About the Hip Hop Subculture:

The hip-hop subculture is a worldwide influence. The majority of its audience is non-black (75%) and it’s the most popular genre of music in the U.S.

History of the Hip-hop Subculture:

“Hip-hop” grew in awareness and popularity by being played at house parties, basement parties, and on the streets of New York. Busy Bee Starski, DJ Hollywood and DJ Afrika Bambaataa are known for fabricating the term "hip-hop". In 1979, hip hop rose in awareness through the production of Sugar Hill Gang's "Rapper's Delight." This was the first enormously successful hip-hop song. As hip-hop began to evolve, rap became a rhythmic form of expression for you against "the system" (the police). Subsequently, this prompted the music and film industry to endorse rap. In 1985, Krush Groove was released. This movie depicted the life of rap music, earned $17 million and took rap to the next level: mainstream.

Language:
The hip-hop subculture is bounded linguistically, meaning that someone of a different subculture or ethnicity can understand the language used amongst individuals in the hip-hop subculture. Hip hoppers use words like: da bomb, dope, and legit as adjectives to describe something in a positive connotation. A very common word used in the hip-hop subculture is the word "nigga". This word was once received in a negative connotation; however, individuals of the hip-hop subculture managed to reverse the meaning. Now, the word is used as a term of endearment.