Precisely what makes Hip-Hop and/or Hip-Hop culture unique (if it is)? And, is it too grand a leap to go from the realm of the DJ (that primarily deals with sound) to the realm of ideas?

     I doubt it a grand leap, from the realm of the DJ to the realm of ideas – the realm of understanding,
the realm of the construction of knowledge. Simply put, the reception and creation of ideas-understanding-knowledge is partly based on format and experience. One can receive and create ideas-understanding-knowledge from a school teacher, a television program, an audio-book, from gossip,
from detailed observation, on and on. So that as long as idea-understanding-knowledge can be spoken,
recorded, converted into vinyl, and heard, it easily finds a home in the crates of the DJ – and essentially
becomes a contributor to the emergent culture of Hip-Hop. This seemingly far-fetched construction, I
believe, makes Hip-Hop and/or Hip-Hop culture one golden-child of all cultures that have existed
before the 1970s and still exist today. Consider it safe to say that the uniqueness of Hip-Hop lies in its
degree of openness.

     A fluid openness: I know not of a culture that has, in peculiar sense, gone beyond confines (of race,
ethnicity, spirituality, borderlines, academies, and so on) to the extent that this emerging culture of Hip-
Hop has. Let us ponder on the DJ's mixing and scratching: A method that allows traditions, musical and
non-musical, to ooze-flow into the other – until a unique form is achieved.


     Which reminds me.
     A DJ once said that Hip-Hop traveled all ways.

TGCMM