Hip hop fashion
Hip hop fashion known as big fashion, is a distinctive style of dress originating from African American and other inner city youth on the scene of New York City followed by Los Angeles, Chicago, the San Francisco Bay Area, Memphis, Atlanta, St. Louis and others; each city has contributed various elements to the overall style seen worldwide today. Hip hop fashion complements the attitudes of hip hop culture in general. Hip hop fashion has changed during its history, today it is a prominent part of popular fashion across the whole world and for all ethnicities. In the late 1970s, sportswear and fashion brands were established, such as Le Coq Sportif, Kangol and Pro-Keds, attached themselves to the emerging hip hop scene. During the 1980s, hip hop icons wore clothing items such as brightly colored name-brand tracksuits and leather bomber jackets, Clarks shoes, Britishers a.k.a. British Walkers, sneakers. Popular haircuts ranged from the early-1980s Jheri curl to the early-1990s hi-top fade popularized by Will Smith and Christopher "Kid" Reid of Kid'n Play, among others.
Another trend in hip hop clothing was pioneered by Dapper Dan in the early 1980s with the adaptation and brandishing of high-net-worth fashion house brands such as Louis Vuitton and Gucci and logos in custom-designed tracksuits and mink coats. Popular accessories included large eyeglasses, Kangol bucket hats, name belts, multiple rings. Heavy gold jewelry was popular in the 1980s. In general, men's jewelry focused on women's jewelry on large gold earrings. Performers such as Kurtis Blow and Big Daddy Kane helped popularize gold necklaces and other such jewelry, female rappers such as Roxanne Shanté and the group Salt-N-Pepa helped popularize oversized gold door-knocker earrings; the heavy jewelry was suggestive of prestige and wealth, some have connected the style to Africanism. MC Schoolly D, for instance, claimed that wearing gold "is not something, born and raised in America; this goes back to Africa... the artists in the rap field are battling. We're the head warriors. We got to stand up and say we're winning battles, this is how we're doing it."1980s hip hop fashion is remembered as one of the most important elements of old school hip hop, is celebrated in nostalgic hip hop songs such as Ahmad's 1994 single "Back in the Day", Missy Elliott's 2002 single of the same name.
According to Gwendolyn O'Neal, the author of African American Aesthetics of Dress, "while an African-American aesthetic of dress is neither African nor American, it is shaped by unique ‘cultural’ experiences resulting from being of African descent and living in America." The rapper Jay-Z echoed this in a Black Book Magazine interview. It is not because of conspicuous consumption that the hip hop lifestyle brought in these high end fashion products. Preppy looks caught on with 80s youth in the first wave of hip hop influence. “This group of black yuppy wannabes or ‘buppies’ rocked to 80s hip hop music and wore styles from Polo, The Timberland and Tommy Hilfiger... were drawn to Hilfiger because of its all-American, WASP-y, country club feeling—it was exclusive and aspirational”. The immense popularity of the brand Tommy Hilfiger among the hip hop subculture community led to the brand's global expansion; as music played a significant role in the way people dressed during the 90's, many celebrities were known as fashion icons rappers.
Legendary rapper, was not only known for his resonating lyrics, but his timeless style. He was seen as a trend setter during that period and bandanas paired with baggy overalls or Red Wings jersey was known to be his classic style. In return, he made bandanas into an iconic headwear accessory. Today, his fashion influences has taught society to be more acceptable towards different styles as well as inspired fashion designers from all over the world to be innovative towards their designs. Furthermore, Snoop Dogg's strong charisma and his laid-back approach to his rhymes complemented his flannel and sweatshirts with Chucks; when he revamped his style to a cleaner cut of suited and booted look, his Doberman-like facial features and slender frame were masked by his charisma and chic vibe. He has since influenced people that with pride comes with confidence, the key of feeling comfortable and looking good in your individual fashion style. Moreover, hip hop has adopted and transformed traditional or “old world” luxury symbols and made them modern-day, “cool” commodities.
