Since 1990s, a new way of exercise has become popular among young people in big cities in China. Young people use public spaces such as streets and parks as sports venues, gather in groups of three or five, or learn dance skills-similar to black dance styles, or practice skateboarding and thrilling jumping from time to time. This is hip-hop popular among young people in China.
Hip-Hop culture is a street rap culture that originated from African-Americans in the 1970s. "Hip-Hop" comes from the lyrics "To the Hip, Hop, Hippy Hop" by Lovberg Bugstarsky. Literally, Hip is an arm, Hop is a hop, and Hip-Hop means to twist the arm gently, from which we can see the characteristics of Hip-Hop dance.
Hip-Hop culture first included American black rap and hip-hop, and later other rebellious youth cultural forms, such as graffiti, skateboarding and other extreme sports, were also included in this list. In 1990s, hip-hop culture landed in Asia and broke out in Japan, South Korea, Taiwan Province Province and other countries and regions. With the invasion of "Korean Wave", it quickly became popular among young people aged seventeen or eighteen in China.
First, the cultural expression of hip-hop movement
For the forms of street dance, we mainly introduce street dance and skateboarding.
When it comes to hip-hop, it is inseparable from the rap music of black Americans. The integration of the two is rooted in the traditional entertainment methods that blacks are good at. The style of rap is improvisation, abandoning melody and emphasizing rhythm. The straightforward language and single rhyme should match the strength and rhythm of drums, and a man's technical white characters from beginning to end make it publicize a wild temptation and unstoppable momentum. But it is not enough to have all the persuasiveness. Melody represents the ups and downs and delicacy of people's inner feelings. After being abandoned, the expression of emotion and emotion itself becomes simple and rough. Therefore, it is natural to use another music culture of black people-dance, and make up for the lack of emotional expression with the help of changing body language, so street dance came into being. There are many kinds of street dance, such as disco, break dance, dance group, rock, Poping and Locking. It uses a series of difficult movements, such as jumping, twisting, rotating, swinging, even somersault, handstand and gyro turn, to interpret independent and uninhibited personality. Very explosive, very infectious, free to dance, strong sense of rhythm. It doesn't just jump in the street, it "originated in the street". So it can be used in any garage, roof, stage or even at home. Boys and girls who dance street dance are called B-B-boys(Breakingboy or Boogieboy) or B-girls.
Let's watch skateboarding again. Skateboarding is an extension of land surfing. In the late 1950s, residents of the beach community in Southern California invented the world's first skateboard, hoping to experience surfing on land. Because skateboarding is challenging and expressive, it became popular in Europe and America in the 1970s and soon became popular all over the world. It is said that this sport will enter the Olympic family in this century.
In today's high-tech era, the combination of technical progress and advanced technology of skaters makes this sport leap over obstacles on hard ground and make free flight more and more fun. At present, the mainstream of skateboarding is to deliberately combine various slopes and obstacles, and professionally design various skateboarding parks, so that skaters can "ride the wind and waves" at the mouth peak. Where there is no venue, young people use street obstacles such as sloping roads and steps to practice. Nowadays, skateboarders have formed a huge group with their own culture, language, sports style and even music.
Second, the cultural essence of hip-hop
As a form of cultural expression, Hip-hop has many unique characteristics because of its different cultural characteristics.
Sports competitive culture. Hip-hop is a competitive sports culture, especially skateboarding, which has become the most popular sport for young people to challenge their physical limits. Hip-hop and skateboarding both need skills, but their strength and endurance are different. Both are graded and have many prescribed actions. For example, street dance has planes, air passes, apple jacks, backspin and so on. , and no less than one hundred. Skateboards include ollie, kickfilp, heelfilp, kickfilp360 and so on. These prescribed movements include walking, running, jumping and their changes, as well as the coherent combination of movements such as flexion and extension, rotation, rotation, sparkling and wave-like twisting of joints such as head, neck, shoulders, upper limbs and trunk. They not only pay attention to the coordination of movements such as upper limbs and lower limbs, abdomen and back, head and trunk, but also pay attention to the independent movements of various parts that make up each link. It not only has the functions of improving cardiopulmonary function, reducing fat, enhancing muscle elasticity and ligament flexibility, but also has the functions of coordinating muscle groups in various parts of the human body, shaping beautiful posture, improving human coordination ability and cultivating aesthetic feeling. Therefore, many middle-aged and elderly people have danced street dance recently, so they should be allowed to do bodybuilding and slimming exercises. As a sports event, in recent years, large and medium-sized cities in central and eastern China have successively held street dance or extreme sports competitions, and the competition rules have been in line with international standards. For example, in September this year, a national extreme sports competition was held in Huzhou. Double scoring and double ranking in international and national competitions. Skateboards and scooters are divided into eight categories: BMX stunt riding park competition, extreme skateboarding park competition, flat fancy stunt riding, extreme roller skating park competition, extreme roller skating U-table competition, extreme roller skating U-table double competition, BMX stunt riding U-table competition and extreme skateboarding U-table competition. And promoted the localization of related sportswear, sports venues, sports equipment manufacturing and other industries.
