Hip Hop Lives Art Gallery
Preserving Hip Hop Kulture for Future Generations
Our temple houses our God, and in GOD we trust. Our spiritual goals include getting out of our own way so that God may manifest through us. The Temple of Hip Hop leads Hiphoppas toward God and the divinity of Hip Hop’s culture, not toward itself. The Temple of
Hiphop is a spiritual Hip Hop movement concerned with overcoming the obstacles and temptations of “street” life and institutional entrapment and sabotage. As the sacred seal of our temple depicts, our vision and motto is “VICTORY OVER THE STREETS!”
The Gospel of Hip Hop, 7th Overstanding - The Temple of Hip Hop, pg 648)
Our great seal, with its 40 berries signifying the authority to teach, its streetlight in the background where Hip Hop first received power, its nine sun rays representing Hip Hop’s nine elements, and the son holding a boom box symbolizing Hip Hop’s social victory through simple and widely used technology, all come together to remind future members of the Temple of Hip Hop the meaning and purpose of our institution.”
The Gospel of Hip Hop, 7th Overstanding - The Temple of Hip Hop, pg 649)
Our sacred seal shows the divine mother holding her son’s hand in victory over the oppressive and unjust circumstances of urban life. Standing upon four steps (or stages) signifying the foundations of health, love, awareness and wealth, the appearance of the great goddess in our seal pays homage and respect to the millions of single mothers, wives, grandmothers and “big sisters” who cared for, taught and protected the early Hip Hop community and assisted us in becoming who we are today. Thanks Mom, and that’s forever (M.O.M.—Mind Over Matters).
The divine mother (the feminine/creative principle within all of humanity) standing next to her divine child (Hip Hop) symbolizes the maturity of divine ideas in our time. In the past the “Mother of God” was shown as a mother cuddling and holding her infant child close to her bosom. She was called the “Madonna” and her son was the
“Christ.” Our modern interpretation of this ancient motif depicts Madonna’s son as Hip Hop and now mature enough to stand upon his own two feet.
The Gospel of Hip Hop, 7th Overstanding - The Temple of Hip Hop, pg 649)
The symbol of the great mother standing on the right raising her son’s left hand up in victory over the streets symbolizes righteousness over corruption. This symbol celebrates the unity of our culture and acknowledges the support of our parents. The symbol “H” in the center of the sun celebrates both the divinity of Hip Hop as well as the life-giving sun which is mostly composed of hydrogen.
The symbol of “H” in the center of the sun also signifies the union and balance between Spirit and Science. The nine stars in the background sky represent Hip Hop’s nine elements. However, the stars and the sun appearing at the same time symbolizes Hip Hop’s ability to operate in the day or night, meaning, through good times as well as through bad times, whether events are favorable or unfavorable, Hip Hop’s divine nature is always at work.
This same symbol of the stars and the sun in the sky together also celebrates Hip Hop’s balance between positive and negative forces, even good and evil forces. In addition, such a symbol shows respect to the metaphysical meaning of “light” as Truth, Knowledge, Wisdom and Awareness.
The Gospel of Hip Hop, 7th Overstanding - The Temple of Hip Hop, pg 650)
Surrounding our great seal is a wreath of medicinal herbs, symbolizing inspiration and the origins of human awareness. Also within our wreath are rose “hips” and barley “hops,” which not only characterize Hip Hop’s plentiful harvest (its prosperity) but also symbolize the cultivation, care, attention and worship of the intelligent movement.
Rose “hips” and barley “hops” symbolize for Hiphoppas the seed (hips) of the new vine or way (hops). As mentioned earlier, Hip Hop is the seed of a new vine (the new people/the new way). The Temple of Hip Hop simply acknowledges and documents this new way.
The Gospel of Hip Hop, 7th Overstanding - The Temple of Hip Hop, pg 650)
Over the years building our temple we’ve noticed a recurrence of the number 9. We’ve noticed our 9 elements being taught in 9 months, our 18 Divine Performances, our 18 Hip Hop Declaration of Peace principles, and the 18 characters of our title T-E-M-P-L-E-O-F-H-I-P-HO-P-1-9-9-6 which appears on our sacred seal (8 + 1 = 9). We also noticed the fact that the Gospel of Hip Hop itself was completed in 2009 which not only equals 11, the date Kool DJ Herc played his first party for his sister Cindy (August 11, 1973), but 2009 is approximately 36 years from 1973, the birth year of Hip Hop (3 + 6 = 9). Remaining consistent with the numbers 9 and 18, young teachas are advised to accept apprentices in such manners. When starting your Hip Hop ministry teach only up to 9 apprentices who are over the age of 18.
The Gospel of Hip Hop, 7th Overstanding - The Temple of Hip Hop, pg 650-651)
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