The Myth of the Elements: Compilation, Representation and the Construction of Hip Hop in Rural Britain During the 1980s

Abstract

The cultural practices of hip-hop evolved during the mid-1970s in NYC’s dilapidated neighbourhoods and since the mid-1980s has been globally represented by four core elements: graffiti, Bboying, rap and DJing, which produce strong representations of the urban experience within which they were conceived. The primary sonics of hip-hop music and its dance counterpart carry a natural synergy discussed by scholars throughout the evolution of hip-hop studies (Toop 1984; Rose 1994; Chang 2005), yet the relationship between these elements and the practices of graffiti are sporadic. However, during the 1980s secondary representations of hip-hop through film and compilation albums framed graffiti as an equal counterpart of hip-hop whilst providing a visual language that became its key selling point to consumers outside the immediate context of the culture’s NYC origins, and by doing so, created the myth of the elements.
Through a semiotic and semantic deconstruction of hip-hop compilation albums released in Britain and Europe during the 1980s and reflective interviews with consumers of the time, this paper explores two culturally critical hinges: primarily, the hinge between graffiti and hip-hop, and secondarily the hinge between rural and urban. This exploration informs a detailed discussion of how secondary representations of hip-hop fostered the myth of the four core elements- and the subsequent impact of this myth- particularly in rural areas. The paper concludes that these compilation albums were largely responsible for a divergent understanding of the core elements of hip-hop, which resulted in a distinction in how hip-hop was practiced in rural Britain.