Rapper LL Cool J wore a Kangol hat back in the 1980s, when few Americans knew anything about the European hat maker, but its association with hip hop would invigorate the brand. In 2003, London-based Kangol acknowledged the popularity given its sixty-year-old brand by a young LL Cool J in 1983. Black nationalism was influential in rap during the late 1980s, fashions and hairstyles reflected traditional African influences. Blousy pants were popular among dance-oriented rappers like M. C. Hammer. Fezzes, kufis decorated with the Kemetic ankh, Kente cloth hats, Africa chains and Black Nationalist colors of red and green became popular as well, promoted by artists such as Queen Latifah, KRS-One, Public Enemy, X-C
Spain
Spain the Kingdom of Spain, is a country located in Europe. Its continental European territory is situated on the Iberian Peninsula, its territory includes two archipelagoes: the Canary Islands off the coast of Africa, the Balearic Islands in the Mediterranean Sea. The African enclaves of Ceuta, Peñón de Vélez de la Gomera make Spain the only European country to have a physical border with an African country. Several small islands in the Alboran Sea are part of Spanish territory; the country's mainland is bordered to the south and east by the Mediterranean Sea except for a small land boundary with Gibraltar. With an area of 505,990 km2, Spain is the largest country in Southern Europe, the second largest country in Western Europe and the European Union, the fourth largest country in the European continent. By population, Spain is the fifth in the European Union. Spain's capital and largest city is Madrid. Modern humans first arrived in the Iberian Peninsula around 35,000 years ago. Iberian cultures along with ancient Phoenician, Greek and Carthaginian settlements developed on the peninsula until it came under Roman rule around 200 BCE, after which the region was named Hispania, based on the earlier Phoenician name Spn or Spania.
At the end of the Western Roman Empire the Germanic tribal confederations migrated from Central Europe, invaded the Iberian peninsula and established independent realms in its western provinces, including the Suebi and Vandals. The Visigoths would forcibly integrate all remaining independent territories in the peninsula, including Byzantine provinces, into the Kingdom of Toledo, which more or less unified politically and all the former Roman provinces or successor kingdoms of what was documented as Hispania. In the early eighth century the Visigothic Kingdom fell to the Moors of the Umayyad Islamic Caliphate, who arrived to rule most of the peninsula in the year 726, leaving only a handful of small Christian realms in the north and lasting up to seven centuries in the Kingdom of Granada; this led to many wars during a long reconquering period across the Iberian Peninsula, which led to the creation of the Kingdom of Leon, Kingdom of Castile, Kingdom of Aragon and Kingdom of Navarre as the main Christian kingdoms to face the invasion.
Following the Moorish conquest, Europeans began a gradual process of retaking the region known as the Reconquista, which by the late 15th century culminated in the emergence of Spain as a unified country under the Catholic Monarchs. Until Aragon had been an independent kingdom, which had expanded toward the eastern Mediterranean, incorporating Sicily and Naples, had competed with Genoa and Venice. In the early modern period, Spain became the world's first global empire and the most powerful country in the world, leaving a large cultural and linguistic legacy that includes more than 570 million Hispanophones, making Spanish the world's second-most spoken native language, after Mandarin Chinese. During the Golden Age there were many advancements in the arts, with world-famous painters such as Diego Velázquez; the most famous Spanish literary work, Don Quixote, was published during the Golden Age. Spain hosts the world's third-largest number of UNESCO World Heritage Sites. Spain is a secular parliamentary democracy and a parliamentary monarchy, with King Felipe VI as head of state.
It is a major developed country and a high income country, with the world's fourteenth largest economy by nominal GDP and sixteenth largest by purchasing power parity. It is a member of the United Nations, the European Union, the Eurozone, the Council of Europe, the Organization of Ibero-American States, the Union for the Mediterranean, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, the Schengen Area, the World Trade Organization and many other international organisations. While not an official member, Spain has a "Permanent Invitation" to the G20 summits, participating in every summit, which makes Spain a de facto member of the group; the origins of the Roman name Hispania, from which the modern name España was derived, are uncertain due to inadequate evidence, although it is documented that the Phoenicians and Carthaginians referred to the region as Spania, therefore the most accepted etymology is a Semitic-Phoenician one.
Down the centuries there have been a number of accounts and hypotheses: The Renaissance scholar Antonio de Nebrija proposed that the word Hispania evolved from the Iberian word Hispalis, meaning "city of the western world". Jesús Luis Cunchillos argues that the root of the term span is the Phoenician word spy, meaning "to forge metals". Therefore, i-spn-ya would mean "the land where metals are forged", it may be a derivation of the Phoenician I-Shpania, meaning "island of rabbits", "land of rabbits" or "edge", a reference to Spain's location at the end of the Mediterranean. The word in question means "Hyrax" due to Phoenicians confusing the two animals. Hispania may derive from the poetic use of the term Hesperia, reflecting the Greek perception of Italy as a "western land" or "land of the setting sun" (Hesperia
R.A.C.L.A.
