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Hyphy

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Hyphy
Stylistic originsG-funk, West Coast hip hop, Mobb Music
Cultural originslate 1990s, San Francisco Bay Area
Typical instrumentsSampler - Bass - Drums - Keyboard - Turntables - Rapping
Other topics
Hip hop music - History of hip hop music - Timeline of hip hop

Hyphy (pronounced HI-fee; IPA: [ˈhaɪfiː]) is a style of music and dance primarily associated with the Bay Area hip hop culture. It began to emerge in early 2000 as a response from Bay Area rappers against commercial hip hop for not acknowledging the Bay for setting trends in the hip hop industry.[1][2] Although the "hyphy movement" has just recently seen light in mainstream America, it has been a long standing and evolving culture in the Bay Area. Bay Area rapper Keak Da Sneak takes credit for coining the term when, as a young boy, his mother would often tell him he was hyperactive. He would repeat the word "hyper" as "hyphy".

Hyphy is distinguished by gritty, pounding rhythms, and in this sense can be associated with the San Francisco Bay Area as crunk music is in the South. Contrary to popular belief, the musical aspect of the movement has very few similarities to crunk music, as it is dictated by more uptempo beats. An individual is said to "get hyphy" when they act or dance in an overstated and ridiculous manner. Those who consider themselves part of the Hyphy movement would describe this behavior as acting "stupid" or "gettin' dumb"; in contrast to much of popular American culture where these phrases would be considered negative or even insulting, hyphy is distinguished by taking this kind of behavior as a form of pride.[3]

Culture

A particular feature of hyphy culture in the Bay Area are sydeshows, commonly called "sideshows", when one or a more cars do multiple doughnuts by braking and turning at high speeds. Other car maneuvers include "Yoking" and "ghostriding". Hyphy culture, focuses heavily on the usage of alcohol, marijuana and ecstasy. Dancing and partying are important aspects of hyphy culture, though it is not necessary to be on drugs or alcohol to participate.

Bay Area hyphy producers include Rick Rock, Traxamillion, E-A-Ski, Droop-E, and Sean T.

Slang

Like many Bay Area trends, Hyphy has a unique culture of slang. Below is a partial list of notable slang terms in hyphy culture:[3][4]

This is a core list of slang associated with hyphy culture, it is not meant to be exhaustive.

  • "Gas-brake dippin'" - Driving while quickly alternating between stomping on the gas and the brake. Also known as "Yokin'".
  • "Ghost Ridin' the Whip" - Driver walks alongside slow-rolling car with the door open, giving the appearance that the car is driving itself. Passengers ride with all the doors open and sometimes leap out of the moving cars, sometimes dancing on top of the hood.
  • "Going Dumb/18, Getting Stupid/ Bananas/ Silly/ Ignorant/ Retarded/ Hyphy & Ridin' the Yellow Bus" - Bay Area style of having fun, usually involving some type of Ecstasy or alcohol.
  • "Perkin'" - being drunk
  • "Runner"/"Ripper" - A girl who is known to get around.
  • "Scrapers" - Vintage four-door American sedans with whistling pipes, oversized spinning rims and a powerful stereo system. They hang low in the back and send off sparks when one is "gas-brake dippin".
  • "Slapper/ Slumper Blapper" - A song with particularly loud bass and/or Hyphy connotations.
  • "Stunna Shades" - Oversized glasses that people wear when they get hyphy. They help accessorize the sagging jeans and white T-shirts that are part of hyphy fashion. "Stunnas" are frequently aviator style glasses, but often more elaborate or attention getting.
  • "Thizz" - Street slang for being up on Ecstasy, popularized by Andre "Mac Dre" Hicks. Thizz is also the name of Mac Dre's record label.[5]
  • "Yadadamean?/Yadadamsayin?" - A phrase popularized by Keak Da Sneak meaning "Do you know what I mean?" and "Do you know what I am saying?" The 'dada' usually signifies rolling the letter 'R', however, for effect and for people who cannot roll their 'R's, the informal 'didi' (pronounced did-I) is appropriate.
  • "Yay Area" - Another nickname for the Bay Area of California.
  • "Yee" - Originating from the streets of Richmond, a noise made to express exuberance.

Cities/Locations

Centered around the San Francisco Bay, the capital of the Hyphy Movement is Oakland, California. Additionally, Vallejo and Richmond as well as various other locations in Northern California are key areas in the hyphy movement. [6]

Artists

For more details and a longer list of artists, see List of Hyphy artists.

Major entertainers from the Bay Area who are considered hyphy artists include:

News Media

  • Lee, Hildebrand (November 21, 2004). "Streets team". San Francisco Chronicle.
  • Arnold, Eric K. (June 30, 2004). "The Politics of 'Hyphy': Snoop Dogg, et al. have pilfered Bay Area hip-hop slang for years. No more". East Bay Express.
  • Tapan, Munshi (April 4, 2006). "Hip-Hop to the Nth Degree: Hyphy". NPR Online.
  • Jones, Steve (April 13, 2006). "Flambosting the hyphy nation". USA Today.
  • Swan, Rachel (March 15, 2006). "Feelin' Their Thizzle: How the culture of Ecstasy has changed as the drug moved from raves to hip-hop". East Bay Express.
  • Burke, Garance (December 29, 2006). ""Hip-Hop Car Stunt Leaves 2 Dead". Associated Press.

Sites

Notes

  1. ^ From the USA Today article:
    "Every record label was getting at us at that time, but we fumbled the ball," says E-40, whose My Ghetto Report Card entered the Billboard album chart at No. 3 in March. "I hung on like a hubcap in the fast lane along with a few other rappers, and now it's time again. We had a 10-year drought and they went to other regions and were bypassing us like the surgery out here. But we're trendsetters, and the rap game without the Bay Area is like old folks without bingo."
  2. ^ According to his comments in the July 2006 issue of Vibe magazine, Keak Da Sneak was the first to use the word "hyphy" on record on 3X Krazy's "Stackin' Chips" in 1997. On MTV's "My Block: The Bay" he explains how the word evolved from hyper, to super hyper, to hyphy. If someone was hyphy, they were reacting spontaneously to the music. Alternately, it is based heavily around partying and having as much of a good a time as possible. In an interview on the bay Area hip hop station KMEL, the definition of hyphy in the early days meant that something wild was going to go down such as a fight or some other form of violence.
  3. ^ a b "Flambosting the hyphy nation". USA Today. April 13, 2006.
  4. ^ Also see the list of hyphy slang in the East Bay Express article in the Notes section of this article.
  5. ^ The USA Today article referenced here has the definition: "The feeling that comes from popping pills while listening to the music and getting hyphy. Not condoned by many hyphy followers."
  6. ^ Burke, Garance (2006-12-29). "Hip-Hop Car Stunt Leaves 2 Dead" (HTML) (in English). Associated Press. pp. pp. 1-1. Retrieved 2007-01-20. Hyphy was born in the San Francisco Bay cities of Oakland, Richmond and Vallejo in the late 1990s... {{cite web}}: |pages= has extra text (help)CS1 maint: unrecognized language (link)
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