Anyone aware of current hit music charts knows that hip-hop music increasingly rules the charts all over the world. Hip-hop has taken over the music industry in the same way the Williams sisters have taken over tennis. Hip-hop is rated in the top three with jazz and country music when it comes to the most popular music in America. In Finland, hip-hop and r’n’b (rhythm and blues) are played continually on the radio and in night clubs, and both foreign and Finnish hip-hop songs are taking over the single charts.

Hip-hop isn’t just the music, though. Someone who sees hip-hop as simply being rap music has failed to understand hip-hop as a whole youth culture. What are the features then that make hip-hop the massive movement it is today? How is hip-hop culture visible in the streets of the U.S. and Finland, and what influences rappers and hip-hop fans? ‘What’s cracking’ (or more widely, what’s “crackalackin’,” as rapper Snoop Dogg puts it), meaning what is ‘in’ in hip-hop today? This paper will answer these questions and present an overall idea for the reader of modern mainstream hip-hop in the 21st century.

Background: History and Classification of Hip-Hop

According to journalist Efrem Smith, hip-hop tells the stories of American urban youth, where African-Americans have the leading role. Hip-hop is about inner-city and lower-class life. It's about trying to live out the American dream from the bottom up; trying to make something out of nothing. Hip-hop is about the youth culture of New York City taking over the world (Smith).

The inventing of hip-hop goes back in time approximately three decades. Back in the late 1960s and ‘70s the four original elements of hip-hop – graffiti painting, rap, break dancing, and spinning records – were first introduced to the world by black and Latino break-dancers from the Bronx, in New York City. Later on, in 1985, the hip-hop category was established in the Grammy Awards. That is when hip-hop went mainstream, so to speak. Break-dancers got pushed underground, and the era of mc’s, meaning ‘rappers’, began. The music industry was mining gold from the new urban phenomenon, hip-hop. First, rappers turned into hard-core gangsters [see glossary], or gangstas, then ‘Players’, or Playaz, and then Big Mac Daddies, who pushed women down to ‘ho’s. Today, in 2005, mainstream rappers would probably consider themselves ‘Pimps’ (with a lot of hos) or ‘Hustlerz’ (Sommer 30).

Hip-hop music being such a wide concept, however, all hip-hop did not naturally go mainstream. Many hip-hop artists in the U.S., as well as in Finland, work underground¹, meaning that they produce their own records and don’t make recording contracts with big record labels, for example. Besides underground hip-hop there are a number of other categories of hip-hop that are not considered mainstream either, such as political, alternative, and old school hip-hop². Well-known American examples include Cypress Hill, The Roots (alternative), Grandmaster Flash, Sugarhill Gang (old school), and Public Enemy, which is probably the most famous political hip-hop group in history (Henderson 564-67).

Finland also has different hip-hop categories, although its public hip-hop scene is relatively young – it wasn’t until fall 2000 that the first Finnish hip-hop albums got into the album charts. There are mainstream rappers with profitable recording contracts, such as the members of Rähinä Records or Pikku G³, as well as politically or spiritually oriented artists such as Ruudolf, Steen 1, or Ceebrolistics⁴, who are also famous among hiphop-minded people. Mainstream hip-hop is, however, most visible and recognized in both countries (Mikkonen 77, 182).

What’s Really Good? Notable American Hip-Hop Characters Today

Although hip-hop culture as a whole contains a lot more than the music, it is relevant to know who are today’s ‘hot’ or ‘phat’, meaning popular, names in the music industry in order to understand other aspects of hip-hop. Of the four original elements of hip-hop, rap music is nowadays undoubtedly the most visible, which basically means that rappers lead the way, so to speak. They are the ones that people see and hear when they appear in music videos with all the hot girls and market their new albums through all the possible media. It’s not just the rappers, however, since the culture has such strong origins and it has spread so wide. Characters such as National Basketball Association’s hip-hop players Shaquille O'Neal and Allen Iverson (who both have made rap records) and hip-hop culture in general are being used to sell soda, candy, and clothes to young people (Luukkanen, Smith).

What kind of impact do rappers have on people then? In 2003 a rapper called Cameron Giles, alias Cam’ron, signed a deal with one of the biggest labels in rap, Roc-A-Fella Records. Cam’ron and his crew, called the Diplomats, who call themselves ‘the Harlem soldiers’, recorded the album Diplomatic Immunity, which was a huge success. One of the tracks on the album was called What’s Really Good?. The Diplomats fever spread quickly – soon ‘what’s really good’ became a common saying among hip-hop fans even in Finland, either in English or Finnish. That is also when many Finnish people started to wear durags and bandannas – just like the Diplomats did. This is one good example of how hip-hop unites people literally all over the world. American hip-hop phenomena, such as the rappers’ way of dressing, reach Finland and establish their status faster than one might even imagine (Diplomats).

