Evolution of Hip Hop Dancing (Humour)
In a humorous aspect, The Jimmy Fallon show in America had a comedy sketch with Will Smith of which they showed their take on the evolution of Hip Hop. Not only has it come so far from when it was first invented by The Electric Boogaloos, how it is globally associated today as a dance form and art, as well as stems of jokes and humour, and educational purposes. This video is a mere insight to how celebrities have undertaken the word Hip Hop in terms of dance, and applied to to this sketch.
Dance Styles
Poppin'
In terms of specifying Hip Hop dance styles, there are a few main styles which are globally recognised, Poppin' being one of them. This dance style consists of muscular control and tension throughout the body in order to create clear shapes and order when performing. This attracts a lot of attention as the skill must be honed in order to look well enough practiced. This is a popular style with young Hip Hop dancers, as they can learn this from a young age, making them more likely to be stronger at it as they grow. Talking with Rachel from Shake Dance, there are a few dancers she has often come into contact with who tend to interlace different styles, however they have one main style which they started out in.
Lockin'
In terms of Hip Hop dance styles, Lockin' is one of my favourite. Fast paced and bouncy to a variety of music can definitely create an aesthetically and power focused piece. This video is originally broadcast on Korea's Got Talent (a derivative of Britains), and features two young Hip Hop dancers known as Khan and Moon showcasing their talent. This is an extremely good representation of how the dance has developed from the 80s urban classification, and has been accepted across cultures and countries throughout the world. Beginning in strictly Western civilisations, to be practiced and showcased across the world in Korea is a huge accomplishment for Hip Hop as a dance form.
Lockin is a lot more bouncy and free compared to Poppin' of which the style is more focussed on controlling the muscle groups to get a clean and finished product. Their music choice is also based upon more 80s stylised Hip Hop music as seen in the Rap/MC section of this research piece. Furthermore as probably already noticed, the duo have used projection mapping encompassed within their dancing to create a highly visual, interactive and responsive piece of which the audience in Korea obviously enjoy. The projection mapping features creative pieces responding to the duos movements, as well as a circle flying above their heads which they look at and interact with. Because this style of Hip Hop dance is more expressive in terms of available movement around the stage than Poppin, the piece becomes more exciting and energetic.
Tutting
Tutting is a form of Hip Hop dance that is strictly featuring the hands and arms and following their movements. Tutting dancers focus on telling a story through their movements, as well as trying to show their audience something they haven't seen before. This is a lesser known style of Hip Hop dancing, but technically is very difficult and precise to perfect. In this video, two young boys showcase their talent to Tutting, and explain that the perceptions around Tutting and Hip Hop dancing are often based around supposed gang signs and aggressive meaning/motivation, however they promise the reasoning is otherwise. They strongly believe that their whole 'body is an instrument' which is a clever and artistic view on Hip Hop dancing in general, non specific to style.
Break Dancing
Break Dancing is in my opinion, one of the styles of Hip Hop dance which is most often recognised and accepted today as a style form. The moves and shapes which are held by the dancers are commonly practiced by many, and are a much more energetic style form of Hip Hop dancing. In this video, the expression between dancers is incredible, with some falling on the floor, spinning round and balancing in particular ways in order to express not only their dance forms, but also themselves as a dance practitioner and artist. The baggy clothing is worn for ease of dancing, and is possibly where the Hip Hop aggressive side has been depicted through the years as a negative thing. The music used is based on 80s Hip Hop as a joke and tribute to how Hip Hop music as well as dance has changed. A large amount of the spinning moves look incredibly effective when the dancers perform them, and not at all aggressive. Break dancing is a very expressive and technically difficult form of dance, with a higher level of physical ability and fitness required.
Rap/MC
WARNING - this clip contains references to drug taking.
I used this clip from Cardinal Burns the TV show as they represent their take on how rapping has changed from the 80s to now, from the likes of Kriss Kross to the likes of Jay-Z today, and how rap has shifted from being about lines and words that rhyme in a lighthearted manner, to a series of drug/gang violence and gun related topics among the many. For example The Sugarhill Gang - Rapper's Delight in 1979 shows a clear depiction of just making up random limericks to the beat and filling in any words that rhyme.
