44

August 11, 1973 is widely regarded as the birthdate of hip hop, it was "DJ Kool Herc Party". Who is DJ Kool Herc? Kool Herc is the father of Hip Hop, and it started in the south bronx. I can go on and on about the history about this culture, key figures in the culture, positives and negatives, but at the end of the day our society was never the same once the whole world was exposed to what 1970s NYC was keeping from us. 

Last Friday, August 11, 2017, Hip Hop celebrated it's 44th anniversary. Many of my fellow Hip Hop practitioners celebrated by acknowledging the day, showing their earlier years of their involvement with hip hop, sharing a moment with their mentors, and giving a little bit of hip hop history on social media. I celebrated by reflecting on how Hip Hop changed the course of my life.

Hip hop for me started as it does with many others that become hip hop fans, Rap music. For me it was 2pac, Biggie, Nas, Rakim, and The Roots, each bringing their own style and flavor to Rap music throughout the 90s. I credit The Roots with opening my ears to a whole different approach to hip hop and because of that I was introduced to the likes of The Fugees, Common, KRS-one, The Living Legends, and Hieroglyphics. It was those artists and groups that made me want more, made me want to engulf myself in hip hop, to become a student of hip hop culture. When I started learning how to B-boy in 2001 everything that I had learned all started to make sense, everything that I had been listening to started from somewhere and everyone I looked up to had the the knowledge to teach me. 

B-boy fresh finesse optic and B-boy tuff rockin e-swift. Roc So Fresh Crew

As part of MY hip hop history, when I started B-boying in 2001 I became obsessed with the culture. soaking up whatever knowledge I got from my mentors, hours of practice honing my craft, hours online researching what I could on the history of hip hop, and eventually becoming a mentor myself. My obsession with hip hop and b-boying eventually became my identity, it set me apart from my group of friends because I was doing something that, at the time in 2001 at the age of 14-15, no one else was doing where I lived and that was learning about hip hop and bboying the right way. It was no longer about who was the best Rapper, what song was the best to come out that year, or what was the latest "hip hop" fashion trends. I found my niche and it became my identity, I thank the Rock So Fresh family for this, without this who knows what would've happened to me. 

I reflect on my own experience the past 16 years(?) and hip hop's 44 years since DJ Kool Herc's back to school party, I think about how this culture transcends gender, religion, nationality, socioeconomic backgrounds, etc... Hip Hop came from the youth of 1970's poverty stricken South Bronx, NYC and now it's a global force of MC's, Graffiti writers, DJs, B-Boys/B-Girls, Mentors, Teachers, Artists. All because we felt like we needed to belong, to release, to stay out of trouble, to keep our creative juices going, happy 44th Hip Hop, cheers to infinity.

-RAWfiki