Who are today’s hot American hip-hop names? There are many ways of measuring this, such as observing the number of albums the artist has sold, or asking people who are their favorite artists or who otherwise are good or remarkable artists in their opinion. Counting the albums that an artist has sold is perhaps not the best way of deciding whether an artist is good or not. An example of this is Sean ‘Puff Daddy or P. Diddy’ Combs, who may not be considered very good or believable in rapping; some people think he is too commercial a character and is lacking street credibility. However, Sean Combs has succeeded in making a fortune within the hip-hop business, and is thus a talented businessman. On the other hand, the number of the albums sold implies, of course, how popular an artist is among listeners and record buyers. Tuukka Heinonen, alias Tunkio, rapper from the Finnish crew Konala Cartelli, emphasizes that it doesn’t matter for a listener how many records an artist has sold; good music is good music. Each listener also has his own expectations for artists. Heinonen regards 50 Cent and his crew G-Unit, including Young Buck, Lloyd Banks, Tony Yayo, and the Game, as being perhaps today’s hottest American hip-hop group. In addition, there are rappers who are about to break through in the U.S., such as Peedi Crack and Joe Budden, and rappers who are big names in the U.S. but not yet in Europe, including Fabolous, Ludacris, and Jadakiss (Heinonen, Mikkonen 47).

When it comes to hip-hop in 2005, American rappers and producers such as Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg (former Snoop Doggy Dogg), Jay-Z, Eminem, the Neptunes, and Kanye West can’t be ignored either. Dr. Dre, for instance, is a brilliant rapper and producer who founded the record label Death Row Records in L.A. in 1992. He was a central character in the legendary crew Niggaz With Attitude (N.W.A.) in the late ‘80s when gangsta rap was invented. Eminem, the world’s most famous white rapper, or as some may think, the most famous of all rappers, was found by Dr. Dre. Snoop Dogg and Jay-Z have also been doing hip-hop since the early ‘90s and are still top-rated among hip-hop fans. Jay-Z began the record label Roc-A-Fella Records with producer Damon Dash in 1995. The Neptunes, including Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo, and Kanye West have produced dozens of hit tracks for Jay-Z, Usher, Nelly, LL Cool J, and Busta Rhymes, to name but a few. Pharrell Williams is also a singer, and Kanye West debuted as a rapper with the album The College Dropout in 2004 (Henderson 238, 352).

All artists begin their careers in the underground, and may later become famous and rich. To do this, they need not only hard work and practice but also a record label that will then finance the artists’ albums and marketing. There are several labels specialized in hip-hop in the U.S. and today in Finland, too. Besides Death Row Records, which is now called The Row, with Dr. Dre no longer in charge, and Roc-A-Fella Records, mentioned above, the most famous American hip-hop labels are Def Jam, founded in 1984, Aftermath Entertainment, founded by Dr. Dre with Eminem and female rapper Eve as artists, and Rawkus Records, which has signed underground-classified artists and groups such as Mos Def and Company Flow. Sean Combs’ Bad Boy Entertainment is also a well-known label, with big names like Notorious B.I.G. and r’n’b singer Faith Evans (Henderson 581-584).

Important Finnish Hip-Hop Characters

Finnish hip-hop labels are smaller than their American equivalents and there are fewer of them, but they are important to Finnish hip-hop culture. In the late ‘90s the label Open Records was founded by Heikki ‘Sport’ Häkkinen, Petri ‘Dream’ Laurila, Henry ‘Skem’ Kaprali, and many others. The two last mentioned had made hip-hop since 1989 in the group Nuera, and all of them were members of a group of friends called Liepo. Open Records started to publish records, and the first Finnish hip-hop compilation, called aptly Finnish hip hop compilation vol. I, came out in 1998. Later on, in the early 21st century, Open Records produced an album by the rapper “Petri Nygård”. This was originally supposed to be a joke, but was still a huge success. Some hated Nygård and others loved him. He made fun of rappers bragging and praising themselves by bragging even more. He had a huge dirty word vocabulary and he wasn’t afraid to use it, which made especially the parents, whose child ren were listening to Nygård, suspicious. Petri Nygård was an important character in making Finnish hip-hop well-known throughout the country, even though he didn’t show his face in his videos and people weren’t supposed to know who the Petri Nygård character was. Many guesses have been made as to his true identity, with most people assuming that Petri Nygård equals Nuera’s Petri ‘Dream’ Laurila.

After the first compilation Open Records produced compilations number two and three, two albums from Nuera, and a DVD presenting different Finnish hip-hop artists. Then, in 2003, 15-year-old mc Raimssi’s first album came out. Raimssi is a unique character to Finnish hip-hop, not only because of his young age but also because of his talent for writing songs. Sometimes, when people talk about Raimssi, they ignorantly compare him to Pikku G, who is also young but not as witty a writer as Raimssi, which is why Raimssi might not want to be linked with Pikku G. Besides, rumor has it that Pikku G doesn’t write his own lyrics, which is a cardinal sin in the hip-hop game. Raimssi’s ‘finder’ and producer, Open Record’s Skem, could perhaps be considered to be the Finnish Dr. Dre – Skem is also a rapper, a producer, a dj, runs a record label and a clothing store, and organizes hip-hop events (Mikkonen 109-112).

In addition to Open Records, Rähinä Records also represents Finnish hip-hop labels. The official recording company was founded in 2003, but the crew, including 16 mc’s and two dj’s, has been more or less the same since 1998. The leading character of Rähinä Records is Kimmo Laiho, alias Elastinen, who is a rapper and a producer. Another important distribution channel for Finnish hip-hop artists is the hip-hop record store Funkiest, located in Helsinki. In Funkiest you can buy almost any Finnish hip-hop music, famous or not famous, whether the artist has been signed to a label or not (Heinonen, Mikkonen 102-105).

