The Culture
Hip Hop started in the mid 70s in the Bronx in New York City. The basic idea of the culture: battle with creativity, not with weapons.
A battle of different (and better) styles, to turn senseless violence into productive energy. The culture consists of four elements:
- Breaking for the danced,
- MCing for the literal,
- DJing for the musical, and
- Writing for the graphical expression.
Our point of view
Breaking is part of Hip Hop culture: a culture that fosters creativity and inclusion, and that crosses many boundaries to unite people. Because Hip Hop and Breaking are so present in the media, people believe they already have all the information about them. They don't feel the need to dig, find out and learn about the history and true values of the culture by themselves.
Of course the public can't know that much of the information the media and record companies give them is wrong. Companies created (wrong) images to sell their products, and their points of view have nothing to do with the culture and result in misconceptions about it. The positivity (creativity) and the uniqueness (a universal language) of the culture are more and more overwhelmed by business and consumption. It's more and more all about products. Which is a pity!
- RootsThe South Bronx, the gang era, Kool Herc and Afrika Bambaataa.
- ElementsThe history of Writing, Breaking, DJing and MCing.
- MisconceptionsSeven common myths about Hip Hop, set straight.
- SwitzerlandHow Breaking arrived in Switzerland, and how the scene grew from 1982.
- Swiss contest resultsNational contests and Battle of the Year Switzerland, 1987 to 2008.