R. A. C. L. A. is a Romanian hip hop group, founded in 1993 in Bucharest. Consisting of brothers Călin "Rimaru" Ionescu and Daniel "Clonatu'" Ionescu, the group released the first Romanian hip hop album in 1995 on Kromm Studio, an independent record label. One of first and most critically acclaimed hip hop acts in Romania, it has been through numerous personnel changes after Clonatu's departure from the group in 1998, with Rimaru remaining the sole constant member throughout the years. Known among its fans as a hardcore and political rap group, they would gain a larger fan base in their native Romania following their collaboration with pop singer Anda Adam in 1999. In the mid and late 1990s, R. A. C. L. A; also gained notoriety for their involvement in a violent conflict with gangsta rap group B. U. G. Mafia and some of their affiliates at the time, such as La Familia and Il-Egal; the dispute produced a number of diss tracks from both sides and would lead to physical altercations between members of the groups.
While never announcing their hiatus, the group became inactive for a number of years following the release of their fifth album in 2005 and group member Connect-R's departure in 2007. Rimaru made a number of infrequent appearances as a solo artist and, as of 2014, has returned to performing under the group name, while recruiting DJ GreWu, DJ Semplaru and rappers EyeKon and TKE and Boka, as touring members of R. A. C. L. A. In October 2017, Adevărul reported that a number of women accused group founder Călin "Rimaru" Ionescu of sexually assaulting, harassing or threatening them during his time as a copywriter at Centrade Cheil, an advertising agency in Bucharest. Although some of the cited stories had taken place as far back as 2014, some of the victims stated their complaints were met with indifference. A number of quoted stories featured screenshots of Facebook conversations during which Ionescu had been explicitly verbally abusive and had threatened victims with physical violence for refusing his sexual advances, while others recounted a number of instances during which they had been sexually or physically assaulted by him, for similar reasons.
Centrade Cheil CEO Radu Florescu claimed during an interview that the human resources department had only received one complaint in 2014 regarding Ionescu's behavior and that he had been reprimanded accordingly. The company claims to have been unaware of any other incidents. In a press release, Ionescu did not dispute the veridicity of the claims, but defended his behavior by claiming the victims' failure to take legal action implied they had not felt threatened by him, while suggesting that the Harvey Weinstein sexual misconduct allegations had provided them with a platform for personal advertising. Following additional allegations, Ionescu was subsequently fired from his position at Centrade Cheil. Ionescu admitted to the autenticity of all the Facebook conversations released by victims during an interview, apologized for his actions, while continuing to claim his threats should not have been taken seriously. Rap-Sodia Efectului Defectului, 1995 Cei care te calcă pe cap, 1997 Rime de bine, 1998 Plus infinit, 2000 DEXteritate, 2005 Raport Major, 2016 Incursiune în real, 1996 ElectroShok, 2004 Pătratul roşu, 2001
Graffiti
Graffiti is writing or drawings made on a wall or other surface without permission and within public view. Graffiti ranges from simple written words to elaborate wall paintings, it has existed since ancient times, with examples dating back to ancient Egypt, ancient Greece, the Roman Empire. In modern times and marker pens have become the most used graffiti materials. In most countries, marking or painting property without the property owner's permission is considered defacement and vandalism, a punishable crime. Unrelated to hip-hop graffiti, gangs use their own form of graffiti to mark territory or to serve as an indicator of gang-related activities. Controversies that surround graffiti continue to create disagreement amongst city officials, law enforcement, writers who wish to display and appreciate work in public locations. There are many different styles of graffiti. Both "graffiti" and its occasional singular form "graffito" are from the Italian word graffiato. "Graffiti" is applied in art history to works of art produced by scratching a design into a surface.
A related term is "sgraffito", which involves scratching through one layer of pigment to reveal another beneath it. This technique was used by potters who would glaze their wares and scratch a design into it. In ancient times graffiti were carved on walls with a sharp object, although sometimes chalk or coal were used; the word originates from Greek γράφειν—graphein—meaning "to write". The term graffiti referred to the inscriptions, figure drawings, such, found on the walls of ancient sepulchres or ruins, as in the Catacombs of Rome or at Pompeii. Use of the word has evolved to include any graphics applied to surfaces in a manner that constitutes vandalism; the only known source of the Safaitic language, a form of proto-Arabic, is from graffiti: inscriptions scratched on to the surface of rocks and boulders in the predominantly basalt desert of southern Syria, eastern Jordan and northern Saudi Arabia. Safaitic dates from the first century BC to the fourth century AD; the first known example of "modern style" graffiti survives in the ancient Greek city of Ephesus.
