DJing

Turntablism refers to the extended boundaries and techniques of normal DJing innovated by hip hop. One of the pioneering hip hop DJ’s was Kool DJ Herc, who created hip hop through the isolation of “breaks” (the parts of albums that focused solely on the beat). In addition to developing Herc’s techniques, DJs Grandmaster Flowers, Grandmaster Flash, Grand Wizard Theodore, and Grandmaster Caz made further innovations with the introduction of scratching.

Traditionally, a DJ will use two turntables simultaneously. These are connected to a DJ mixer, an amplifier, speakers, and various other pieces of electronic music equipment. The DJ will then perform various tricks between the two albums currently in rotation using the above listed methods. The result is a unique sound created by the seemingly combined sound of two separate songs into one song. Although there is considerable overlap between the two roles, a DJ is not the same as a producer of a music track.

Breaking

In 1925, Earl Tucker (aka Snake Hips), a performer at the Cotton Club created a dance style which would later inspire an element of hip hop culture known as bboying.^[73] Breaking, also called B-boying or breakdancing, is a dynamic style of dance which developed as part of the hip hop culture. Breaking is one of the major elements of hip hop culture. Like many aspects of hip hop culture, breakdance borrows heavily from many cultures, including 1930s-era street dancing,^[74][75] Afro-Brazilian and Asian Martial arts, Russian folk dance,^[76] and the dance moves of James Brown, Michael Jackson, and California Funk styles. Breaking took form in the South Bronx alongside the other elements of hip hop.

Beatbox

Beatbox, popularized by Doug E. Fresh,^[77] is the vocal percussion of hip hop culture. It is primarily concerned with the art of creating beats, rhythms, and melodies using the human mouth.^[78] The term beatboxing is derived from the mimicry of the first generation of drum machines, then known as beatboxes. As it is a way of creating hip hop music, it can be categorized under the production element of hip hop, though it does sometimes include a type of rapping intersected with the human-created beat.

The art was quite popular in the 1980s with artists like the Darren “Buffy, the Human Beat Box” Robinson of the Fat Boys and Biz Markie displaying their skills in beatboxing. It declined in popularity along with b-boying in the late ’80s, but has undergone a resurgence since the late ’90s, marked by the release of “Make the Music 2000.” by Rahzel of The Roots.

Graffiti

In America around the late 1960s, graffiti was used as a form of expression by political activists, and also by gangs such as the Savage Skulls, La Familia, and Savage Nomads to mark territory. Towards the end of the 1960s, the signatures—tags—of Philadelphia graffiti writers Top Cat,^[69] Cool Earl and Cornbread started to appear.^[70] Around 1970–71, the center of graffiti innovation moved to New York City where writers following in the wake of TAKI 183 and Tracy 168 would add their street number to their nickname, “bomb” a train with their work, and let the subway take it—and their fame, if it was impressive, or simply pervasive, enough—”all city”. Bubble lettering held sway initially among writers from the Bronx, though the elaborate Brooklyn style Tracy 168 dubbed “wildstyle” would come to define the art.^[69][71] The early trendsetters were joined in the 70s by artists like Dondi, Futura 2000, Daze, Blade, Lee, Fab Five Freddy, Zephyr,Rammellzee, Crash, Kel, NOC 167 and Lady Pink.^[69]

MCing

Rapping (also known as emceeing,^[59] MCing,^[59] spitting (bars),^[60] or just rhyming^[61]) refers to “spoken or chanted rhyming lyrics with a strong rhythmic accompaniment”.^[62] It can be broken down into different components, such as “content”, “flow” (rhythm and rhyme), and “delivery”.^[63] Rapping is distinct from spoken word poetry in that is it performed in time to the beat of the music.^[64][65][66] The use of the word “rap” to describe quick and slangy speech or repartee long predates the musical form.^[67]MCing a form of expression that is embedded within ancient African culture and oral tradition. Throughout history there has always been some form of verbal acrobatics or jousting involving rhymes within the Afro-American community.