Youth and their problems: (from discussion to decision)

I got acquainted with them several years ago. The pins they stick into their clothes, torn jeans and green weird hairdos, called Mohawks, struck me. I couldn't help admiring the way they dress. These young people's ways appealed to me very much from the very start. I wanted to look like them, if only a little. Sometimes I loved their stinging humor, their way of saying obscene and stupid things, and then laughing at them. Sometimes I hated their guts; their jokes insulted me. I tried to leave their company many times and forget about their existence forever, telling myself that they would only do me harm. I did try to communicate with high-brow people, but I found it too boring. I am trying to find someone interesting pastime that would help me to get rid to my obsession with punks, but I failed.

One day I realized that I can't live without my beloved punks. Of course, they are extraordinary people. I wouldn't deny that there is trash in their minds, and they are filthy-mined. Not everyone can understand their music. Some people look at them with disgust; some with astonishment. It seems that they have nothing to do and their lives may seem purposeless. They never show their feelings. For example, they will never confess that they are glad to see you; they may even turn away pretend that they do not to notice you. But I know for sure, I'm always welcome in their company.

You can explain their strange behavior only after you have dealt with them for a long time. They don't care about other people. They buy a lot of beer, or something stronger and after drinking it begin to feel all-powerful and can do things they would never do if they were sober. It is a sin not to fight on such a day.

On the other hand punks are often hard up; so sometimes when they have one bottle of beer for ten people, it is a real feast.

So, to mind, a person who has never once associated with punks has missed quite a lot. I'm sure, at heart, every teenager wants to put on a leather jacket, buy a pack of cigarettes and a bottle of beer, and have a good time among punks. In their company you feel free and independent, and understand that life is wonderful and we are supposed to enjoy it.

So, make friends with punks; you'll never regret it. They are just the right people to help you to forget your problems.

Believe me, they are just the ticket.

Evgenia Slovieva, 2d year student, IGUMO

R&B: Rhythm and Blues

During the first part of 60's, soul music remained close to its R&B roots. However, musicians pushed the music in different direction; usually, different regions of America produced different kinds of soul. In urban centers of New York, Philadelphia and Chicago, the music concentrated on vocal interplay and smooth productions. In Detroit, Motown concentrated on creating a pop-oriented sound that was unformed equally by gospel, R&B, and rock & roll. In the South, the music became harder and tougher, relying on syncopated rhythms, raw vocals, and blaring horns. All of these styles formed soul, which ruled the black music charts throughout the 60's and also frequently crossed over into the pop charts. During the 60's and 70's, soul began to splinter apart - artists like James Brown and Sly Stone developed funk; Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff initiated Philly soul with the O'Jays and Harold, Melvin & the Blue Notes; and later in the decade, danceable R&B became a mass phenomenon with the brief disco fad. During the 80's and 90's, the polished, less earthy sound of urban and quit storm ruled the airwaves, but even then, R&B began adding stylistic components of hip-hop until - by the end of the millennium - there were hundreds of artists who featured both rapping and singing on their records.

Also known as urban contemporary, urban was the term given to the R&B as soul music of the 1980s and 90's. Like quiet storm and Philly soul, both strong influences, urban was very smooth and polished, but while it's romantic ballads fit well into quiet storm radio formats, urban also had room for up-tempo, funky dance tracks, which usually boasted the same high-tech, radio-ready production and controlled yet soulful vocals. That's why, in spite of its name, urban didn't usually have the earthy grit associated with the term “soul music”, preferring to tone down the raw emotion in favor of a slick refinement. Up until the late 80's, most urban music was highly pop-oriented, often in melody but nearly always in terms of production. A number of artists - like Janet Jackson, Billy Ocean, and Whitney Houston - crossed over from the R&B charts to the pop charts, although there were others like Freddie Jackson, Luther Vandross, Stephanie Mills, and Levert whose R&B popularity never translated quiet the same way.

Then party owing to the steep decline of mainstream pop/rock in the wake of alternative, urban more or less dominated the pop singles charts for the latter half of the 90's, with major acts including Mary J. Blige, Toni Braxton, R.Kelly, Boyz II men, SWV, Blackstreet, Jodeci, Monica, and Brandy, among others.

Contemporary R&B developed after years of urban R&B. Like urban, contemporary R&B is slickly produced, but many of the musicians - Maxwell, D'Angelo, Terence Trent D'Arby - are obsessed with bringing the grit, spirit, and ambitiousness of classic soul (Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder, Otis Redding) back to contemporary soul and R&B.

Hip hop culture

Hip hop is subculture, which is said to have begun with the work of DJ Kool Herc, Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five, and Afrika Bambaattaa.

The four main aspects, or “elements”, of hip hop culture are MCing (rapping), DJing, urban inspired art/ tagging (graffiti), and b-boying (or breakdancing). The most known “extended” elements are beatboxing, Hip hop fashion, hip hop slang.

Rapping

Rapping, also known as Emceeing, MCing, Rhyme spitting, Spitting, or just Rhyming, is the rhythmic delivery of rhymes, one of the central elements of hip hop music and culture. Although the word rap has sometimes been claimed to be a backronym of the phrase “Rhythm and Poetry”, “Rhythmically Applied Poetry”, or “Rhythmically Associated Poetry”, use of the word to describe quick and slangy speech or repartee long predates the musical from. Rapping can be delivered over a beat or without accompaniment. Stylistically, rap occupies a grey area among speech, prose, poetry, and song. Rap is derived from the griots (folk poets) of West Africa, Caribbean-style toasting, and American blues and Jazz roots.

Rapping developed both inside and outside of hip hop since Jamaican expatriate Kool Herc first began doing his dancehall toasting in New York in the 70's. In the 1980s, the success of groups like run-DMC led to a huge wave of commercialized rap music. Underground Hip-hop rapping from 2000s has complex rhythms, cadences, an intricate poetic form, and inventive wordplay. Rap lyrics convey the street life from which hip-hop originally emerged with references to popular culture and hip-hop slang. Although rap has become an international phenomenon, many types of rap deal with issues such as race, socioeconomic class, and gender.

Graffiti art

Modern hip-hop graffiti originated in Philadelphia, PA, and it quickly spread to New York City. The book Subway Art (New York: Henry Holt & Co, 1984) and the TV program Style Wars (first shown on the PBS channel in 1984) were among the first ways the mainstream public were introduced to graffiti. Quickly, the rest of the globe imitated and adapted hip - hop graffiti.

Graffiti has long been vilified by those in authority, although very little graffiti has anything to do with gangs, violence, and drugs. In most jurisdictions, creating graffiti art on public property without permissions is a criminal offense punishable by fines and incarceration.

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