You know whats hot? Hip-Hop mascots are scolding hot. In a way that no homo-sapien has experienced before, hip-hop culture capitalizes on the zany character embodied by the artist, or the hypeman(amongst others). I guess no other genre of music has enough personality to conjure up mascots, or wacky personas that intrigue as well as entertain the audience. The Question is: Why does hip-hop have mascots?

I would imagine that the mascots in hip-hop came from the influence of disco and funk music. These two genres are given credit as the precursors of hip-hop music. Artists likes James Brown, Funkadelic and Bootsy Collins clearly gave way to Afrika Bambaata, Fab Five Freddy and Flavor Flav. The personalities that hip-hop is comprised of are more than artists, some are crewmembers and Vee-Jays. But why else does hip-hop have mascots, stop looking at me stupid, brainstorm smart-ass!

Ah, I got it, Characteristics of Negro Expression. What’s that you may ask, its an essay written by Zora Neale Hurston. Hurston was an antropologist and writer who was renowned during the Harlem Renaissance(1920-1940). In her essay, she asserted that Afrikan, or black people were inclined to express certain behavior. This behavior consists of improvision,a-symmetrical bodily movement, public drama and the will to adorn(just to name a few). The will to adorn means that black folks feel the need to accentuate their spirits by enriching their presence, personality and presentation. So the reason Kanye West emphasizes words in a unique way, Flavor Flav is wild and crazy, and many artists wear jewelry is closely attributed to the will to adorn.

Thanks to Zora Neale Hurston, we have an appropriate explaination to why hip-hop mascots make the music larger than life.

Give the Author Some Feedback!