The Exploration of the Diffusion of Hip-Hop

Diffusion of Hip-Hop Response

Today’s hip-hop music is rap with an electric background. This type of music originated in the early 1970’s in New York city with a few young adults. They were all DJ’s and wanted to outdo each other. They would move the needle back and forth while the master of ceremonies, or MC, rapped to the music to keep the party going. The style of music was first on the radio in 1979.

Several types of diffusion played a role in the spreading of hip-hop. The first, and most obvious, type of diffusion is relocation. Although it didn’t play a big role in the diffusion of hip-hop, some of the rappers must have moved during hip-hop’s early days. The second type of diffusion is hierarchical. This is because the music gained popularity with only certain people. For example, if you are living in a senior citizen home, you were probably not exposed to it, but young adults in the inner city probably were exposed to it at parties and such. The final way hip-hop was diffused was through stimulus diffusion. This is because once the music reached a new culture, they altered it slightly and made it better, and from there it diffused more.

Hip-Hop has spread almost worldwide. It started in New York, in the inner city. From there, it gradually got to the suburbs and eventually the radio. Once it was on the radio, it spread to many other big cities and across the oceans. From when it started, hip-hop took about 9 years to get to the radio and on a record label, about 20 years to get to different cultures and different messages, and about 30 years to top the charts and have several best-selling albums.

Hip-hop was definitely altered as it diffused. What started out as a contest of DJs at a local party became a completely new style of music. Many rappers use it as a way to express concern about social issues, such as racism, domestic abuse, and other oppressive ways. Some also use it to let out all of their thoughts in a non-harmful way. A lot of hip-hop and rap has advertising built in to it, and encourages materialism. Some people even make a living from it. Regardless, hip-hop has definitely changed from DJs trying to outdo each other and is a prominent cultural trait in the area of music.

Hip-hop was not easily accepted by much of the population. The segment of the population that most readily accepted hip-hop was young adult, African-American males. This is because it is that group that began hip-hop, so it makes sense that they would most readily accept it. The acceptance rate of this new kind of music decreased with age, and the acceptance was less with females. There was a lot of resistance to hip-hop. Many of the middle-aged adults to seniors resisted the new type of music. Just like anything else new, it seemed very foreign. It is human nature to have routine and go with what they are used to. The younger population did not resist as much, because they had not yet developed a fully developed taste in music. Instead, younger people tend to go with what is popular, while adults stay with what they know. Much of the resistance was refusal to listen to the music or not letting your children listen to it. Many people did not let their children listen to the new music because of the explicit language.