Philadelphia: Under the Skyscrapers
Critical Article
Every city has its own culture and a city like Philadelphia has one that is heavily influenced by the arts- specifically in the areas of music, street art, and breakdancing. Each of these art forms coexist with one another and would not be the same if they did not work side by side, especially in an urban setting. Music, street art, and breakdancing all individually have their own innovative history within the Philadelphian community. The musicians, artists, and dancers all view each other as equal, not only because they are artists, but they are a collective group of people that understand each other, in the most personal of ways- on an emotional level. They all equally spread and promote positivity throughout urban Philadelphia and work side by side in engaging the community to come together through self-expression.
Music in Philadelphia
Philadelphia's art and music scene has been around for a very long time. It was the neighborhoods that really brought the unique style that describes the sounds of Philadelphia, starting with Jazz music. Local musicians aimed to symbolize the city's African American community through music that originated on the streets. In churches, record shops, recording studios, and nightclubs, artists could work together in collaboration to get the exposure they needed. The city's love for Jazz and R&B music influenced the culture at the time, and really defined, for the nation, an era of Philadelphia music. In the 1990's, Philly was introduced to a new kind of sound- a hybrid genre between hip-hop and soul which the oncoming generations have continued to expand and been recognized for.
Since the 1950's everyone from all of these musical sectors came together and started working together with other musicians from different cities for performances and guest appearances with the local talent. These collaborations came to be well known and created a definition of the 'Philly Sound', which was distinct to the time period and location. There are several main periods with distinct music genres, many of which were inspired by African American culture throughout the city: Jazz in the 1940s and 1950s, Hard Bop in the 1950s and 1960s, Soul Music (the Philadelphia Sound) in the 1960s and 1970s, and R&B and Hip Hop in the "neo-soul" movement in the 1990s. These are all sound movements that are still very present and define the Philadelphia area.
Hip-hop is a very large part of Philadelphia’s music scene, but it may not be the hip-hop everyone seems to instinctively think of. When being asked about hip-hop music, most people will define it by listing mainstream hip-hop songs heard on the radio or by popular artists, but this is not what the people on the streets of Philly think. Sure- it’s hip hop, the rap song that comes on the radio every 35 minutes, but that’s only the mainstream aspect of hip hop. Raw and original hip hop comes from the city streets, inspired by issues of all kind; political, social, religious, environmental, etc. When hip-hop comes to mind of many others they think of the mainly targeted areas in mainstream music; sex, drugs, and money.
This upsets many people, not just the performers, but the listeners. Audiences that turn to hip hop to listen in order to be inspired and moved by music, hear nothing but the same three concepts of sex, money, and drugs being thrown around into a few songs and having them labeled as hip-hop. As for the artists, they are getting such a reputation as well, that by saying you are a hip-hop artist or a rapper, and being conceived with these notions of violence and using slander to express some type of emotion. This is not what original urban hip-hop is about, it is meant to inspire and create a better community, and to open our eyes to the world around us.
Street Art in Philadelphia
“Art Ignites Change” is a slogan many people not only around the Philadelphia area have been hearing, but around the nation as well. The city of Philadelphia has been a catalyst for street art for the whole country ever since it began, even if it was simple graffiti tagging. The Mural Arts Program specifically has been a project in the Philadelphia metropolitan area since 1984 and it is the first of its kind, and with Philly being the city with the most murals, this project is perfect. This program is not what most people think it is, it isn't just to brighten up the city with murals and artwork, but it is culture for the people of Philadelphia and is used to turn graffiti into something positive for the city and community.
The Mural Arts Program is doing what street art has always done for the people of Philly, it is enhancing and influencing everyone’s culture. It is a form of expression for the city's inhabitants and used as a form of escape and creativity. All of these art forms, such as street art in this case, are used to teach everyone from children to adults that this is what they can turn to instead of something illegal. Mural Arts and the street art community has turned many people away from violence, drugs, and poor decisions, and turned them toward this urban movement. Instead of having to deal with these issues, artists and everyone from the Philadelphia area have been coming together and creating art on Philly streets. Everyone from around the city are able to come together and form their own community with each other all while abandoning their old habits by finding inspiration from social issues and putting them into art. This concept of social issues in art form is not only street art, but also in hip-hop music and breakdancing.
