Hip-Hop for Dummies: 10 Basics to Make the Genre Easier to Understand

Hip-hop sort of stumbled into existence at 1520 Sedgwick Ave. in the Bronx, N.Y., during the 1970s. There was no blueprint of what the culture was going to look like nor were there boundaries restricting the sounds. What started as music that was built within black youth culture expanded to include fans around the world that respect the boom-bap. Hip-hop has elevated and graduated. There are 40-year-old rappers dropping full-length albums and pop stars moving the soundscape of rap into the mainstream by collaborating with power players in the genre.

Within 40 years, DJ Kool Herc's hobby of spinning records in the rec room at 1520 Sedgwick Ave., became a full-blown, money-making enterprise. Whether fans are introduced to the culture through a television commercial or an older cousin, hip-hop gains a new supporter every day. The BoomBox highlights a few talking points newer hip-hop heads will want to keep close. Here's Hip-Hop for Dummies, a guide to fully understand this thing of ours.

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