Zazou

The Zazou is a french subculture from WorldWar 2.The name "zazou" comes from the name of the song Zaz Zuh Zaz, by Cab Calloway.

The Zazous can be recognized  with their very large jacket going down to their knees, their narrow and short trousers and a high collar.Their hair would be long and greased.
This clothing style can be found later on with the teddy boys and their suits.

Zazous gathered together to listen and dance to "black" music.They would met in café to listen to Jazz and dance the swing.

Hip-Hop

The Hip-Hop movement appeared in New-York City in the 1970s.This new culture started in African-American communities in the form of artistic culture and musical expression.
According to DJ Afrika Bambaataa there are four pillars for the Hip-Hop :

1- MCing which is basically rapping.
2- DJing
3- Breaking is the dance style
4- Graffiti is the visual expression on walls

A 5th pillar can be added to this list the Beatboxing where the artist creates beats and rythm with his mouth.

Language : Hip Hop developped a complex language with his own slang yo ! Dis was created to reject the "white english" language which was an educated speech.

Clothing : People in the Hip Hop movement wear generally joggings or baggys, with sneakers or big Caterpillar shoes and a very large T-shirt. Accessories can be added like a cap or heavy chains in gold and jewelries.

The Hip Hop movement is a pacific culture.Its first goal was to reduce violence between gangs, creating battles through songs or dancing, pushing people to be creative and give the best of themselves through songs dances and graffitis.

Culture

What is culture ?

E.Taylor was the first person to define what culture is. According to him “ Culture or civilization, taken in its broad, ethnographic sense, is that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, custom, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society.”

The culture of a society is both frozen and alive.It's frozen because we keep the culture of the past from generation to generation and this knowledge will not change, but it also evolves through time.

Culture is alive, it changes, it exchanges with other cultures and other societies everyday, creating new way to communicate, to speak, to work ...

Why is it important ?

Culture gives an identity, a personnality and a background to the people.The people sharing the same culture creates the society, so without the culture there is no society.

We can also say that a person carries his culture within his society and that a person without a culture is impossible.That's why culture is essential.