On reflection, lyrics have become more important in terms of delivering a message in 21st century Rap, compared to 80's stylistic beats of which were purely for a lighter entertainment purpose. Commonly, rap ballads are created to make the harrowing subjects featured in todays rap more digestable, for example Elton John and 2Pac in Ghetto Gospel. Within the video, the first image is of a black man who is laying in the street, crowded round by innocent bystanders and an approaching ambulance. It resolves that he has been shot as part of a turf/gang violence dispute. We then follow his day, which is focused around an urban, run down area that is nowadays stereotypical as to where gun violence occurs. Furthermore in an iconographic way, the men featured in the video are all wearing baggy hoodies, tracksuits and brandishing alcohol, as well as presenting themselves in a shifty way. This is now a perceived stereotype of gangs and isn't always necessarily a true depiction of who the people are.
The Sugarhill Gang - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tUqvPJ3cbUQ
Ghetto Gospel - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QsTgxAGNyHs
DJ
The Pillar of DJing in terms of Hip Hop practises is once which is difficult to pinpoint. It has developed significantly last year, so much so that it has spanned across other music genres such as Drum and Bass as well as House music, with artists such as Calvin Harris and David Guetta being large fans and practitioners of the movement. I found a video which is accordingly a Hip Hop beat audio piece, with a stereotypical bass tone which makes the obvious Hip Hop genre apparent. The stylistic mixing of scratching the vinyls, and overlaying music is incredibly important in the DJing world as this create a unique piece of music and performance everytime it's played. This is also popular in typical 80s Hip Hop dances where the music has been mixed specifically to the style of the dancer. In modern Hip Hop music such as Rap, Dj influences aren't as prominent, and in a personal sense, have significantly developed through other genres, moving away from Hip Hop. Although related to the style, DJ practices can be related to a variety of music, and so have developed through the years to accomodate a growing music industry as well as growing pool of experimental artists.
Graffiti
In terms of Graffiti, we had a connection with a Graffiti artist named Tom who had been convicted of illegal graffiti practices, as well as painting on legal walls. This rooftop is a legal graffiti rooftop of which graffiti artists can access and paint their tags/artwork to their hearts content. Graffiti has changed significantly since the beginning of Hip Hop, and especially as it has become more pronounced and accepted in the art world. Spanning from New York in the 70s and 80s, Graffiti was more simplistic, where artists or 'vandals' would use black markers or spray cans to scribble quick words and motifs on the wall without much else about. Nowadays as you can see from the image on the right, colour is a big part of graffiti, as well as the precision of the artworks, and furthermore the message conveyed from one person to everyone who views the piece. 
This image (left) was taken by Christopher Morris in 1981, and features a woman walking through a heavily graffitied subway car toward the photographer. This is the impression that a lot of common people perceived, that graffiti was a form of vandalism as it ruined the aesthetics of public places and features owned by the government. Therefore it was also seen as a sign of rebellion, and classed as a negative expression of emotions toward the state (especially in America in the 70s/80s). Furthermore as Hip Hop was being established, it was seen as a niche group of followers that believed in the practices of Hip Hop, and took a further 20 years to develop into the more socially accepted style it is today.
Link: http://time.com/3386935/grit-grime-and-graffiti-christopher-morris-on-the-new-york-subway-1981/
Knowledge
http://rap.about.com/od/rootsofraphiphop/p/RootsOfRap.htm
create timeline of hip hop events in history using office timeline
https://www.google.co.uk/search?espv=2&biw=1366&bih=585&q=the+freshest+kids&stick=H4sIAAAAAAAAAGOovnz8BQMDgwkHnxCXfq6-gXGaWbmhpRKYbVqQnFOerCWRnWylX5CaX5CTCqSKivPzrHLzyzJTi9_OsklxL7RlEhG52qY5OTzwz-uTXwHN-vGmUQAAAA&sa=X&ei=GUXRVKT8LJDnaODHgcgL&ved=0CJsBEJsTKAEwGQ
the freshest kids: history of the bboy
http://djkoolherc.com/
http://www.pbs.org/opb/historydetectives/investigation/birthplace-of-hip-hop/
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