you would think if hip-hop were a culture in the way religion were a culture, you'd be able to define it simply and pinpoint something that makes a person or thing hip-hop.
what makes a person a christian? they believe in jesus christ. what makes a person a mexican? they're from mexico. what makes a person hip-hop? they listen to hip-hop music?
no. then what is it?
you can be a graffiti writer without listening to hip-hop. a person that listens to slayer all day and doesn't give a fuck about rap can kill harder than a person that listens to wu-tang clan b-sides all day. break dancing is a style of dance people do to hip-hop music. turntablism is a production technique of hip-hop music.
obviously hip-hop music has cultural characteristics. so do model train builders, comic book readers, coffee drinkers and child molesters. but none of those are cultures either.
the reason i bring this shit up and take a stand on it is because there's people who would say mac dre and killa tay aren't a part of real hip-hop culture. i don't fuck w/that viewpoint, if that's true, hip-hop culture can suck a dick. hip-hop has never been exclusively about sensitivity and the struggle and resisting material posessions or whatever the fuck a lame wanna say something has to be to be hip-hop. hip-hop is and has always been about whatever the fuck a rapper wanna say on a track.
the rest of what ya'll talking you just saying cause you heard it somewhere and thought it sounded cool. krs-one and afrika bambataa's word is not the gospel, if it was why the fuck do no one wanna hear him rap in 2011? graffiti, turntables and breakdancing, how hip-hop of you. lol.