Hip-hop culture is ubiquitous in the music and cultural landscape of the Netherlands. It encompasses so many elements that the best way to describe it is to go back to its genesis in New York. In the 1970s, deprived neighbourhoods there, particularly The Bronx, fell into economic decline. Despite the poverty and chaos, the youth needed creativity and escape. They found this in the parties of local DJs. With innovative use of cut-and-paste techniques, they created something new by reshaping disco and funk music, as well as soul, jazz and R&B. From this emerged hip-hop music, supported by MCs who encouraged the audience with rhyming cries. Breaking, or b-boying, gave young people a new way to express themselves through dance, with its own rules and traditions. At the same time, graffiti artists claimed the city's walls and trains as their canvas, winning respect and territory in creative and non-violent battles. These art forms strengthened the growing hip-hop community, in which street fashion and self-expression were also important. Since the late 1970s, hip-hop has spread worldwide, including to the Netherlands. Here, hip-hop was initially found in the Netherlands' two largest cities: Amsterdam and Rotterdam. A few years later, cities such as Groningen, Eindhoven and The Hague followed.
In recent decades, hip-hop has evolved into a cultural movement that is much more than music; and which, in summary, revolves around four pillars: rapping, DJing, breakdancing and graffiti. Although hip-hop culture contains other elements besides this core, many hip-hop artists and fans worldwide recognise ‘knowledge’ as the fifth element. This element, rooted in the Universal Zulu Nation of Afrika Bambaataa, emphasises self-actualisation, empowerment and understanding of the culture's history and values. Because of this emancipating potential, hip-hop is increasingly being used in education and community projects. This knowledge forms a unifying force and contributes to the popularity and institutionalisation of hip-hop worldwide.
Hip-hop nowadays is the most popular form of culture worldwide and also in the Netherlands, and it is impossible to imagine our society without it. It started in the big cities, but is now widespread throughout the Netherlands. Hip hop has changed from a subculture to a dominant culture and is constantly changing, setting trends for many different industries. Just think of the fashion industry, which closely follows all hip-hop developments, but many advertisements also feature hip-hop expressions in the form of music or language. Hip-hop has many ramifications, creating subgenres within its main sections: rap, DJ, breakdance and graffiti. You could even argue that the four pillars of hip-hop have become independent movements with their own communities, but the fact remains: hip-hop is the common denominator.
That hip hop is thus more than just music is well known. Yet it is difficult to understand the nature and size of all the elements of hip-hop culture. Media coverage and academic research focus almost exclusively on music. Graffiti, turntablism and breakdance are heavily under-researched. Knowledge is lacking or fragmented, despite the emergence of urban arts-a term describing cultural expressions such as hip-hop, street art and extreme sports. Although policymakers and funds use the term, many hip hoppers reject it because of the lack of connection with their perception of culture.
The year 1983 was an important one for the hip-hop discipline graffiti. The exhibition, entitled ‘Graffiti’, was on show for a month and a half at Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen and then travelled on to the Groninger Museum. This made the Netherlands one of the first countries to include the work of street artists - still regarded by many at the time as vandalistic smudging - in the official art circuit. The exhibition led to a fierce debate: ‘Does this result of vandalism belong in a museum?’ Critics were mostly negative, and a group of graffiti artists protested against what they saw as hypocritical policies of the municipality. While graffiti artists were arrested on the streets, their work was simultaneously elevated to art in museums. Despite this controversy, the popularity of graffiti (and other forms such as street art) within the museum world has only grown since then. Today, the work of ‘street artists’ can no longer be left out of museum collections, exhibitions and the international art market.
The objective of Hiphop In Je Smoel (HIJS), to stimulate (inter)national hip-hop culture in all its forms of expression, thus goes beyond just the four pillars with which the culture once started: mc'ing, graffiti, dj'ing and breakdance. Namely, the unofficial fifth element is knowledge. Sharing that knowledge, ensuring the preservation of reporting and archiving culture, is the foundation on which HIJS is built.