this is unbelievable wacko this site has a awhole section dedicated to "rant" when its obvious we should have a section dedicated to hip hop history, hip hop education, hip hop knowledge instead because i never thought this many people in here were so uneducated about the hip hop culture and what hip hop is sad dont know where yet but its something we need to add in here somewhere. then search and write meanings about hip hop, hip hop culture, how it all started and how rap is only an element of hip hop. hip hop in itself is a culture that goes so much deeper than rap and so on.

this is unbelievable this site has a awhole section dedicated to "rant" when its obvious we should have a section dedicated to hip hop history, hip hop education, hip hop knowledge instead because i never thought this many people in here were so uneducated about the hip hop culture and what hip hop is dont know where yet but its something we need to add in here somewhere. then search and write meanings about hip hop, hip hop culture, how it all started and how rap is only an element of hip hop. hip hop in itself is a culture that goes so much deeper than rap and so on.

Please explain how I'm putting it in a box. What I'm saying is that you have to take it on a case by case basis and I sort of agree with Joker with his levels thing, but even that puts it in a box, just smaller and more boxes. It's more like degrees. Think of it as a spectrum or even several spectrums. In this case though we are talking about the spectrum from pop music at the far left to hip hop at the far right. At one end you have pure pop music, for example Britney Spears, who retain virtually no elements of hip hop and aren't even considered in the subject of hip hop. At the other end are artists like Rakim, Grandmaster Flash and Percee P who are completely engulfed in hip hop with their styles. Then you have people that fit into some middle ground. Nas, for example, is very far to the right but still meets somewhere closer to the middle than Rakim and has only gotten closer recently. Then artists like Soulja Boy are closer to hip hop than Britney Spears, but still very far into the category of pop music, then you have people like Clipse and Cassidy who are definitely still in the hip hop category but close to the middle, then people like Kid Cudi, Charles Hamilton, etc., who are on the pop side but close to the middle, then Kanye, Ludacris, etc. who sit directly in the middle.

ok you have the spectrum or levels whatever i agreed with joker earlier but then your having another spectrum for the "real" music, its another catagory. if you cant see that, jesus

Hip hop = real hip hop. It is just a term we use because so many people today try to equate pop music with hip hop. "Real" is an unnecessary term if people don't make this false parallel, but since they do it functions to make people realize they are miscategorizing pop music. It is more of a reaction to people who hate pop rap and talk shit about hip hop because of it.

well every music genre will have pop influenced artists.