Worldcrunch
Breakdancing has taken root in one of the most unlikely places: In the refugee camps of Nuseirat and Gaza City, a crew called Breaking 48 trains children and teenagers in the art of hip-hop, amid ongoing conflict, shortages, and destruction. Their story is one of resilience, creativity, and community.
Led by young artists like Varsha and Sherin, Christian rap in India is emerging as a powerful genre used both for worship and protest. Gospel hip-hop, as it is also called, is gaining traction through social media and carving its own space in India’s spiritual and musical landscape.
Breakdancing will make its debut as an Olympic sport at this summer’s Paris Games. Les Echos meets with French dancers of various styles and from different generations, all passionate about this hip-hop dance form.
From Reggaeton and Dembow to Dancehall, Latin hip hop and others, Spanish-language music makes up almost a quarter of the charts on a global level.
With edgy lyrics and an attitude that’s too legit to quit, rapper Houda Abouz — aka Khtek — is pushing against the grain and gaining a substantial following.
-Essay- ABU DHABI — For many of us, hip hop has always been more than just another music genre, a passing trend or temporary lifestyle. It’s a cultural movement with deep roots that highlight socio-economic disadvantages, an accreditation to the advancement of civil rights progress, and, in sociological terms, an ongoing challenge to the status […]
BUENOS AIRES — Brian Molina and Maximiliano Fernández, two of Argentina’s emerging rap stars, met in jail. Molina was 11 years old when he wrote his first song. It was May 2005, and he was living at the Borchez de Otamendi home for minors in Buenos Aires. When he performed his song for friends, teachers […]
The American MC KRS-One gathered 14 rappers from 14 different countries (South Korea, Italy, Bosnia, Singapore, India, Portugal, Wales, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Japan, Egypt, Taiwan, Finland and the U.S.) to record this amazing track. The goal is to unite the world under the love for hip hop, as “We are the World” aimed to 30 years […]
Thanks to the French-language website Hip Hop We Trust, created by the collective of graphic designers We.ch, religious hip hop devotees can sample audio recordings of texts from the Bible, the Torah, the Koran or Buddhist scriptures with top French and U.S. rappers such as 2Pac, Eminem, RZA, IAM or NTM. “”This is my sound, […]
Madina, a British artist and designer, has launched a collection of stamps featuring hip hop artists of the golden era of the genre, in the 1980s-90s. All photos: Madina For a very long time — until 2005 in fact — stamps in the United Kingdom only depicted members of the Royal Family. Except for a […]
“What is a DJ if he can’t scratch?” Sims asks in his bio. The answers to this question may not be crystal clear for us at Worldcrunch, but at least one thing is certain: Sims can scratch and sample, and is therefore a DJ. He proves it on Instagram, where in a series of short […]
When Grandmaster Flash wrote “The Message” and The Notorious B.I.G. turned out “Juicy,” it was not just a way to share a glimpse of everyday life in New York’s toughest neighborhoods, but also escape it. “It’s like a jungle sometimes, it makes me wonder how I keep from goin” under” Grandmaster Flash raps, urging himself […]
Kang Chun-hyok, a 29-year-old North Korean defector and hip hop artist now living in South Korea, wants to release his first album in December and become the first internationally recognized hip hop artist of his native country. Kang was born in North Korea’s Onsung County, North Hamkyung Province. In an interview with the Indonesian radio […]
Ever dreamed of quoting a French protest song in the middle of a heated, high-brow debate? The University of Manchester — in a city that has always been forward-thinking, especially when on the music front — now offers a course called “Protest Music in France”. Every week, students will focus on three French artists: songwriter […]
NEW DELHI — Pramod, 21, contracted polio when he was a child, but that isn’t stopping him from learning how to dance. He goes to the New Delhi dance and music academy called Artist Mahavidyalaya, where fees are waived for students with disabilities and those who don’t have the means to pay, says academy co-founder Krishna Basumatary. “People think that I’m a handicapped person who can’t do anything with my life,” says Pramod. “They’re full of negative opinions while I’m a proud physically impaired person. I’m turning my weakness into a strength. To dance well, one should first have a […]
CULLY – He is majestic. The concert has just ended, and the audience is on fire. Opening his long thin arms, he takes a bow; in his checked shirt, he has the body of a Maasai warrior. The Cully Jazz Festival audience is shell-shocked by the performance they have just witnessed – totally under the […]
The most memorable graffiti and wall murals are often demolished by the force of urban real estate development projects.