Hip Hop's Use for Different Ethtnicities

          One of the Young Men’s Christian Association, YMCA, located in Marysville, Washington have a break dance competition every year for crews to compete against each other. There are a lot of participants of Filipino, African, Chinese, Vietnamese, Caucasian, and other ethnicities who take part in this Pacific Northwest competition. Many of the teenagers are dancing because it is a hobby of theirs and it is has been an after-school activity for a lot of minority middle school and high school students. The use of hip hop depends on one’s upbringing and how the media is portraying the hip hop culture.

            Growing up in the Pacific Northwest as a Filipino-Portuguese-Hawaiian American, I have been exposed to different types of cultures. My parents come from different backgrounds: my dad is from Waialua, Hawai’i and my mom is from Torrance, California, so their upbringings were completely different and they have introduced what they knew to my brother and I. My mom knows more about the hip hop scene than my dad, so I have learned about majority of the hip hop culture through her. Although my dad is not so much into the hip hop culture, my dad is culturally involved with his roots. As a family we go to a lot of parties that consist of locals from Hawai’i, Pacific Islanders and Asians. Also, the people I hang around with listen to hip hop or are involved with the hip hop scene, so I have always been exposed to the hip hop culture. Hip hop can be a combined with one’s culture, so that it can help create a stronger bond with the community. Or in another case it can also help one identify with their ethnicity, like Little G’s story in Aboriginal hip hop and youth identity (Stavrias p. 48).

            At a young age, some people may not be able to identify themselves and turn to media to help them. The media tend to embed in teenage minds that the things occurring on television are real and true. Entering middle school, I noticed that some people could associate themselves with their race through breakdancing because a lot of the people in the crews were of the same race. Majority of the males who were in crews practiced and took interest in the television show America’s Best Dance Crew. This television show gained a lot of attention from the crews at my school. Teenagers were mimicking what they saw on the television. In Maori and Pacific Islander Hip-Hop in Aotearoa – New Zealand, the exposure of the Crips and Bloods on New Zealand’s TV2’s version of 60 Minutes has influenced on how some of the Maoris act today (Mitchell p. 283). The way television and other social media represent hip hop make a huge impact on how young citizens function today because these younglings think that real hip hop is what TV and computer screens show them.

            Knowledgeable professors, Chang and Henderson, have different intakes on Asian and Pacific Island Hip Hop because of their different upbringings. The young teenagers that live in my hometown are dedicating their time to hip hop because they enjoy it and are constantly involved with the hip hop culture. Their upbringings and exposure to hip hop may differ from Maoris, the San Francisco people, African Americans, and more, but they love what they are doing. Hip hop is going to be an gateway for some individuals because it is an outlet for creativity and self-identity. 

JKW