Local guides say. Located near a mosaic and stone walkway, the graffiti shows a handprint that vaguely resembles a heart, along with a footprint, a number, a carved image of a woman's head; the ancient Romans carved graffiti on walls and monuments, examples of which survive in Egypt. Graffiti in the classical world had different connotations than they carry in today's society concerning content. Ancient graffiti displayed phrases of love declarations, political rhetoric, simple words of thought, compared to today's popular messages of social and political ideals The eruption of Vesuvius preserved graffiti in Pompeii, which includes Latin curses, magic spells, declarations of love, political slogans, famous literary quotes, providing insight into ancient Roman street life. One inscription gives the address of a woman named Novellia Primigenia of Nuceria, a prostitute of great beauty, whose services were much in demand. Another shows a phallus accompanied by mansueta tene. Disappointed love found its way onto walls in antiquity: Ancient tourists visiting the 5th-century citadel at Sigiriya in Sri Lanka scribbled over 1800 individual graffiti there between the 6th and 18th centuries.
Etched on the surface of the Mirror Wall, they contain pieces of prose and commentary. The majority of these visitors appear to have been from the elite of society: royalty, officials and clergy. There were soldiers and some metalworkers; the topics range from love to satire, curses and lament. Many demonstrate a high level of literacy and a deep appreciation of art and poetry. Most of the graffiti refer to the frescoes of semi-nude females found there. One reads: Among the ancient political graffiti examples were Arab satirist poems. Yazid al-Himyari, an Umayyad Arab and Persian poet, was most known for writing his political poetry on the walls between Sajistan and Basra, manifesting a strong hatred towards the Umayyad regime and its walis, people used to read and circulate them widely. Historic forms of graffiti have helped gain understanding into the lifestyles and languages of past cultures. Errors in spelling and grammar in these graffiti offer insight into the degree of literacy in Roman times and provide clues on the pronunciation of spoken Latin.
Examples are 7838: Vettium Firmum / aed quactiliar rog. Here, "qu" is pronounced "co"; the 83 pieces of graffiti found at CIL IV, 4706-85 are evidence of the ability to read and write at levels of society where literacy might not be expected. The graffiti appear on a peristyle, being remodeled at the time of the eruption of Vesuvius by the architect Crescens; the graffiti were left by his workers. The brothel at CIL VII, 12, 18–20 contains more than 120 pieces of graffiti, some of which were the work of the prostitutes and their clients; the gladiatorial academy at CIL IV, 4397 was scrawled with graffiti left by the gladiator Celadus Crescens Another piece from Pompeii, written on a tavern wall about the owner of the establishment and his questionable wine: It was not only the Greeks and Romans who produced graffiti: the Maya s
Golden age hip hop
Golden age hip hop is a name given to mainstream hip hop music created in the mid/late 1980s and early 1990s by artists and musicians originating from the New York metropolitan area. It is characterized by its diversity, quality and influence on hip hop after the genre's emergence and establishment in the previous decade. There were various types of subject matter, while the music was experimental and the sampling from old records was eclectic; the artists most associated with the period are LL Cool J, Slick Rick, Ultramagnetic MC's, the Jungle Brothers, Run–D. M. C. Public Enemy, Beastie Boys, KRS-One, Eric B. & Rakim, De La Soul, Big Daddy Kane, EPMD, A Tribe Called Quest. Releases by these acts co-existed in this period with, were as commercially viable as, those of early gangsta rap artists such as Ice-T, Geto Boys and N. W. A, the sex raps of 2 Live Crew and Too Short, party-oriented music by acts such as Kid'n Play, The Fat Boys, DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince and MC Hammer; the golden age is noted for its innovation – a time "when it seemed that every new single reinvented the genre," according to Rolling Stone.
