Hip-Hop, a popular genre of music and dance this modern day, has had a large cultural impact on a large number of people of color and young adults all over the world to this day. But, where did it come from? During the 1970’s, mostly young African Americans in the Bronx would be a part of this hip-hop culture. Block parties were held where popular songs, would be remixed with a hip-hop beat using turntables that you would see a DJ use. This directly lead to the creation of rap music which quickly gained popularity and was in full swing during the time that was known as the Golden Age of Hip-Hop. This Golden Age went from the mid 80’s to the early 90’s, and made many notable hip-hop artists and groups we know today well known such as Public Enemy, Slick Rick, Notorious B.I.G, N.W.A., 2Pac, Eazy-E, Ice Cube, just to name a few.

This spread of hip-hop culture affected many other aspects other than music, one of them being theatre. Jam on the Groove is a Broadway show that came out in 1995 which featured many hip-hop themes such as dancing and music. The show defines what hip-hop culture is about and features around fifteen people in various dance numbers, the main focus of the show to be spectacular choreography. In between all of the dances, the dancers talk about hip-hop and how it evolved and what the true meaning of hip-hop culture really is. Scenes were typically street corners, block parties or casinos each having their own diverse dance number. There were also female dancers in the cast, showing that women are a major part in hip-hop culture. The final scene allowed each dancer to have their own solo dance, which amazed the audiences that went to see them. It was truly a spectacular show that stood out from all the other ones.

Sadly however, hip-hop struggled to be a large part in most productions and was not used often, but once in awhile it would pop up to the surface. Hip-hop has affected the world in ways which we would not first say. R&B songs took the same beats from hip-hop but somehow made a more calmer and similar to soul music, which made for a beautiful combination. There has been a lot of resistance to hip-hop with some of the themes in which it gives off but the original premise of hip-hop was not that. It originated as a culture to unify young african americans and give them a special culture that they could have. I believe that without hip-hop, the world we live in today would be a very, very different place.