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The Differences of Hip Hop from Region to Region <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;">

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Shannon Merke Senior Seminar A-Block Day 1 ** Acknowledgements ** <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;"> <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%; msospacerun: yes;">

<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">In this paper I would like to especially acknowledge Ms. Jamison. She kept me focused when I wasn’t exactly into this paper and made sure I had everything done on time. I would also like to acknowledge my parents. They were pretty hard on me making sure I had all of this done on time and I may not have liked it too much then but I am very grateful they did what they did.

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<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;">The genre of Hip Hop is usually characterized as a choreographed form of dance but taking a look at all the dances region to region it becomes clear that though they are a compilation of moves, it’s really a form of freestyle dance heavily influenced by regional urban cultures. Most people look at hip hop as just fun and games. To those who do it it’s really a personal form of dance. It gives the dancer his or her time to shine, a source of personal pride. Every region has a different way of doing certain moves. Some of the dances discovered in the different regions travel to the different coasts, especially if they make it onto television or in movies ( blogs.sohh.com/media). It’s very common to see a dancer in Pennsylvania doing a dance from California. Not only do the dances travel so does the music and the clothes worn while doing them. Onlookers would say that Hip Hop style changes are just fads but they are really just customized changes as Hip Hop music, dances, and clothes change, and they change often, each region constantly attempting to uniquely outdo the other. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;"> <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;">Hip hop dates all the way back to 1920 when Earl “Snake Hips” Tucker, a dancer from Broadway brought out slithering and writhing. Back in 1920 his dancing was considered jazz but was later characterized as hip hop since his moves were the beginning of “popping” and “waving”. ( Hip Hop Dance.) Hip Hop didn’t really make its big debut until 1970 when the first professional popping, locking and breaking crews were first discovered in the streets, this Hip Hop was developed by Black and Latino Americans. The Lockers, Rock Steady Crew and the Electric Boogaloos were responsible for the spread of pop-locking and break dancing. (Hip Hop Dance.) Eventually this dance, called break dancing, was made popular across the US, it was featured in a very popular 1984 movie called “Breakin”. (IMDb.com) I wasn’t around to see early Hip Hop or the dancing crews, but since I could walk or run I began dancing. I started dancing when I was about three years old. I’ve always loved music. I like to think I’m pretty diverse as far as the different music I’m interested in. Although I do listen to rock, rhythm and blues and pop, hip hop has always been my passion. My love of dance is well known amongst family and friends around the country so when I visit they introduce me to local hip hop knowing I’m interested. Through these personal experiences I’ve learned that hip hop varies by regions. There are five different major regions in the United States. Those regions are; Northeast, Southeast, Midwest, Southwest and West and each has its own hip hop culture, meaning music, dance, and clothes. The Hip hop culture in the East Coast and the West Coast are very different. Everything from the clothes they wear, to the music they listen to. As far as hip hop culture goes the east and the west coasts are rivals. (experiencefestival.com.) <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;">Many artists nowadays come from the South. Ludacris, Usher, Ace Hood, DJ Unk, Lil John, Dorrough and many more all came from the south. Southern states have many different kinds of music. Snap music, Crunk music, and Dirty South originated in the southern states. Snap music is very popular and it has made it into the mainstream. It’s done everywhere from Georgia to California. Crunk music is very similar to dirty south music. They both are very upbeat but the difference is Crunk music has random lyrics that usually don’t mean anything and dirty south usually consists of deep lyrics. There are some artists from the south that don’t make the upbeat “hype” music. Artists like Usher make rhythm and blues (goliatecnext.com). Rhythm and blues like any music genre can be heard anywhere. Usher has worked with artists from all over and his music shows that some music isn’t unique to only one place. This genre doesn’t really have a unique sound per region either. =<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">On the west coast there’s Gangsta Rap, G- Funk, Hyphy (pronounced Hi-Fee), Mobb Music, and Jerkin’ Music. The Gangsta rap has died down but back in the 80’s and 90’s Tupac Shakur was a huge hit on the west coast. Tupac Shakur’s music was what many would call “deep”. He rapped about things that mattered to people (life, drugs, and politics) and to anyone who was a fan of this kind of music, it meant something <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">. “Gangsta rap often reaches higher than its ugliest, lowest common denominator, misogyny, violence, materialism and sexual transgression are not its exclusive domain. At its best, this music draws attention to complex dimensions of ghetto life ignored by most Americans. Indeed, gangsta rap’s in-your-face style may do more to force America to confront crucial social problems than a million sermons or political speeches.”