Youth pop culture. Hip-hop is a popular culture among young people. Young people are often "popular", the initiator and the staunchest supporter. Hip hop music and skateboarding have only been popular for 30 years. Everywhere they go, there is a wave of popular storms, which makes many young people "have a fever" continuously. And extended from this form of sports, forming a new youth cultural style. For example, hip-hop clothing, hip-hop sporting goods, Rap music, DJ, etc. When we pay attention to street youth, we often find their convergent dress styles. For example, wear a nose ring on your nose, a few earrings on your ears, a wide T-shirt, casual pants, sports boots, baseball caps, or thick silver earrings, necklaces, bracelets and other accessories, sunglasses, MD walkman, scooter, backpack and so on. Walk around (ups and downs), braid your hair, perm your hair or tie your hair ... in short, you have to show it. Hip-hop and skateboarding have their own popular characteristics. Hip-hop is imitating black dance steps and pursuing charm. Skateboarding is jumping off the board, flashing, prancing, somersaulting, spinning in the air, spinning the top, etc., all in pursuit of dancing or graceful stretching of the figure. Both of them make players feel great fun from it. Therefore, it quickly "fled" to all parts of the world and set off a craze among young people.
Global marginal culture. The so-called marginal culture refers to the subculture form created and recognized by a few informal groups in society and popular among them. Youth culture is an element in the multi-dimensional social and cultural stratification, and it is a sub-cultural form with young ethnic minorities as the only object of life, communication and reproduction. So it is a marginal culture. Hip-hop has always been popular with young people, mainly because it is rebellious, non-utilitarian, advanced, aesthetic and differentiated, which coincides with the psychological characteristics of young people. In hip-hop, whether it is hip-hop, skateboarding, fancy cycling or other extreme sports forms, they all pursue formal beauty and stress mental relaxation. Hip-hop is a combination of sports and entertainment, while skateboarding is a combination of entertainment and sports. Young people are full of energy and pursue personal freedom. The combination of entertainment and sports is their favorite way to relax. Hip-hop is a form of entertainment created by young people themselves, so it can be favored by this subgroup of young people.
Minority leisure culture. Hip-hop culture is the leisure culture of minority youth. It is a series of activities for teenagers to develop and improve themselves and improve their quality of life outside the necessary activities such as work, study and sleep. Although skateboarding has been brought into formal vocational training, with a small number of professional players, most participants still regard it as a hobby, and as far as its sports essence and original intention of invention are concerned, it is a way of leisure and entertainment, and it has been brought into the category of professional sports, which is the same fate as our commercial times sports. As a leisure culture, hip-hop is an important way for young people to vent their thoughts. When people are dancing hip-hop, they can do whatever they want, either shaking their heads and jumping hard, or being listless with the music and immersed in the unrestrained dance steps; Skateboarding, because of its high difficulty, allows players to exercise their will and endurance while adjusting their body and mind, and gain a deep understanding of life from sports.
Third, the cultural attributes of hip-hop
The background of globalization. Hip-hop is very popular in the era of globalization. The isolation of young people between countries and regions has been broken, all-round contact, communication and mutual influence have been strengthened, and the time and space restrictions of human communication have been weakened, making young people the most active people enjoying the fruits of globalization. Marx pointed out long ago that this day is bound to come. "The spiritual products of all ethnic groups have become the property of the public, and the one-sidedness and limitations of all ethnic groups are becoming more and more impossible." Hip-hop and other derivative cultural forms are spread under the encouragement of modern media and the three-dimensional display of harmonious and friendly media. Its popularity has swept away all physical and geographical obstacles. It would be inconceivable if the breakthrough of transportation and communication means provided by scientific and technological progress did not make the global cultural exchange beyond time and space become a reality.
