Urban Culture

For a lot of people, the idea of urban culture is something that can have a number of different meanings. And for others, these meanings seem to be stereotypes, so you might not say anything when someone tries to get your definition. Let’s stop the silence – yes, urban culture is mainly comprised of African-Americans. Yes, there are some activities that can seem stereotypical, but at the same time, many of these things have shaped the culture and have grown a strong urban presence in the world. Nothing wrong with that.

What Urban Culture Can Include

Just as with any definition, this may change in the future or in the moment. Urban culture is typically defined as a culture that might include these features:

• Hip hop music
• House or techno music
• Rapping
• Street dancing or break dancing
• Turntable playing

This is a culture in which creativity is encouraged and expressed in a number of ways. In doing so, the mood of the culture can come out and the overall tone of the area can be expressed through different media outlets. What you might also notice with the music that is played in many urban culture settings is that it seems to discuss the events happening in the area, or events that have happened. Like a modern day mythology, urban culture expresses itself in order to remember the past and the present.

The Power of Commercialization

What many people don’t realize is that urban culture features have been spread to the areas through the commercialization of these activities. Companies noticed that many people in city settings were break dancing, for example, so they began to promote this to other cities, causing the activity to become more widespread. What does this matter and what does this mean? When you are spreading a cultural activity, you are creating a new system that is then passed on from generation to generation. The companies can then introduce new activities and styles into the culture, allowing for them to be even more readily accepted into society.

Is Urban Culture a Natural Culture?

The question you might be asking then is whether the ideas in urban culture settings are unique to the areas, or if they have simply been the design of marketing and capitalization. There is some truth to the idea that some features that are considered ‘urban’ are the result of slick marketing. At the same time, these features are also attractive to certain groups, which can mean that some areas were already interested in these ideas, even before the company came up with them.

Urban culture is just one area of the world that is helping to create unique identities in the world and in the history of the world. While you might not completely understand its source, you can see how urban culture ideas influence the society as a whole.