Is Hip Hop a Culture?

According to the American Heritage dictionay culture is defined as the totality of socially transmitted behavior patterns, arts, beliefs, institutions, and all other products of human work and thought. Given this definition, it is clear that Hip Hop is a culture. Some of the identifiers of Hip Hop are language (slang/ebonics), attire (oversized clothes), music (rap) and mentality (baller/player). Hip Hop is a culture that seems to influence and expose the very young to a destructive behavior. Although Hip Hop started out as rappers rapping about everyday common issues that evolved into the social issues of the black community which was believed to become a social concise wakeup call for black america but it was ignored by many. Now many rappers mainly rap about their fame and fortune (bling, bling status) which many youths admire and immulate.