Shawn LeslieFinal EssayApril 20, 2014Hip-Hop in America vs. Hip-Hop WorldwideAs the semester comes to a close, I take this opportunity to look back on what I learned in this course. Ever since I was a kid, hip-hop has been a big part of my life. In the best of times and the worst of times, music has always been an escape for me. It's an honor to write an essay about my favorite music genre and explore and compare hip-hop in America and around the world. In this essay I will guide you and explain how this musical genre spread internationally and became a global phenomenon. Hip-hop contains stylized rhythmic music normally accompanied by rapping, a rhythmic, rhyming speech that is sung. In 1970, the Last Poets released their self-titled debut album; this was the first hip-hop ever released to the public. Their music was mixed with aggressive, socially conscious funk and lyrics that became the main brick in the foundation of what would become hip-hop. The 70s also played an important role in the evolution of this funky music, which became a new sensation. Featuring dozens of excellent new releases, the future looked bright for hip-hop. Unfortunately, funk's growing popularity coincided with the rise of disco, the Ritchie Family/Donna Surnmer's bland school of dance music, where string sections, thundering drum machine beats and soulful vocals replaced percussion, horn sections and urban funk. Hip-hop is a culture composed of four expressive elements. The four elements include DJing, broken graft writing and MCing. In Latin America, the language of hip-hop is considered a universal language capable of uniting many nations into one. In the video there was a cross section of...... half of a sheet of paper ......ic to spread the message. Hip-hop has become a global phenomenon in many cultures around the world, as evident by the number of countries that have embraced and adopted this culture. The art of hip-hop music is the embrace; even celebrate, internationally, while remaining true to your beliefs. Hip-hop's inspiration varies by culture. However, the one thing that almost all hip-hop artists around the world have in common is that they recognize the contributions of African-American artists from New York who gave birth to the global movement. Although hip-hop is often taken for granted by Americans, in other countries, such as developing countries, it is used to exemplify the empowerment of the submissive, political activists, and a piece of the American dream. Hip-hop music has had a positive impact globally and created a cultural influence among all generations.