The AG curse strikes again,,, i only managed to save this reply from the original post...
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i hear you SIN,,, i don't think anything in life is as simple as two or three paragraphs could ever adequately explain.
however, i do see signs of what they call 'cultural alienation' in some areas of our local hip hop culture - the easy adoption of foreign slang, accent, dress code, production style etc.
slang and fashion originate in a specific area for many complex cultural reasons - to blindly copy them from the other side of the world makes no sense at all, and to me, is indicative of a lack of pride in where a person comes from.
you asked 'what is CULTURE?', which made me think. One definition i found is that it's 'the sum total of ways of living built up by a group of human beings and transmitted from one generation to another'.
this does not imply any kind of longing for an ancestral past, but recognises that certain groups of people share collective experiences and traditions formed over many generations that are specific to where they come from.
whilst those of us involved in hip hop culture may share many experiences in common (oppression, injustice, love of a certain style of music etc), we all come from different backgrounds with unique sets of experiences.
hip hop may be a global culture, but it's not a monoculture. we should be confident enough to express our commitment to that culture in our own way, without feeling that we are somehow removed from its centre (and therefore inferior) because we are not american.