"...the boundaries hip-hop crossed over to bring all these cultures together, that never happened before. Young kids can relate to their parents right now. Kids born into hip-hop don't have no color." - Kool Herc from Smithsonian

Hip Hop, like America where it was born, is inherently cross cultural. It started with the breaks of rock, jazz, soul music and since have crossed over to classical, electronic, and even now pop music.

For the first time in known history we have a music medium that has opened up a dialog amongst many communities of different kinds under a new culture. It came to the rich and suburbs by pop music, it came to colleges through socially activist music, it came to the ghettos through gangsta music, and came to the world through compatiblity, accepting the sounds of reggae, latin, soul, and other ethnic musics. It took who we were, no longer tied to a single stereotype, and gave us an expression for it.

Hip Hop is also unique in it's origins. One reason why it grew so rapid in the inner city was because it came from the condition of not having commercial wealth. DJs looped breaks of existing songs and emcees rapped and beatboxed which took no classical training but passion and wits. From day one, this was a special art form that developed rapidly amongst itself in all aspects of culture in events known as SESSIONS. At these events, breakers would break, emcees would rap in circles, deejays would discuss records and equipment while showing skills, artists would write, etc. etc. all to one rhythm (harmony, one accord).

But the question still stands, FOR WHAT PURPOSE? If you ask the people who helped start the environment for it like Afrika Bambaataa and Kool Herc, it was a vent on the city life and a place for fun AWAY from gangs. But what's the real purpose overall, now that it has spread beyond the urban landscapes? The long term purpose... doesn't it go deeper than that? That's when we got to ask the creator of life itself, God.