decrease. By playing positive music or conscious hip hop, most likely there would be an increase in people’s general well-being and