Referring to "hip-hop in its golden age", Spin's editor-in-chief Sia Michel said, "there were so many important, groundbreaking albums coming out right about that time", MTV's Sway Calloway added: "The thing that made that era so great is that nothing was contrived. Everything was still being discovered and everything was still innovative and new". Writer William Jelani Cobb said, "what made the era they inaugurated worthy of the term golden was the sheer number of stylistic innovations that came into existence... in these golden years, a critical mass of mic prodigies were creating themselves and their art form at the same time". The term "Golden age hip hop" frames the late 1980s in mainstream hip hop, said to be characterized by its diversity, quality and influence, associated with Public Enemy, KRS-One and his Boogie Down Productions, Eric B. & Rakim, Ultramagnetic MCs, De La Soul, A Tribe Called Quest, the Jungle Brothers due to their themes of Afrocentricity and political militancy, their experimental music, their eclectic sampling.
This same period is sometimes referred to as "mid-school" or a "middle school" in hip hop, the phrase covering acts such as Gang Starr, The UMC's, Main Source, Lord Finesse, EPMD, Just Ice, True Mathematics, Mantronix. The innovations of Run-D. M. C. LL Cool J, new school producers such as Larry Smith, Rick Rubin of Def Jam Recordings, were advanced on by the Beastie Boys, Marley Marl and his Juice Crew MCs, Boogie Down Productions, Public Enemy, Eric B. & Rakim. Hip hop production became denser and beats faster, as the drum machine was augmented with the sampler technology. Rakim took lyrics about the art of rapping to new heights, while KRS-One and Chuck D pushed "message rap" towards black activism. Native Tongues artists' inclusive, sample-crowded music accompanied their positivity and playful energy. With the eventual commercial dominance of West Coast gangsta rap the emergence of the relaxed sounds of G-funk by the early nineties, the East Coast new school/golden age can be said to have ended, with hardcore rappers such as the Wu-Tang Clan and gangsta rappers such as Nas and The Notorious B.
I. G. Coming to dominate the East Coast scene. During the golden age of hip hop, samples were used; the ability to sample different beats and patterns from a wide variety of sources gave birth to a new breed of producers and DJs who did not need formal musical training or instruments, just a good ear for sound collages. These samples were derived from a number of genres, ranging from jazz and soul to rock and roll. For example, Paul's Boutique, the Beastie Boys' second studio album, drew from over 200 individual samples, 24 of which were featured on the last track of the album. Samples and sound bites were not limited to just music. RZA of the Wu-Tang Clan, a hip hop collective formed in the 1990s, sampled sound clips from his own collection of 1970s kung-fu films to bolster and frame the group's gritty lyrical content. Many of the sample-laden albums released during this time would not be able to receive legal clearance today; the era provided some of the greatest advances in rapping technique.
Kool G Rap, referring to the golden age in the book How to Rap said, "that era bred rappers like a Big Daddy Kane, a KRS-One, a Rakim, a Chuck D... their rapping capability and ability – these dudes were phenomenal". Many of hip hop's biggest artists were at their creative peak. Allmusic said the golden age "witnessed the best recordings from some of the biggest rappers in the genre's history... overwhelmingly based in New York City, golden age rap is characterized by skeletal beats, samples cribbed from hard rock or soul tracks, tough dis raps... rhymers like PE's Chuck D, Big Daddy Kane, KRS-One, LL Cool J invented the complex wordplay and lyrical kung-fu of hip-hop". In addition to lyrical self-glorification, hip hop was used as a form of social protest. Lyrical content from the era drew attention to a variety of social issues including Afrocentric living, drug use and violence, culture, the state of the American economy, the modern man's struggle. Conscious and political hip hop tracks of the time were a response to the effects of American capitalism and former President Reagan's conservative political economy.
According to Rose Tricia, "In rap, relationships between black cultural practice and economic conditions, technology and racial politics, the institution policing of the popular terrain are complex and in constant motion. Though hip hop was used as a mechanism for dif
Guess Who (rapper)
Laurenţiu Mocanu, better known by his stage name Guess Who is a Romanian rapper. Guess Who was born in Bucharest, Romania in 1986; as a child, he enjoyed sports and played football for the Bucharest-based club Steaua. Hai Să Vorbim Probe Audio Tot Mai Sus Un Anonim Celebru
Polyvalent Hall (Bucharest)
Polyvalent Hall of Bucharest is a multi-purpose hall in Bucharest, located in the Tineretului Park. It is used for concerts, indoor sports such as tennis, dance, volleyball, weightlifting, combat sports and professional wrestling; the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2006 took place in this venue. Sala Polivalentă website