Besides the Liepo crew and Rähinä Records, an important Finnish hip-hop character is, according to Tuukka Heinonen, rapper YOR123. He is one of the founding members of the crew Rockin’ Da North, also known as Royal Family, which is the crew that the famous Pikku G belongs to. In Finland, there are no such feuds between labels and crews as there are in the U.S., but some controversy⁵ between Rähinä Records and Royal Family has occurred in the Finnish hip-hop magazine Posse, for example (Heinonen, Mikkonen 47).

Is It All about the Benjamins? Hip-Hop Music Themes

The most important topics that American rap stars rap about today are probably violence, drugs, sex, partying, and – somehow related to all of these – money. Puff Daddy, nowadays called P. Diddy, has a song called It’s All about the Benjamins, with ‘Benjamins’ meaning money, and referring to the importance of it. It is important to show off your success, because many rappers have started off with nothing. The same goes in Finland, only with less violence and drugs. Finnish mainstream hip-hop is often about having fun, whereas many American rap stars, such as Jay-Z and 50 Cent, had worked as drug dealers before their hip-hop careers, which makes it quite natural for them to rap about what they know best. In Finland, dealing drugs isn’t as common an occupation as it may be in urban America; most Finnish rappers rap about drinking alcohol instead of doing drugs, as alcohol is closely related to Finnish party culture. There are, of course, exceptions to this rule: the American hip -hop group Alkaholiks has made several songs praising alcohol, and some Finnish artists, such as Maajoukkue rappers Supersankari and Idän Ihme, have lyrics on getting high on drugs in addition to getting drunk. Expensive liquor brands, such as Hennessy and Dom Perignon, are a common subject of hip-hop lyrics in both countries.

Identity is an important aspect of hip-hop lyrics. It is common for rappers to boast and brag and tell everybody how good they are and, on the other hand, how ‘lousy’ other people, or mainly other rappers, are. Young Buck, a G-Unit rapper, puts it in his song Do It Like Me: “You can walk like I do and talk like me, too, but nobody gon’ rock wit you ‘cause you can’t do it like me”. This is something that belongs to hip-hop. “You need to have respect for yourself in the hip-hop game. It’s good to have enough attitude to think that you’re better than anybody else. If you have low self esteem in hip-hop, it’ll come through”, says rapper Tuukka ‘Tunkio’ Heinonen. When Fintelligens, the hip-hop duo that was first to have their album on Finnish charts, first copied that attitude straight from American rappers and rapped about how invincible they were, there was a little confusion among Finnish people, since this kind of mentality wasn’t familiar to them. Nowadays it is common for most Finnish rappers to brag, even though they aren’t always that serious about it (A-Z Lyrics, Heinonen).

As mentioned above, disrespecting, or ‘dissing’, other people for some reason is a central theme for many rap songs. Many rappers and crews have quarrels, or ‘feuds’, with each other which they express in their songs. There has been a lot of confrontation between New York rappers Jay-Z and Nas and Dr. Dre’s Aftermath and Ja Rule’s Murder Inc., for example. One classic example of disrespecting in hip-hop is the sad case of L.A. rapper Tupac Shakur and New York’s Notorious B.I.G. The labels of the two, Death Row in L.A. and Bad Boy Entertainment in New York, were bitter enemies as well as the rappers themselves. Notorious B.I.G. was killed in 1997 in a drive-by shooting – exactly the same way as Tupac Shakur a year before. It has been speculated that the murders were related to each other because of the feud (Mikkonen 47).

The confrontation between Tupac Shakur and Notorious B.I.G. was not only about defending your team but also representing your neighborhood. Where do rappers come from and how important is their "neighborhood," then? When American artists often unshakably represent either the west or east coast of the country, or correspondingly the west or east side of their hometown, Finnish rappers usually praise their own neighborhoods, although with a little less passion. However, where hip-hop is concerned, your telephone area code is nowadays important in Finland as well. People living in Tampere have even created a finger sign which symbolizes the numbers 03, the area code of Tampere, and resembles the different signs that American rappers have for east side and west side and for their crews.

The "03" finger sign for the Tampere area code (photo by author).

The history of dividing countries into territories goes back in time approximately twenty years. The United States was first split in two, with New York City basically standing for the East Coast and Los Angeles for the West Coast, when Tracy ‘Ice-T’ Morrow from New Jersey started writing songs about the dark side of his new hometown, L.A., in the late 1980s. People from all over the country had been listening to New York rappers representing their neighborhoods, and now it was time to pay back. There were local hip-hop scenes established in many big cities, and all of them were as proud of their hometowns as New Yorkers were. Atlanta, the new hip-hop center of the Southern States and the hometown of artists like Chingy and Outkast, has even been called the ‘third coast’, as it nowadays has almost as remarkable a hip-hop scene as the East and West coasts (Mikkonen 44).

