Hip hop music has evolved over the years from an underground music scene in North America to one of the biggest commercial and cultural musical phenomena that the world has ever seen. There are many dedicated hip hop followers, who see their scene as a lifestyle choice complete with many elements, and not just a music style. There are hip hop collectors who collect artifacts from all the four elements of the hip hop lifestyle – DJing, rapping, graffiti and breakdancing. Hip hop music, hip hop lyrics, pictures and books on graffiti and movies and pictures on breakdancing can all be collected by real hip hop fans, often in deutsche Briefmarken sammeln (german stamp collecting) albums and DVD, MP3 and CD collections.
Hip hop is a cultural phenomenon and music movement which developed in New York City in the 1970s, and was initially based around DJs who created a rhythmic looping style of music by mixing different music tracks on turntables. From the small pockets of the Bronx and Harlem in New York, hip hop is now global in nature and has increased the scope of its movement in relation. The DJ who is credited with the birth of this music is Clive ‚Kool Herc‘ Campbell, and some of the other early names include Grand Wizard Theodore, Jazzy Jay and Grandmaster Flash. After the onset of the hip hop DJ culture, the art of hip hop emceeing came into being. Emceeing is the rhythmic delivery of spoken word rhymes that evolved into the rapping that is all over the radio and television today. The other parts of hip hop culture – breakdancing and graffiti writing – evolved a little later on but as a definite part of the emerging hip hop culture.
From its initial outbreak in New York City, hip hop spread to other destinations including European cities and Japan. There was an almost instantaneous positive reaction to hip hop music and culture all over the world, although every nation took up the movement in their own way and with their own style. Hip hop has given many dispossessed young people around the world the opportunity to express themselves – through words, music, art and dancing. In the 80s, 90s and 00s, hip hop music has become a big business, with names like Eminem and P. Diddy becoming famous music superstars who generate millions of dollars every year. The music which drives the hip hop culture is heard on mainstream radio and television on a regular basis, and many fans surround themselves with the culture which they love.
Some dedicated hip hop fans are involved in the collection of hip hop memorabilia, often when selling coins (Münzen verkaufen) books and other archiving devices. Because hip hop is an entire culture and not just a musical style, it generates a large amount of possible memorabilia items. Keeping a scrapbook on hip hop is a good way to document what is one of the most important youth related cultural movements of the last few decades.