&creative
Of the endless debates surrounding Hip Hop, the most intriguing one is also the most basic: What is Hip Hop? If Hip Hop were considered to be nothing more than the various art forms or elements, then the big picture would be sorely missed. This perception would be like viewing a box from above and not realizing that it is three-dimentional. To muddy the waters even further, the issue of how, when, where, and why these components came to be conjoined remains under consideration. I will not attempt to grapple with semantics or cultural analyses of Hip Hop here, nor will I explore whether the confluence of Hip Hop's original artistic components was organic or contrived. These challenges are better left to scholars, poets, and the original architects of the movement themselves. I will only go so far as to say that Hip Hop is a method of interpretation, a pattern of thought, and for so many, a way of life. At its core, Hip Hop's contemporary components are not rapping, breaking, DJing, and graffiti - but multi-culturalism, social activism, and compassion.

(Excerpt from "Raising the Baby" by Zephyr, Photographs 1979-84 by Martha Cooper)

SOURCE:

Hip Hop Files
Photographs 1979-84 by Martha Cooper
$26.37