In Finland, the best-known scenes are in Tampere and Helsinki. Nuera from Tampere was one of the first hip-hop groups in the whole country. Today, other important names from Tampere, the 03-area, are Maajoukkue, including five mc’s, and 16-year-old Raimssi. The crews Rähinä Records and Royal Family come from Helsinki, whereas a crew called Konala Cartelli has rappers from Helsinki, Espoo, and Oulu.

“Bling Bling”: How Should a 21st Century Rapper Look?

In the ‘70s and ‘80s, there were white sneakers by Adidas or Puma, and while listening and dancing to the early hip-hop music, break dancers wore sweatpants. Later on, so-called ‘baggy’ jeans became popular among rappers and hip-hop listeners in the streets. One of the reasons for this is said to have been the fact that you could more easily hide a gun in large pants. In the late ‘80s fashion designers became interested in what those people in the streets were wearing. When Carl Williams, alias Karl Kani, developed baggy jeans into a hit product by re-designing them, he started a boom that is still going on. Many large fashion companies started to design hip-hop collections with massive logos on the garments – it was important for people to show off their success, so they made sure that the price of their clothes was observable. Karl Kani Infinity was established in 1995. From then on, starting in the late ‘90s, other successful hip-hop clothing companies such as Phat Farm, Tommy Bo y Gear, and Sean John have been launched by famous rappers (Hilamaa and Varjus 204-207).

Sean Combs, alias Puff Daddy or P. Diddy, founded his clothing line Sean John in 1998. Today, besides Sean John, rappers and other hiphop-minded people wear brands like Enyce, Akademiks, Rocawear, and Phat Farm. Many famous rap artists in addition to P. Diddy have established a brand that goes by their own name. The legendary rapper Snoop Dogg says in one of his newest hit tracks, Drop It Like It’s Hot, “I’m a bad boy wit a lot of ho’s/I drive my own cars and wear my own clothes,” and is thus advertising his young men’s clothing line Snoop Dogg Clothig. 50 Cent’s crew G-Unit has, among other garments, its own sneakers manufactured by Reebok (Hilamaa and Varjus 204-207).

What to wear then? An example of the basic combination of different garments that rappers wear is baggy jeans by one of the famous brands, a white t-shirt sized at least XXXL plus a jersey throwback with some basketball team’s logo on it. Caps are also important, and the colors on your throwback and cap should match, i.e. be of the same team. Under the cap you can wear a durag or a bandanna with matching colors. However, jeans and a throwback are not necessary – you can also wear a t-shirt with sleeves (by a brand, of course), or a hooded sweatshirt (hoodie), or a velour set, including pants and a hoodie. Common accessories include belts with massive buckles, matching wristbands and headbands, bandannas, and impressive jewelry. Coats often have fur collars (Luukkanen).

Footwear is of great importance in hip-hop culture. White sneakers are probably the most common footwear of rappers. They go with any suit and never go out of fashion. Sneakers that rappers wear today are actually of the same kind and brand that basketball players have worn at games in the past. Many of the players still do, either on or off the court. Every true hip-hop fan should own at least one pair of Nike’s Air Force One sneakers, or ‘kicks’ as rappers call them, since they are a classic. Rapper Nelly even has a song called Air Force Ones on his album Nellyville. In addition to plain white sneakers, there are variations in colors. You can have sneakers that match your clothes, or sneakers with Gucci or a camouflage pattern, for example. Nowadays there are even people who custom-paint Air Force Ones for rappers or anyone who wants a pair. Timberland hiking shoes in different colors and patterns have also been a ‘must-have’ for rappers for decades (Moss).

 

Nike’s Air Force One sneakers (L) and Timberland’s hiking shoes (R) are classic hip-hop shoe models
(Photo source: sneakerhead.com).

Jewelry is a useful way of showing off your success and wealth. This is where the saying ‘bling bling’ came from. It is used to describe diamonds, jewelry, and all forms of showy style, and was coined by the rap family Cash Money Millionaires back in the late ‘90s. The expression ‘bling bling’ was even added to Oxford English Dictionary in 2003. Sparkling, massive necklaces and bracelets and diamonds, or ‘ice’, in the ears are a major part of a stylish (and wealthy) rapper’s outfit. Besides jewelry, ‘bling bling’ can also be used to describe valuable suits by Versace, for example. Puff Daddy (who is now called P. Diddy) and his fellow artists in the Bad Boys recording company were wearing Versace suits before Combs founded his Sean John hip-hop gear company. Today, some rappers wear expensive suits and hats in order to give an impression of a ‘pimp’ style. This can be seen in several hip-hop music videos, such as 50 Cent’s P.I.M.P. (Oh, Hilamaa and Varjus 204-207).

 

‘Bling Blingy’ jewelry with a variation of models (Photo sources: (L) www.50centonline.com, (R) tonez.co.uk)

Where to buy your clothes? In America, many large clothing companies, both ‘regular’ and specialized, meet the interests of hiphop-minded people. The sports shoe chain Foot Locker, for example, is perfect when shopping for sneakers, whereas at Dr. Jays you’ll probably find garments and accessories from any brand you wish for your hip-hop look. In Finland, there isn’t as much to choose from. Finnish rappers and hip-hop fans often buy their clothes abroad or order them from American companies via the Internet. However, Turnin’ Point, first established in Tampere in 2002, was a savior for Finnish hip-hop people who like the New York kind of hip-hop clothing, particularly for young men, since Turnin’ Point has no ladies’ collection. Not yet, at least.