Networked living space. The rapid spread of hip-hop sports culture benefits from the ubiquitous Internet. The characteristics of the network age are openness, equality, selectivity and personalization. Influenced by it, young people form a group without authority, rigid setting and social stratification according to their own wishes, and hip-hop groups just meet these requirements. It connects members with interests, learns skills and holds competitions together. At the same time, they make full use of the Internet to establish various related websites or webpages. Such as Skateboarding Major League, Soul of Freedom, Kickers Club, China Extreme Sports Network and so on. On the internet, colleagues can exchange ideas with each other, conduct online teaching, release sports news and introduce foreign progress. All the information related to hip-hop culture can be found. Therefore, the development of hip-hop in China has to benefit from the spread of the Internet.
Attribution function of youth culture. The popularity of hip-hop sports culture also lies in its attraction and sense of belonging as a youth culture. It is a typical youth culture, enthusiastic and unrestrained, in line with the lively nature of young people; Its skills can arouse young people's desire for exploration and curiosity, and hone their will and endurance. With differentiated evaluation scales, it is easier for participants to obtain various positive evaluations; Hip-hop groups can make corresponding and consistent group responses to external stimuli, and can also provide psychological protection and comfort for members; A large number of equal communication between members in a group can stimulate creativity, form the concept of self-esteem and respect for others, and obtain emotional satisfaction. Young people will naturally identify with hip-hop sports culture.
The life course of adolescence. The main characteristics of adolescence are also an important reason for the popularity of hip-hop culture. In adolescence, people's self-awareness develops and forms rapidly, and their needs and desires for self-realization are growing day by day. They strive to get rid of the influence of parents and family, gain independence in personality, and get rid of emotional attachment to adults as a symbol of adulthood. In this case, the peer group has become the object of their emotional attachment.
At the same time, young people in this period have a strong rebellious mentality. This is a concrete way for them to fight for adult rights and gain recognition from the adult world, and it is a manifestation of the subject's self-promotion. Hip-hop culture is a cultural symbol of youth rebellion. It can be said that it is a complete individual activity in the group. It has no pressure of command, command, exclusion or substitution. It is very free, and everyone is both an actor and an audience. Therefore, everyone is equal and has the opportunity to show their charm, and they should also respect the rights of others to perform and appreciate. This means the right and status of autonomy, independence, equality and self-control, which is very important for young people.
The attraction of sports competitive culture. Hip-hop brings new elements of sports culture, and its unique stimulation, indulgence, catharsis and adventure can release people's psychological potential and reduce psychological pressure. With the acceleration of the pace of life and the materialization and monetization of interpersonal communication, nervous urbanites feel that the burden of life is getting heavier and heavier, and more and more people choose exercise to adjust. Young people are sports lovers, and they hit it off in a novel and exciting way. According to research, during exercise, people's cerebral cortex nerves are in the most suitable state of excitement. At this time, people's keen observation, clear memory and active thinking can greatly improve their creative potential. Especially in competitions, people have a stronger demand for self-esteem and self-realization, and their will to overcome difficulties and belief in winning are more firm. Therefore, it is a good way to cultivate young people's love for their favorite sports, such as street dance.
Fourthly, the cultural function of hip hop.
Self-choice of youth socialization mode. Joining hip-hop groups is a good social way for young people to choose themselves. The socialization of individuals is produced through interpersonal communication, especially those who are similar to their status, conditions and age in society, and are the first choice for interpersonal communication, and so are young people. As a youth culture, the mechanism of Hip-hop is to provide a behavior model for youth groups and give the most concrete, vivid and convincing guidance to young individuals. Subtly guide teenagers, form the social behavior and personality characteristics tolerated and recognized by this culture and its superior culture, and provide opportunities for communication and running-in through members' social interaction, and finally achieve the plasticity of teenagers.