Philadelphia was one of the first cities to have, and be known for their tagging and street art. This mainly started with graffiti tagging, which is important within the city as well. This is important not only because eventually it evolved into more serious works of art throughout the city, but because it set the tone for Philly’s culture. Graffiti artists expressed themselves through the entirety of the city and still continue to do so, they did this to express their opinions, social issues, political, environmental, etc, and found a way that not only expresses the way they feel, but they found a way into Philly’s heart. These artists have the power to effect anyone who sees their work. They are able to get their points across to the public and can create awareness as well as bond with citizens of the city.
Mural Arts is being used to transform not only communities but institutions as well, the artists that create and contribute to these murals aim to communicate social and critical issues that involve Philly and the world as a whole. One of the artists we interviewed, Katie Rauth, said she believes street art in general, as well as this program, is what ties the community together. Katie also mentioned a street artist who is represented by her tag, “you go girl”, which accompanies street art of feminine monsters, an aspect of street art that Katie, as a feminist artist truly appreciates. The “you go girl” artist mostly works along the west coast and New York, Philly was also fortunate enough to get some of her tags. When asked if living in Philadelphia has influenced her work at all, she responded that she never thought she would notice so much about a city and use it to her advantage. The urban environment, she said, is very inspiring. Seeing how the city’s inhabitants, especially in North Philly, go about their everyday lives opens her eyes to her surroundings and the social constraints that her community presents. Being an observer as well as an active participant in a community can cause a person to have new thoughts and form different perspectives about life that can be applied to what they are passionate about. Katie believes this is what Philly does for her, other artists of all kind, and the residents of Philadelphia.
For more information on the mural arts program visit:
Breakdancing in Philadelphia
Street performers are famous on the streets of any city, but Philadelphia is known for its South Street hip-hop talent. These performers not only have created a culture that ties together the community as a whole but also uses their dancing to influence others around them. The breakdancing community also chooses to reach out to schools free of charge, due to the fact that the arts community especially in Philadelphia has decreased in school systems. The arts community finds this very unfortunate because children need the arts, especially in schools. But since the arts have been removed from schools it has taken away an important subject matter.
An example of this is a local breakdancing group called Hip Hop Fundamentalists, who fundraised in order to be able to teach about the Civil Rights Movement through breakdancing to ten public schools in the Philadelphia area. The way they performed this was not only by a hip-hop performance, but also a history lesson, and encouraging the children to participate with them and enabling them to access exposure to the arts. The Hip Hop Fundamentalist group plans to fundraise enough money to take their interactive assembly to other schools in Philadelphia to allow other children to receive exposure to the arts.
Even though the arts are getting cut out of many Philadelphia schools, children, teens, and adults are finding ways to express themselves through hip hop and dance. B-boys and B-girls are the ones keeping breakdancing and hip hop a solid artistic community. This all started back in the 1970’s and B-boys were just starting to have dance battles in clubs or out on the streets, long before it started becoming a competitive sport like the B-boys and girls do now. The Philadelphia jam circuit is something that all breakers, dancers, B-boys, music lovers, or whoever really, enjoy going to in order to express themselves through dancing and hip hop. People from all different neighborhoods of Philly come to the jams and socialize while everyone, young and old, show off new styles of breaking. These jams are something cherished and very looked forward to by the breakdancing community as well as the community of the arts. While Philly tunes fill the room and provide music for dancing, a jam is happening in front of a street artist’s canvas.
By embracing this passion for dance and dedication towards the art, the people in it are bonded and have made their own community within Philly’s streets. Just as it has in music and street art, hip hop dancing has really tied these people together and gives them a place where they believe they belong more than anywhere else. It steers them away from bad decisions and wrong doings and exerts energy and passion into their work by using dance as a positive outlet. They are also not afraid to go against the norms of their society because they feel they can explore themselves through this dance movement they are a part of. High school senior B-boy, Steven Ngo says something that exemplifies how this culture has affected his life and is a perfect example of how the arts affect everyone that is a part of these communities, “B-boying has taught me the three things I value most in life: respect, that you can’t win everything, and that expression is probably the most valuable thing you have.”