Turnin’ Point was the first in Europe to offer their customers products at exactly the same time they come out in New York, which is considered the Mecca of hip-hop fashion. Its success has been enormous, and p eople all over the country like to shop in the two Turnin’ Point stores located in Tampere and Helsinki, or order Turnin’ Point products on the Internet, as the products are exactly the same as sold in the U.S. and come without shipping costs. The effect on Finnish hip-hop of Turnin’ Point is controversial and has been much discussed, because some people think that clothing has too much importance in hip-hop, especially in Finland. But for those who want to wear that kind of gear it is good to have Turnin’ Point in Finland, as Tuukka ‘Tunkio’ Heinonen, rapper from Konala Cartelli, puts it. Perhaps not surprisingly, the Open Records producer and rapper Skem was also involved in founding Turnin’ Point; he is currently running the business with Heikki ‘Sport’ Häkkinen (Heinonen, Turnin’ Point).

Besides clothing, there are also other ways of displaying your status or conviction. Tattoos have the same function among rappers as they have among all others – they are used to represent whatever the carrier feels important and believes in. They may also boost your ego and make you feel more convincing. Many famous rappers have tattooed on themselves things like their own rap names or their own neighborhoods’ names, or the names of the people they for some reason respect, or who may have passed away in gunfights, for example.

Another important matter related to looks is your hair. Black people often have their hair braided in African style, as it is useful – not only does it keep the hair out of food, but it also cuts down on tangles while sleeping. And, probably the most important thing, it looks good. Many rappers and athletics favor braided hair. A classic model of braiding is cornrow braiding, braids that go straight along your head from forehead to neck. It is amazing, however, how hair can be styled in basically any kind of model by a skillful braider. Nowadays, when looking at rappers or basketball players, for instance, it seems that the more complicated and impressive one’s hairdo, the better. In addition to rappers, male or female, hip-hop listeners also have their hair braided, whether they are white or black. For braiding, there are specialized barber shops in the U.S., but very few if any in Finland.

Although one’s looks are important in hip-hop, some people think that clothing has too much importance especially in Finland. “If you are wearing baggy jeans, a jersey throwback, and Air Force Ones, people will automatically think that you only listen to Diplomats and other Roc-A-Fella rappers,” says rapper Tuukka ‘Tunkio’ Heinonen. Juuso Luukkanen, alias Jivefunk, a Finnish hip-hop producer, thinks that the ‘bling bling’ phenomenon has expanded too much and has thus cut down the importance of music, which still ought to be the most important thing in the culture (Heinonen, Luukkanen).

In addition to the suspicion of the ‘bling bling’ culture, some people consider all hiphop-related things as being funny or not to be taken seriously. People who don’t know hip-hop or aren’t interested in it may think that young people wearing baggy jeans and listening to hip-hop are all lazy, suspicious drug addicts. They may also think that it is funny or even ridiculous when young Finnish people are doing the finger signs and hip-hop video gestures and talking ‘dirty’ like big American rap stars, and feel that this is not appropriate behavior. This is probably because hip-hop is still a relatively new phenomenon in the streets of Finland; people may not be used to it yet.

Pimp My Ride: Hip-Hop in the Media

Hip-hop is all over the media. Besides rappers’ albums and music videos, there are TV programs, movies, and radio shows related to hip-hop broadcast all the time. Books, magazines, and DVD’s are also common by-products. International Music Television (MTV) has several shows that have to do with hip-hop. One is Pimp My Ride, a show hosted by rapper Xzibit, where people can ask MTV to ‘pimp their rides,’ meaning to transform their old and ragged cars into incredible deluxe vehicles. Xzibit then chooses the most hopeless cases and sends the cars to a garage called West Coast Customs. West Coast Customs members then thoroughly repair the cars and add ‘bling blingy’ features such as DVD players, Playstations, fish tanks, turntables, and of course chromed tires on the cars. Cars are, as well known, a visible aspect in hip-hop culture, as can be seen in many hip-hop videos, for instance. Cars, or ‘rides’, give a convenient way of showing off, and rappers tend to have several of them in front of their mansions. The Cadillac Escalade and Hummer’s H2 are probably today’s hottest car models.

A ‘pimped’ car on MTV’s Pimp My Ride (Photo source: www.mtv.com).

Another show on MTV is Cribs, where celebrities introduce their impressive apartments to the camera. Rappers are common guests on Cribs. MTV also used to have a show called Yo! MTV Raps, which started to come out as early as in 1988. The show aired first once a week, but as its popularity grew it aired six times week with rappers hosting. Yo! MTV Raps was a mix of hip-hop videos, interviews with rap stars, live in-studio performances, and humor. Another humorous hip-hop show, that doesn’t air any more, was Calvin ‘Snoop Dogg’ Broadus’s Doggy Fizzle Televizzle, which started in June 2003. Snoop Dogg played a dozen different characters, performed pranks, sketches and offered hilarious dogg-on-the-street commentary, while speaking in his ‘dizzle’ language. This language can be spoken basically by adding the infix ‘izz’ or ‘izzle’ to every word possible. For example, ‘for sure’, or ‘fo sho’ as rappers tend to put it, becomes ‘fo shizzle’ in Snoop Dogg’ s language (Hornbeck, McKenzie, Mikkonen 92).