According to Simell. G, people have two needs. One is to conform to the society and meet the "social needs", and the other is to meet the "social differences" differently from the people around. Participating in hip-hop culture is the conformity performance of young people chasing the trend, which reflects their psychological dependence and recognition of peer groups. However, in order to achieve perfection, they try their best to exercise their skills in the group, which is their achievement motivation and "social difference needs" This is a normal reaction in the process of youth socialization. It integrates life interest, mutual cooperation, trust, support and self-realization motivation into entertainment, sports and competitions. In this process, teenagers gradually learn social survival skills such as conflict resolution and cooperation, which are lacking in family and school education.
Ideographic symbols of young people's life values. Hip hop is a popular cultural symbol. As a sports culture, it conveys the youth's desire, exploration and practice for the meaning of life. As a popular culture, it shows the rich personality and independent rebellious spirit of young people. As a leisure culture, it is a manifestation of affirming and enjoying life. It can integrate the experience of the meaning of life into entertainment and the principle of value into health interest. People who participate in skateboarding have a common desire, that is, they are eager to get the peak experience constantly, so they make their life full of challenges, which is determined by their life values.
Hip-hop culture is a new cultural life space created by young people, which is formed on the basis of constantly breaking the old cultural norms and life patterns that are not suitable for the development of human nature. As a new youth culture, it will promote the new variation, integration, transformation and development of people's life and living conditions, showing an infinite opening trend, which is a process and way that contemporary people especially need for survival and development.
Objectively, it is a powerful impetus to social consumption. Modern consumption has social, psychological and symbolic significance and has become a means to construct personality, identity and social stratification. The same is true of youth consumption. Marketing believes that "young people are increasingly considered to have substantial and unpredictable decision-making power in the choice and use of cultural goods." … Marketers no longer define young people as a social group with certain material interests (reflecting their position in the structure of labor, family and education) and showing their consumption interests and habits, but define young people as a market category. "Looking at the youth's consumption of hip-hop culture, it can be seen. At the beginning of the popularity of hip-hop, keen merchants seized the inevitability of its future popularity, quickly learned from foreign practices of bringing sports into the commercialization mechanism, and began to train professional players in extreme sports. Today, Guangzhou, Shanghai, Beijing, Shenzhen, Hangzhou, Hefei, Zhengzhou, Huzhou and other cities have held various levels of street dance sports events; Hip hop groups and rap records have been made. Hip-hop international exchanges are frequent, and companies specializing in skateboarding also arrived in China on 1992. Beijing, Qingdao, Shanghai, Nanjing, Guangzhou, Shenzhen and other places have set up special extreme sports venues. Shops specializing in skateboarding, hip-hop cultural websites, hip-hop training classes, hip-hop parties, intermediaries organizing performances, hip-hop personal stores, hip-hop clothing stores, etc. Everywhere. All these have objectively promoted the youth consumption upsurge, forming a new business culture upsurge with youth as the main consumer, hip-hop sports equipment and clothing as the main products, and driving related industries, which is characterized by strong personalized consumption color.
Conducive to social integration. The popularity of hip-hop sports culture among young people in China shows that there is a crisis in social identity, because social identity comes from cultural identity. As a cultural orientation, the collectivism principle advocated by traditional mainstream culture can not cancel the rationality of various colorful marginal cultural orientations. Cultural orientation is only stipulated by the principle of social life, and it does not exclude the diversity of specific life content under the guidance of this principle. On the other hand, hip-hop culture reflects the enhancement of social integration. Because this wave, which belongs to the western bourgeois cultural system, is popular in China, it shows that the social and political system recognizes young people to establish a heterogeneous culture suitable for this group, respects young people to create new cultural space and choose a personalized lifestyle, which was unimaginable in China before the reform and opening up. Now people have realized that this is a personalized era. In an individualized society, various sub-cultural groups are interrelated, forming a dynamic micro-foundation and maintaining an organic social macro-structure through the cultural ties of specific groups. The social structure can no longer be integrated only by collectivism monism, and individuals as its micro-foundation are becoming more and more independent, different, equal and independent. Once excluded, it will intensify the centrifugal force on the mainstream culture and eventually lead to the loosening and disconnection of the social structure, so people are more and more tolerant of heterogeneous subcultures. Through the shaping, cohesion and edification of various subcultures on their own members, they can have a sense of identity and belonging to unite people's hearts and ultimately promote the benign operation and effective integration of society.