(Michael Eric Dyson) <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"> Hyphy music is a hype kind of music. That’s where the word came from. The music is really fast and the lyrics are usually funny and pointless but the beat is fun. Jerkin music is another form of fun music from the west coast. Like Hyphy music the lyrics are usually pointless and fun but this music has a specific dance. Now there are so many different jerkin’ songs. There are groups like the New Boyz, Cold Flamez, Audio Push and a guy named Yung Sam that have all came out with the latest music for the dance (jerkin’). (urbandictionary.com.) <span style="color: windowtext; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: 200%; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"> = <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;"> House music became popular around 2000 in the tri-state area. It originated in Baltimore by local DJ’s. The D-Mac and Wu-tang are done to this music. The beat is fast and constant so it’s easy to be followed. It’s used everywhere from clubs, to house parties to dance studios and choreographers, Cheerleaders also tend to use this music for competition pieces since the beat is so choppy and their precise moves go can easily go with the hard- hitting beats. In Washington, D.C. there is music called “go-go”. They use this music just like Baltimore uses their house music but the dances are very different. An example of “go-go” would be the popular song “Sexy Back” by Justin Timberlake. The music has a syncopated rhythm and a bit of a skipped beat. It dates all the way back to the 1970’s when Chuck Brown a singer and guitarist came up with the genre. He had a band called the “Soul Searchers” and by 1966 he had created a form of funk mixed with Afro Caribbean flavor with a kind of laid back beat he called “go-go”. (Hip Hop Dance.) It was usually used at parties back in the day to keep people on the dance floor. It doesn’t really have a constant beat so it was easy to get people to keep dancing with all of the rhythm changes. A hit jazz song varying beats called,” Mr. Magic” by Grover Washington Jr., a jazz saxophonist, is an example of music that inspired Brown’s creation of go-go music. Dancers would break-dance or pop lock to this go-go music and some would come up with routines and show off their moves at the parties. <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;"> Even within the Northeast region, there are many areas where hip hop is different. (wiki.answers.com.) The Tri-State area; Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware have dances like the “Wu-tang” and the “D- Mac” that are popular. These two dances are usually performed to the Baltimore Club Music I talked about earlier in my paper. The Wu-tang is <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;"> a dance originating out of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, preferably, North Philly, by a group of people. The Wu-** Tang ** is a ** dance ** for intermediate dancers, requiring gyration of hips, and taunting of the opponent. The D-Mac, another dance done to Baltimore club music is pretty basic. It’s bouncing and bobbing up and down while extending your arms out in various odd but simple actions. <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;">In California there is a dance called “Jerkin”. It’s a newly rising dance to us in the East coast but in California it's been around for quite some time. The dance is done all up and down the West Coast. The jerk came out in the 70’s as well with a song called, “Cool Jerk”. (Hip Hop Dance.) The Jerk has a few different moves to it; the reject, sponge bob, dip, jerk and UFO. The reject came from the famous “running man”. It’s the same except for the fact that when doing the reject you’re doing the running man backwards and you lean back a little so it looks a bit exaggerated. The sponge bob is a bit of a jumpy criss cross type dance. You jump side to side and cross your legs before you switch them. This dance really doesn’t have a serious origin it just came from a bunch of teens posting a YouTube viral video and became popular everywhere. The dip isn’t really the most complicated. It’s pretty simple actually all you have to do is dip your knees to the beat. Jerkin’ is a dance that is a mix of the southern “stanky legg” and the “Tootsie Roll”. The Southern states have more dances than any other region. The dances from the south are actually the most well known across the U.S. (experiencefestival.com) In the South there are dances like; the Walk It Out,, 2 Steppin’ , and the famous Lean Wit’ it Rock Wit’ It. The Walk it Out is <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;"> often done by bending your knees and turning your ankles inward quickly and turning around in circles. 2 Steppin is improvisational. It doesn’t have certain moves to it. It consists of complex foot movements that go with the beat of the music. The Lean Wit it Rock Wit it goes with the popular snap music. It’s simple it’s just leaning from side to side and before switching sides snapping to the beat. The dances from this region are done everywhere but it’s easy to tell where they come from because of the “Crunk Style”. (library.thinkquest.org.) <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 200%;"> <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;">The clothing in all of these regions vary. Some is similar, some is drastically different. In the south the guys wear a lot of big chains, baggy shirts and jeans, and grills (metal plated teeth). This clothing represents the “Dirty South”. The females tend to wear tight jeans and shorts and their shirts are usually tight as well. They still wear the big chains and grills same as the guys. (wiki.answers.com.) In the Tri- State area the style is now preppy. Teens wear a lot of polo, Hollister, American eagle, and Abercrombie. Stores like H&M and Forever 21 are pretty popular now as well. Even though the styles change around this are frequently the stores I listed have been the most popular for about two years now. Over on the West Coast the style is the most admirable for me. Colorful and patterned skinny jeans, with high top sneakers, colorful hoodie ,and a matching fitted cap is and average outfit you would see on a teen from the West Coast. Some of this is worn over on the East Coast as well because these are the clothes worn while the jerkin dance is done. These clothes are fun and colorful and I believe they are fit for the music and dance style over on this coast.(urbandictionary.com.) <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%; msotabcount: 1;"> <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;">To Sum up all of this, every region definitely does its own thing. From the clothes they wear to the music they listen to. To me this shows the diverse world of hip hop. If everyone in every region listened to the same music then hip hop would be boring. There would be no chance of discovering music or trends in another part of the United States. There wouldn’t be a heart in the industry. No rivalries and everyone would just go along with everyone else’s ideas. So in my opinion the diversity of hip hop is for the good of the people who enjoy and benefit from it.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;">Introduction **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;">Background **
 * <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 200%;">Music **
 * <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;">Dance Styles **
 * <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;">Clothing **
 * <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;">Conclusion **

Hip Hop Dance." // Wikipedia //. N.p., n.d. Web. 9 Oct. 2009. <[]>.

Harris, Rennie. "Hip Hop Dance History." // www.dancehere.com //. N.p., 7 July 2008. Web. 9 Oct. 2009. <[]