At present there are no Finnish hip-hop TV shows, but there used to be a show on the MTV3 channel called Jyrki. This wasn’t a hip-hop show, but there were Finnish rappers as guests and Jyrki also showed Finnish rap videos. The show was ended in fall 2001, however. On the cable television MoonTV channel there was a hip-hop show called Word!, which aired between 2000 and 2003, when MoonTV went bankrupt. Finland also had a radio show called 100% hosted by rapper and producer Skem, rapper Dream, and dj K2 on channel YleX. The hosts played the newest and hottest American hip-hop and r’n’b on the show, read hip-hop news, and informed listeners about coming hip-hop events, such as foreign rap stars coming to Finland. The show aired in 2003 and 2004. American hip-hop magazines, such as The Source and XXL, are also important trendsetters. They include articles on hip-hop music, culture, politics, interviews with rap stars, reviews, and a lot of clothing and music advertisements. The Finnish equivalent to The Source and XXL might be a magazine called Posse (Mikkonen 86-87, 112).

Movies related to hip-hop are not rare nowadays, either. Everyone can have his own definition of a hip-hop movie: a hip-hop movie can feature hip hop music in the sound track, have a theme related to hip hop music or culture, or include hip hop artists in the cast. There are dozens of movies that have some of these features and can thus be called a hip-hop movie. Examples include Eminem’s movie debut 8 Mile, which is about young, poor people living in Detroit. Some people consider Wild Style, made in 1982, the best hip-hop movie ever. Other popular hip-hop movies are Boyz N the Hood, Barber Shop 1 and 2, Friday, Next Friday, and Friday After Next.

What’s Crackalackin’? The Impact of Hip-Hop on Language

As hip-hop culture is visible everywhere, it affects, apart from one’s clothing and way of thinking, the language one speaks. American Black English is an important aspect of ‘hip-hop language’: basically all big American rap stars, who initially come from poor conditions, are black, excluding Eminem, and that can be heard in the music. On the other hand, Eminem also talks the same way as his black colleagues. In terms of American Black English, it is common for rappers to say ‘aks’ instead of ‘ask’, or ‘I be’ instead of ‘I am’, or ‘he don’t do nothing’ instead of ‘he doesn’t do anything’. They often use different kinds of jargon related to drugs, sex, and violence and often disrespectfully address women as ‘bitches’ or ‘hos’. On the other hand, if the woman in question is a girlfriend, she is usually called ‘mami’, or ‘boo’, or ‘wife’. Besides jargon and transformed words and expressions, there are also whole new expressions in rap music, such as ‘bling bling’ or 'wack'. ‘Bling bling’ has been accepted to the Oxford English Dictionary, which implies how powerful the effect of hip-hop is on language and culture as a whole (Oh, Yule 243).

Snoop Dogg, with his ‘dizzle language,’ has affected language a lot as an individual. The dizzle language, with its ‘izz’s and ‘izzle’s, is familiar to anyone who has ever heard Snoop Dogg rapping, or even talking in his TV show Doggy Fizzle Televizzle, for instance. Snoop Dogg was on Late Night with Conan O’Brien in January 2005, and O’Brien acknowledged that nowadays probably every American knows what ‘shizzle’ means and that it has become a generally-used expression thanks to Snoop Dogg. O’Brien wasn’t so sure about the meaning of the utterance “What’s crackalackin’,” however. It’s a wider expression for ‘what’s crackin’, meaning ‘what’s cool or in right now’ explained Snoop Dogg. Now it would still probably take a while for someone who has not dedicated themselves to hip-hop jargons to figure out the meaning of Snoop Dogg’s following lyrics: “Is Dr. Drizzay, so lizzay and plizzay With D-O-double-Gizzay?” or “Waiting on the Pizzle, the Dizzle and the Shizzle/G’s to the bizzack, now ladies here we gizzo.” The language is one of the things that make Snoop Dogg so popular still after over a decade of doing hip-hop (Hornbeck, Broadus).

Some people are worried about the influence English has on Finnish. Sayings of English, such as ‘in the long run’ are being translated into Finnish word for word and are not considered proper Finnish. Snoop Dogg as an individual with his dizzle talk hasn’t influenced Finnish directly, but hip-hop in general sure has. Finnish dictionaries haven’t accepted ‘bling bling’ yet, but spoken Finnish, and partly even written Finnish, among young people interested in hip-hop has been influenced by hip-hop culture a lot. This can clearly be seen on the Internet and chatting programs, such as the Internet Relay Chat (IRC). There are hip-hop oriented IRC channels such as #fam or #homiez where people all over the country talk to each other mostly about hip-hop. Not only do different local dialects of Finnish blend in with each other on these channels, but English hiphop-related terms such as kicks, throwback, to sign, to shake booty, line, chain, rims, holla, hot, and mami spice up the language used.

The terms are used either as they are, or as direct translations. A funny example of this is a phrase like ‘You know what I’m saying?’ which is often used by black people. Rappers from Tampere put it ‘Tiäksää’, a direct translation in the dialect of Tampere. These IRC channels are used for sharing hip-hop news, reviews of new hip-hop albums, or hot new clothes sold at Turnin’ Point, for example. In addition to IRC channels, there is a popular community on the net called Suomihiphop.com where registered users can discuss similar topics as on the IRC.

