How do you spell Hip Hop?
By KRS-ONE
When it comes to the correct spelling of Hip Hop, the first questions that need to be answered is; how do you approach Hip Hop? Is Hip Hop just a music genre to you? Is Hip Hop a cultural lifestyle to you? Or is Hip Hop not even that important to the happenings of your life? Before we begin, let’s deal with the facts. One of the first spellings of the term “Hip Hop” appeared to the American mainstream in the Hip Hop movie classic “Beatstreet”. It appeared on the side of a train painted by the character “Romone” or “Ram one”. The full statement (top to bottom) that was painted on the train read; “Hip Hop Ya Don’t Stop!”
According to the American Heritage College Dictionary Third Edition, Hip Hop is defined as “…the popular culture of big city and especially inner-city youth, characterized by Graffiti art, Break dancing and Rap music—of or relating to this culture”. The Oxford English Dictionary defines Hip Hop as a “…sub-culture, characterized by Graffiti art, Break dancing and Rap music—of Black and Hispanic origin”. Zulu Nation defines Hip Hop as; “MCing, DJing, Writing (or Graffiti art), B-Boying, knowledge and overstanding”. The Temple of Hiphop defines Hip Hop as; “Breakin, Emceein, Graffiti Art, Deejayin, Beatboxin, Street Fashion, Street Language, Street Knowledge and Street Entrepreneurialism”.
In all of these definitions Hip Hop is referred to as a culture. Hip Hop is even referred to commonly as a specific group of people. Whenever someone outside of our culture refers to us they do and say specific things to describe us. Many refer to us as “the Hip Hop Nation, the Hip Hop generation, the Hip Hop community, or just Hiphoppas”. With this in mind, Hip Hop can be said to be a proper noun or a specific thing. This would mean that the correct spelling of Hip Hop is to begin with a capital H. Hip Hop spelled as “hip-hop” is simply grammatically incorrect because Hip Hop is technically a proper noun; it is a specific thing. Plus, to spell the name of any culture beginning with a lower case letter is simply disrespectful.
But besides all of these facts, we Hiphoppas reserve the right to define ourselves. We must never allow an outside interpretation of our existence to define who we are. This is why members of the Temple of Hiphop spell Hip Hop as one word; “Hiphop”. And we spell the name of Hip Hop’s politically active groups or movement as; “Hiphop Kulture”. Such a spelling promotes our cultural distinctiveness and political right to define ourselves. As stated in the Hiphop Declaration of Peace, principle five; presented before the United Nations on May 16th 2001: “The ability to define, defend and educate ourselves is encouraged, developed, preserved, protected and promoted as a means toward peace and prosperity, and toward the protection and the development of our self-worth”.
The spelling of Hip Hop is an important issue for all serious Hiphoppas because it speaks to our political power in the world and to our collective self-worth as a distinct group of people in the world. Actually from a political point of view, the more unusual Hip Hop can be spelled; the better. If people can be taught to recognize the spelling of psychology and not pronounce it as sycology or sicology, or wrestling as opposed to resling, or monarch as opposed to monark, or chaos as opposed to kayos, or economics as opposed to ekonamiks (as examples), Hip Hop can be taught and pronounced as Hiphop (and not hiffop). It’s all about your love for Hip Hop as a cultural lifestyle and not just a music genre that shall determine the way in which you will spell it. As stated in the Hiphop Declaration of Peace, principle eleven: “The Hiphop community exists as an international culture of consciousness that provides all races, tribes, religions and styles of people a foundation for the communication of their best ideas and works. Hiphop Kulture is united as one multi-skilled, multi-cultural, multi-faith, multi-racial people committed to the establishment and the development of peace”.
If you agree with this interpretation of Hip Hop as a cultural movement that extends beyond entertainment, then you will train yourself to spell and recognize Hip Hop as Hiphop. As the Gospel of Hiphop states: “Hiphop, when mis-spelled as “hip-hop” means (hip) trendy, (hop) jump or dance. However, we are not just a trendy dance. Those who approach Hiphop like it is exclusively a trendy dance (or music) are usually those who repeatedly spell the term incorrectly and care little for Hiphop as a community of real people. However, “Hip” (spelled here with a capital H) means to know or to be aware. It is a form of intelligence; a knowing. On the other hand, “Hop” (spelled here with a capital H) is a form of movement. Together “Hip” and “Hop” when spelled correctly means moving or jumping intelligence. “Hip Hop”—moving intelligence or active intelligence! Hip Hop, spelled here with two capitals is called the “phonetic” spelling of Hiphop. It is also the traditional and general spelling of Hiphop. “Hip Hop” is the correct pronunciation of Hiphop. This spelling is also politically correct. Again, it means “moving” or “active” intelligence. Writers are advised to use this spelling (Hip Hop) when educating the public on how to correctly pronounce Hiphop. Hip Hop, when spelled like this is commonly used in titles, introductions, invitations and art work or when Hiphop is being explained in a general or historic sense”.
As I have stated for several years now; “we are not just doing Hiphop, we are Hiphop! Rap is something we do, Hiphop is something we live!” Therefore, we cannot spell our lifestyle in lower case letters. We are those people that are referred to as Hiphoppas and we have the right as well as the responsibility to define ourselves. I suggest we spell the name of our culture, our community, our nation, and even ourselves as either Hiphop or as Hip Hop, but never as hip-hop. As an international culture worth billions of dollars with strong influences upon every major social institution known to humankind, I submit that the official spelling of Hip Hop is Hiphop. Such a spelling not only separates the serious Hiphop community from those who simply want a record deal; but such a spelling invites others to recognize our cultural distinctiveness and it opens a new path toward peace and prosperity for all who declare Hiphop their lifestyle. Thank you for the question, and peace to all true Hiphoppas!