Knowledge: The Lost Element of Hip Hop

My goal for this blog is to continue sharing information about Hip Hop culture to raise awareness, appreciation, support and participation for the practitioners to keep doing their thing in a positive way that benefits others.

I focus a lot more on the dance side of Hip Hop since that’s where my passion lies, after the musicology. I have a fascination with breaking/bboying/bgirling but don’t really do it – I’ve focused on freestyle in Hip Hop, house and waacking and fuck around with popping and locking depending on the music (though I’ve fallen on my ass doing a locking set in a mini denim skirt and cramp my leg every time I do a popping set – that shit is the most dangerous).

Hip Hop heads can really get too deep with the knowledge side of things, to the point where the general public, who I prefer to be educating, can’t relate and can’t understand so they keep their superficial views and distance on such a rich, diverse and universal culture.

From my experience, it’s like bboy jams – you only ever see the participants, a few male fans and a few girls who are most likely the girlfriends of competitors. It’s so niche and closed that even other non-bboy dancers seem to rarely attend those things.

Having run many bboy jams myself, I always wonder about how to attract and keep that public audience – the most successful event being my Next Gen Jams which, are part of Carriageworks’ annual Platform Hip Hop Festival in Sydney. The crowds are huge and positive – showing that integrating it into a bigger event works best.

Myself and the boys at the D2MG Next Gen Jam at D2MG Hip Hop Academy, Sydney in 2009

I’m fortunate enough to call some of the pioneers and influential figures in the Hip Hop dance and Bboy scenes my good friends. I’d love to meet everybody and get to know them – their story, what drives their passion, their goals and ambitions, hopes and dreams, etc.

So if I’m constantly writing about someone or about what they say, it’s simple – I reach out to them or vice versa. If anyone wants to connect with me and say their piece, then drop me a note ☺

Trina