Hip-hop
Is A
Lifestyle
Deck: Hiphop has been around for years and was only seen as a hobby until it developed as a lifestyle for others especially to Dizzy Caday.
In the Philippines, Hip-hop is generalized as either too “jeje” or for “cool kids”. What most people do not know is the scope it holds. They have listened to Skusta Clee or EZ Mill, or may have seen Philippine All-Stars dancing internationally. Those examples follow hip-hop deemed as excelling in this culture. In our world full of stereotypes wherein hip-hop prejudices are prevalent, a second look at hip-hop culture is consequential.
At this time of pandemic, I got a hold of a Hip-hop culture pro. His name is Dizzy Caday, a member of Le’Go Fam and a performer of this arts for eight years. His team won the championship in the World Supremacy Battlegrounds Australia 2017 (Open Division) and 2nd runner up to World of Dance PH hosted by ABS-CBN. Right now, he is focusing on a specific element of Hip-hop which is Emceeing.
Hip-hop culture has four basic elements. Each element has a category that needs to be mastered before one can be considered a pro.
The first element is Breaking. Not the literal one but the ‘uy, tumatambling!’. This dance element includes categories such as street dance, popping, b-boy, and many more.
The second element is Emceeing. This is the element that Dizzy Caday is currently mastering. It includes rappers and MC. MC in Hip-hop is the same as those you see at birthday parties but the only difference is that they host this culture’s events. They are mostly seen in battles (e.g. 1 dancer vs. another) such as Anygma in Fliptop.
The third is DJ. They are the party starters, beat producers, and beat makers. In songs, we hear the artist itself singing and the background music. The music is created by these DJs. On another note, party-starters are the ones who play music in clubs since this culture is most performed in this setting. Now, we can’t say Mozart is a DJ since he produced music. This mastery needs to follow the culture and essence of Hip-hop. Lastly, Graffiti. These are the wall artists, bombers, street artists, and visuals. This differs from vandalism. Although vandalism may look ‘dope’, Hip-hop only aims to spread love. If it’s hurting someone, it’s not Hip-hop unless it is for the reason of advocating.
Dizzy has mentioned his history of meeting Hip-hop. Back then, the culture was shared on MTVs especially rappers like Eminem and Snoop Dogg. In 2006s, Jabbawockeez entered mainstream TV and broke the internet. Like those inspired, Dizzy followed their genre which is Popping, and there, he met this culture that became his lifestyle until today.
Dizzy considers Hip-hop as a form of street art. According to him, this so-called “Hip-hop” started from the black culture especially in the streets (e.g. gangsters). He emphasized, “Kung sa Pinas, may iskwater. Sa America, may ghetto.” They started this culture and applied its roots as a lifestyle.
In our country, being an artist such as Dizzy is a hard path due to limited job opportunities. Given this constraint, he still advocates sharing this culture with high hopes that Hip-hop as a lifestyle can possibly be mainstream. It is important for him to spread this knowledge to those who want to learn, those who are unaware, and those who do not understand Hip-hop.
Dizzy, as part of the Hip-hop community for a number of years, claims that the biggest impact of this culture is the changing of his perspective. The change revolves around small things such as his way of talking, acting, or dressing to his way of thinking. Being part of the culture allowed him to gain confidence, and see simple things into a complex object. As per disadvantage, he worries that in a normal setting, people may perceive him differently. He pointed out that, “Siguro dahil hindi talaga para sa lahat ang Hip-hop. Para lang talaga sa mga willing tumanggap at bukas ang pananaw.”
An artwork for Dizzy that I made as a token of appreciation
His advice to those who want to know more about the culture, “They should put their hearts in every masterpiece they are doing for Hip-hop culture to propagate”. The output in return will affect and reflect the message being conveyed… that is seeing Hip-hop through the lens of a professional. Hip-hop as a lifestyle changes one’s well-being holistically. Its deepest art still has not reached the mainstream but as long as people such as Dizzy are working in this industry, we might see the action being passed for generations.
Just a plug for our interviewee, Dizzy Caday, here are links from some of his works and performances:
Takam – Dizzy D.
LEGO FAM in World of Dance Philippines 2019:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dCKPf1f1Ai4&feature=emb_title
Contact him through his socials:
FB Page: https://m.facebook.com/Dizzygurado
YT Page: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCYUmgl1KGcJJnj8PSsW-ADQ/featured
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