Hip Hop Panel/Ashley Bergman
One thing I've never understood before last Wednesday was what the difference between Hip Hop and Rap Music was. Theresa Martinez' article introduced to me the idea that rap was a component of hip hop along with breakdancing and grafitti, but Alexs Pate and Melisa Reviere cleared that up even further. Pate claimed that hip hop is a culture, and rap is the literature of that culture. Moreover they discussed how hip hop was an oppositional culture making comments to the mainstream: low-riding pants, house shoes, and sideways hats being as social commentary more than bad fashion sense. This really blew my mind, personally, because I've always looked at that style of dress as disrespectful and grungy, but when I look at it that way-- it's just like how Muslims wear veils and Hmongs have their own traditional dress they wear sometimes, only those involved in the hip hop culture who dress that way are taking it a step further, using their clothes as a statement which I find very respectable. You kind of have to respect people who do their own thing in a country that encourages conformity and peer pressure.