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Hip Hop Nation Language

The Language of Hip Hop

Term paper for the PS
"The English Language in America"
SS 2006

handed in by
Sebastian Ludyga

Magdeburg, 25.09.2006

Table of contents

1. Introduction to hip hop 1

2. Hip Hop Nation Language 2

2.1 Features of the HHNL 3

2.2 The relationship of HHNL and AAL 5

3. Practical application 6

4. Conclusion 9

5. Attachment 11

5.1 Gin And Juice 11

5.2 Drop It Like It's hot 12

6. Bibliography 15

1

1. Introduction to hip hop

To explain the language of hip hop it's necessary
to know about its history. The author of XXX. Drei Jahrzehnte Hip- Hop (George 5) assumes that hip hop was really recognized for the first time during the 1970s. Its centre were block parties in New York City where DJs isolated drums and percussions to form a new kind of music named breakbeat. While breakdancers danced to this music some performers started speaking over it. They were called MCs and had the task to entertain the crowd as kind of a moderator. Later these performers started to rap. Alim describes it as "aesthetic placement of verbal rhymes over musical beats" (Rickford and Finegan 388). In 1979 the first hip hop songs were released by The Sugarhillgang and King Tim III. The beginning of the development of hip hop from 1970 to 1985 is known as the old school hip hop era. Hip hop was spread all over America and even foreign countries recognized the new music genre. The golden age hip hop era (1985 to 1993) was mainly characterized by the delimitation and rivalry of hip hop of the American East coast and the West Coast....