Why Is Hip Hop Popular?

Hip-hop has been emerged in the early 1970s and took over the world since. There are so many reasons why hip-hop is so popular, not only in the states, but all around the world. One of the reasons is that hip hop is used as a representative of people’s thoughts, minds, and voices. People express their hidden feelings, and silently and peacefully protest through songs. It is considered to be a non-violent way of fighting. What makes hip-hop special is that “hip hop isn’t just music-it’s also attitude and culture” (Chang, 2007). Unlike other types of songs, hip-hop songs are often about politics, environmental justice, and issues in communities. Hip-hop has the local attention as well as the global attention, because everyone can relate their
Another reason why hip-hop has spread around the world is that the elements of hip hop culture bind everyone together. Hip-hop culture has four main elements: MCing, DJing, breaking, and graffiti writing. When these four elements are blended in together, it brings harmony. People come out and enjoy each other company and share what they love together. It also gives opportunities for young people to gather and socialize. Many people may see this gathering as a blighted area, because drugs and crime are usually involved in this area. However, this kind of matter is not a part of the originality of hip-hop. In the past, hip-hop is all about gathering, entertaining, and expressing opinions. Another explanation for the popularity of hip-hop is it remains its essence and also offers new characteristics. In the article “It’s a Hip Hop world, Chang (2007) states that “Hip-hop is a lingua franca”. It means that while hip-hop may have the standard form, it also allow people to modify it and make it more fit to the new