Stereotypes, B-Girls And Hip-Hop Culture

Inside Joseph Schloss’s book, Foundation: B-Boys, B-Girls and Hip-Hop Culture in
New York shows and analyses the hip-hop cultures origins whilst remaining predominately specific to “B-Boys.” He does this by going through the history and origins of B-Boys and B-Girls from 2003 to 2008 in New York. Joseph G. Schloss shows the progression and evolution of cultural differences from different regions by showing the varying differences in experiences of dancers. Although Hip-Hop has been given negative connotations by pop culture, Schloss believes that Hip-Hop and B-Boys in particular displays cultural origins and traditions, such as “battle tactics, acrobatic power and Afro-diasporic competitive dance” that can be found in African-American and Latin-American
There is no set “rules” for Hip-Hop, each cultural background and differences can bring their own take on Hip-Hop and at the end of the day, this is the greatest strength Hip-Hop has to offer. Each person’s interpretation on Hip-Hop is what makes it art. This is showed when Schloss states that, “Hip Hops strength lies precisely in the diversity of its concept and practices” (7). Schloss believes that B-Boying has been mainly overlooked in scholarship terms is due to it being so culturally dependant. There is no set rules or theory that holds true to really understand B-Boys or B-Gils culture. The dancers are the ones that make the B-Boys and B-Girls culture, the actual dancers are those that you have to study in order to fully understand B-Boys and B-Girls. Schloss is adamant that if scholars took the time to invest themselves in the communities where B-Boys culture firstly emerged and continues to transform, they will be able to engage with the community and actually be
Throughout the eight chapters found in this book, Schloss shows how B-Boys are an entirely unique form of Hip-Hop thanks to its cultural background. He does this by using analysis of different philosophies, practices and varying experiences between B-Boys and B-Girls.
Chapter 2 shows how dance and music intertwine. The whole background for this chapter is that music and dance intertwine and that allows B-Boys and B-Girls to involve historical movements into their dance. The main and most interesting idea in this chapter is that B-Boys and B-Girls have the capability to make spiritual connections to songs, being able to “give strength, energy and legitimacy to modern devotees.” (39). B-Boys and B-Girls create a dance where culture and history