- World hip hop
Hip hop musicwas primarily limited to its country of origin, the United States, until the mid 1980s, at which point it reached into other countries and continents until its presence was worldwide. Along with the music
- World hip hop
Hip hop musicwas primarily limited to its country of origin, the United States, until the mid 1980s, at which point it reached into other countries and continents until its presence was worldwide. Along with the music spread the culture.
World hip-hop emerged as the genre traveled outside the US and became evolved and localized to the distinct culture of the nation it arrived in. Ian Condry divides the evolution of hip hop into three phases. In his book, Hip-Hop Japan, Condry states the first phase is the imitation of American hip hop. [Condry, Ian. Hip-Hop Japan. Durham and London: Duke University, 2006. ] This is followed by a commercial breakthrough during which the music becomes more marketed and mainstream. Using Japan as an example, hip hop maintained underground popularity in nightclubs for years until the late nineties when it became commercialized and integrated into the country’s pop music. [Condry, Ian. Hip-Hop Japan. Durham and London: Duke University, 2006. ] Once hip hop has achieved a commercial breakthrough, it typically develops some sort of local identity and authenticity specific to each region of popularity. However, Condry makes the argument that in Japan and other hip hop scenes, this development may not be a simple convergence into one sub-genre. [Condry, Ian. Hip-Hop Japan. Durham and London: Duke University, 2006. ] The music can become increasingly Americanized or it can reflect the traditional identity of the local music scene. Therefore, the path of the globalization of hip hop is actually widening and diversifying as the genre travels to more and more locations outside the US. As an article in BBC News noted about hip hop in Japan, the secret to hip hop’s success is artists “doing their own thing” as opposed to simply copying their US counterparts. [Yo Takatsuki. “Japan grows its own hip-hop.” BBC News. 17 Dec. 2003. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/3324409.stm.] The genre’s success should be attributed to its diversification across the globe.
The following list chronicles hip-hop music and culture in countries other than America.
North of the U.S. border, in
Canada, (although Canada had hip hop music right from the early days of the scene) it became popular thanks to home-grown rap artist Maestro Fresh Wesin the 1980s. His single, "Let Your Backbone slide", dominated the charts for over a year. In the early '90s, more artists such as Michie Meeand the Rascalzestablished themselves in the growing Canadian urban music scene, primarily located in the diverse backdrop of Toronto and Vancouver. More recently, rappers such as Choclair, Swollen Members, Saukrates, Kardinal Offishall, Sweatshop Union, Classified, Hugh "MC Son" Ryan, Black Jays, Jelleestoneand k-oshave become household names in the Canadian urban music scene, although they have failed to earn mainstream recognition south of the border in the U.S. market. The Somali-Canadian hiphop artist K'naan, with his distinctive use of both Somali- and English-language texts, has earned considerable celebrity in Canada, Europe and elsewhere. The eclectic, country-influenced underground hip hop of Buck 65has also achieved considerable international success. Burnaby, B.C. has also produced Capone Tha Don underground rapper expected to release an album in mid or late 2008.
Puerto Rico, Vico Cbecame the first mainstream Spanish languagerapper, and his recorded work was the beginning of what became known as reggaeton. Rap in Puerto Rico was at a popular high in 1989, when Vico C entered the charts with his s