Whether English has a bad influence on Finnish or not, it cannot be denied that sometimes a kind of mixture of the two languages is actually needed. How would the subtitles of a movie like 8 Mile have looked if they had been done by someone who was not interested in hip-hop, for example? Quite bad, Finnish hip-hop fans would probably answer. That is why 8 Mile was translated by Finnish rapper Karri ‘Paleface’ Miettinen, a professional in both linguistics and hip-hop. One of the lines he translated for the film was “Miksi sä vielä käyt siellä Sheltersissä? Ei siellä oo kun sainaamattomia pellejä jotka ei muuksi muutu,” translated into Finnish from the English line “Why are you still goin’ to the Shelters (bar), dawg? There are nobody down but a bunch of clowns who ain’t got deals and are never goin’ to get deals.” Another good example of Miettinen’s skills is a line from a rap battle scene where a black rapper called Lotto is rapping about the white rapper B-Rabbit (Eminem): “Did you think the niggas gon’ feel your shit/You insane/I got a better chance joining the KKK”, which was translated into Finnish as follows: “Luulitsä et jengi diggais jotain kanii, helpommin pääsen Ku Klux Klaniin (8 Mile).”

Shake That Thing! Hip-Hop Videos and Events

Beautiful half-naked girls, fancy cars, and glittery jewelry are probably familiar to everybody who has ever seen a hip-hop music video. These videos often take place at a club where everyone is dancing and sipping champagne. Many rap artists have made so-called ‘party anthems’ that are especially about partying and girls, and usually include the expression ‘shake that thing’ in some form, meaning basically “to dance”. Famous examples include Sean Paul’s Get Busy, or 50 Cent’s In da Club or Disco Inferno. What is this all about? Rapper and producer Shawn ‘Jay-Z’ Carter answered this question when he was on Late Night with Conan O’Brien in 2004: These hip-hop videos illustrate the dream we (rappers) have with all the ladies and cars and having fun, and obviously we all hope that dream will someday come true if it already hasn’t (Carter).

A scene from Snoop Dogg’s video Drop It Like It’s Hot, showing girls ‘shaking that thing’ (Photo source: snoop-dogg.com).

Nowadays, people in Finland can almost have that dream come true in different clubs and events where there are people dressed and ‘shaking their booty’ the same way as rap stars and the girls in hip-hop music videos. There are regular hip-hop events in many cities, such as Soulclap in Helsinki and The Flyest and Black Night in Tampere, and touring events that take place in a row all over the country, such as Turnin’ Fest, to mention but a few. What unites all these is a famous Finnish hip-hop dj or two, such as K2 in Soulclap and Skem in The Flyest. Sometimes there are foreign guest dj’s in the events, and some events have performing artists, such as Black Night and Turnin’ Fest. These are usually Finnish rappers or crews. As the name suggests, Turnin’ Fest has to do with the clothing store Turnin’ Point – Henry ‘Skem’ Kaprali is involved in organizing the event.

A flyer for the monthly Tampere hip-hop event The Flyest (Photo source: N-Block.com).

In addition to the events in clubs, there has been a two-day hip-hop outdoor festival called Pipefest in Vuokatti, in Northern Finland, since 2001. At Pipefest there is a stage on which mainly Finnish rap artists perform and a club where there is a dj. You can also paint graffiti or snowboard in a pipe at Vuokatti. Pipefest has been popular among young people interested in hip-hop, since it is the only hip-hop festival in Finland so far. However, in summer 2005, a two-day Turnin' Fest will be organized in Tampere and big rap stars such as Juelz Santana from the Diplomats will be involved there. This probably means that in the future Turnin' Fest will be the biggest hip-hop festival in Finland and, as a matter of fact, in all the Nordic countries.

The world's biggest rap stars haven’t come to Pipefest or Turnin’ Fest yet, but famous American stars such as Lloyd Banks, Gang Starr, Obie Trice, Ghostface Killah, and 50 Cent (who gave a concert, though it was only for invited guests) have visited concert clubs in Helsinki during the last two years. As hip-hop culture in Finland stabilizes its status and becomes more credible step by step, maybe Finnish hip-hop fans will be rewarded and have the very best rap stars at the moment, such as the whole G-Unit or Snoop Dogg in Finland, too (Heinonen).

Hip-Hop Culture: A Worldwide Phenomenon and Here to Stay

Hip-hop culture is visible worldwide in many ways. Hip-hop music is played on MTV, on the radio, and in clubs everywhere. It has gained a legitimate place in the music industry and is here to stay. Related to the music, hip-hop clothing is visible everywhere also outside urban America and it is sold in specialized stores even as far away from the original market as in Finland. It is important in hip-hop how one looks, and some people think this has gone too far. Rap stars and producers such as Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Jay-Z, and the Neptunes have already been top-rated for years and are still among the most famous rappers in the world. New American rap superstars are breaking through all the time and becoming international stars, as hip-hop has become a truly international phenomenon.

