Discovering African American Identity Through the Hip-Hop Aesthetic

BTSU 201

Since the transatlantic slave trade, African Americans have faced the dilemma of forming an identity of their own. Removed from Africa, forced into slavery and transported to a foreign land, direct cultural ties to the African continent would eventually be eradicated for the following generations of African Americans. While suffering from both a disconnect to Africa and discrimination while in America, African Americans struggle with a cultural dilemma that paints a burdensome picture of belonging and identity. Uprooted from their homeland, each generation of African Americans became further detached from their cultural traditions, creating a burgeoning identity dilemma. A potential resolution to this dilemma can be explored through the examination of Hip-Hop culture and dance. Hip-Hop culture is considered a grassroots expression by black Americans that has helped to form cultural identity. Hip-Hop originally served as a voice for a disenfranchised, marginalized people to express themselves artistically and celebrate their culture. Through the examination of both African and American aesthetics within Hip-Hop culture and dance, an exploration of African American identity can occur. By examining these qualities, a stronger and more positive connection to Africa can be formed. By examining African dance and its evolution into African American social dance through its trajectory from the plantation to Hip-Hop dance movement, a rich cultural movement inheritance can lead to a manifestation of identity. Embracing African ancestry though Africanist aesthetics combined with the acknowledgement of distinct American cultural aspects, both serve as signifiers of the "Hip-Hop aesthetic." This combination of components that stem from separate aspects of African and American culture merge to establish the Hip-Hop aesthetic that formulates the African American identity through culture and dance.