this is all hiphop to me, i may not like all of them or what some of them stand for but from day 1, hiphop has been very diverse and Always will be....And I think that's what maks it so great, I mean, if hiphop was perfect, we'd all be bored out of our fucking minds I think.....they're all dudes that grew up around and involved with hiphop....that therefore makes them hiphop In my opinion.... I mean, look at what Kool G Rap or Schoolly D, Ice-T etc. put in their music....those guys are HipHop, right?!?!

"UNTIL THEY STOP ME, BURY, MURDER ME OR DROP ME, I GOT...THUG LUV FOR MY NATIONWIDE POSSE"

Thats the only one I would have to really think about wether his hip hop or not
But ive always said that hip hop is not JUST positive stuff
Without the negative you wouldnt have positive.

word thats what i mean, surely then there is no difference between hip hop and rap just different labels then?

The World Is Yours

or rap is just about life and hip hop music is about the culture?

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to an extent, when it's people that never grew up with hiphop(never lived it) and just get on the mic cuz they can actually rap or know the little gimmicks needed to sell records, then it's not hiphop....... those guys are usually easy to pick out tho' and only become popular to kids who think hiphop is "the cool thing to do" and don't really know what it is.....

"UNTIL THEY STOP ME, BURY, MURDER ME OR DROP ME, I GOT...THUG LUV FOR MY NATIONWIDE POSSE"

so in a sense every rapper is rapping for commercial gains, but every rapper is representing the culture too

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What is the hip hop Culture
Too many people are unclear as to what Hip Hop Culture really is and tend to use the term frivolously. Hip Hop Culture is commonly recognized by its main elements: Graffiti, Djing, Breakdancing (B-boying), Mcing, and Beatboxing. However, these elements are simply forms of art designed to express a deeper meaning. At its core, Hip Hop is so much more than mere art and entertainment. Hip Hop is the constantly evolving spirit and consciousness of urban youth that keeps recreating itself in a never-ending cycle. It is joy, sorrow, pleasure, pain, victory, defeat, anger, happiness, confusion, clarity, humor, intensity, dream, nightmare, life, death, and everything else in between. It is the spirit that connects the past to the present and lays a path towards the future. The spirit of Hip Hop is the same as Jazz, Reggae, Blues, Doo-wop, Be-bop, and a multitude of other types of expressions, be it musical or otherwise, that African people throughout the Diaspora have given birth to and introduced to the world. That very spirit is what breathes life into a simple idea and transforms it into a living cultural movement. Hip Hop Culture cannot be assimilated, integrated, diluted, watered-down, sold for profit, or pimped. It will always exist, in this incarnation or another.

What the mainstream promotes as being Hip Hop, or Hip Pop, is the product being sold to you and your children by mainstream media that pollutes the mind and makes impressionable individuals think that being a pimp, player, thug, ho, bitch, gangster, baller, or hustler is the thing to do. It is the poison being fed to you by commercial rappers who say that it’s not their job to be anyone’s role model while they depend on 13 to 20 years old fans to buy their music. It’s the studio thug telling your children to represent thug life while his children are well provided for and attend private school. It’s female rappers who encourage their young female listeners to stay in school and out of trouble when speaking at junior highs across the country while their music gives the same kids the opposite message.

You get the point. Hip Hop is life and all it has to offer; Hip “Pop” is death served to you on a shiny silver platter. This knowledge lays the foundation for all those who thought of Hip Hop as nothing more than entertainment.

ive never heard for example mf doom represent any of the 5 "pillars" as it were but does that mean he is not "hip hop"? if so then we are misrepresenting it here then? or not us but the artists we promote

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