Finland has also had its intensive hip-hop scene for roughly 20 years, started by pioneers such as Nuera. The number of hiphop-minded Finnish people is on the increase all the time as new artists gain success. As a result, there are also more hip-hop listeners. After Fintelligens started the Finnish hip-hop boom in the early 21st century, the number of Finnish rappers multiplied and a huge amount of miscellaneous and, as some people think, amusing hip-hop music was made. A good example of this is Petri Nygård, who turned out to be a huge success. Today, the state of Finnish hip-hop is more stable. Hip-hop has established the status it deserves as well in Finland: hip-hop is to be taken seriously. Not too seriously, however, as the famous murders of many rappers, such as Tupac Shakur and Notorious B.I.G., might imply. Hip-hop culture in Finland is not something to laugh at any more. Instead, it is a real youth culture and a way of life for many people.

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Notes

1. The concept ‘underground’ in hip-hop indicates a way of thinking that is opposite to ‘mainstream’ and materialism – it can mean producing one’s own records without big labels, or not dressing in expensive, fashionable clothes. Or it can mean emphasizing one’s values, such as pacifism, love, or religion, instead of commercial mainstream hip-hop themes like money, power, and violence.
2. For artists or groups that make political, alternative, or old school hip-hop, it is common to emphasize their values, such as political conviction, in their music. The rappers in Cypress Hill, a group which is considered alternative hip-hop, rap about things they think are important, such as smoking marijuana and killing policemen. Old school rappers like to rap to the simple beat that was invented in the ‘80s and early ‘90s. Many groups can’t be categorized as just one style of hip-hop but can be considered political and old school hip-hop at the same time, for example.
3. Rähinä Records includes 16 mc’s, the two most famous being the members of the duo called Fintelligens, Iso-H and Elastinen, who have been said to have started the Finnish hip-hop boom in the turn of the Millennium. Pikku G is a 17-year-old rapper (as of May 2005) who raps about nice things like friends and family and is extremely popular among young Finnish girls. Over 200,000 copies of his albums have been sold. Also older people, such as the young girls’ parents, like Pikku G as he doesn’t deal with money, drugs, and sex, like most rappers.
4. Ruudolf, Steen 1, and Ceebrolistics sell relatively many records but are still considered more underground than mainstream. Ruudolf raps about God in Finnish, Steen 1 deals with political and social problems in Finland, and Ceebrolistics like to ‘chill out’ and relax and rap about mental well-being as well as God, either in Finnish or English.
5. Members of Rähinä Records and Royal Family have been ‘dissing’ each other in interviews that they have given to the Finnish hip-hop magazine Posse. This is only verbal controversy, however, and can’t be compared to the hip-hop and gang feuds that there are in America, often with guns involved.

Glossary

Finns generally use all the following hip-hop words and expressions "as they are," i.e. the words aren’t translated into Finnish.

• ‘Mc’ in hip-hop is an abbreviation and stands for ‘Master of the Ceremony’. Said in a simple way, ‘mc’ means ‘rapper’.

• Gangstas, Playaz, Big Mac Daddies, Pimps, and Hustlerz, are all expressions that rappers use of themselves or each other. They are used to boost one’s ego and to show off one’s success and superiority. These words can have several meanings. A Gangsta is a member of a gang, whereas Pimps, Players, and Hustlers may employ prostitutes or deal drugs. A ‘ho’ in hip-hop means a prostitute and it is used to address to women disrespectfully.

• ‘Crew’ in hip-hop means a group or a gang. ‘Posse’ is another expression for crew.

• Durag (also ‘do-rag’) is kind of a headscarf that you wear under a cap, for example. The main purpose of a durag is to protect your hair if it is braided, but many people wear durags without braids as well.

• Bandanna is a scarf with a certain spiral pattern on it. Bandannas can be used as such as headscarves, or wrapped and tied around the head or wrists.

• A jersey throwback is a shirt that basketball players wear while playing.

• ‘Wack’ means ‘bad’. It has been developed from the word ‘weak’.

• ‘Kicks’ in the hip-hop language mean ‘sneakers’.

• When talking about ‘signing’ in hip-hop, people usually refer to signing a recording contract.

• ‘To shake booty’ basically means to dance.

• ‘Line’ is used when talking about lyrics. “That was a good line from him.”

• ‘Chain’ refers to jewelry.

• ‘Rims’ (on a car) are in Finnish ‘vanteet’. However, when speaking about rims, Finnish hip-hop people use the English word. (e.g. “Kellä on isoimmat rimssit Escaladessaan”)

• ‘Holla’ means to contact someone or to see someone later, or to try obtain attention from the opposite sex.

• ‘Hot’ in hip-hop language means ‘good’ or ‘good-looking’. Girls can be hot, as well as beats in a hip-hop song, for example. Beats can also be ‘phat’ in the same meaning (=hot).

• ‘Mami’ (pronounced like ‘mommy’) and 'mama' are used when talking about a girlfriend or other attractive girl in both English and Finnish hip-hop language. Many rappers, both American and Finnish, talk about ‘mamis’ in their songs. Famous examples include 50 Cent and the Finnish Rähinä Records crew Kapasiteettiyksikkö.

Appendix

• US-7 Research Report Followup

Works Cited

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• Yule, George. The Study of Language. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1985.