uTunes Official Blog: Take a tour of hip hop music around the world.

I've heard that Jazz and Rhythm & Blues are the only true American art forms, but you can now unequivocally add hip hop to that list. And if the worldwide rap scene is any indication, it's one cultural art form we're exporting in abundance.

I’m not just talking about people from other countries listening to U.S. hip hop – which has been going on for decades now. Foreign MC’s are making some serious noise in the music world, flows that would make any rap innovator, creator, and soul-shaker extremely proud. Though they come from every background, race, language, and corner of the world imaginable, international MC's are serving notice that the mic check is over.

Whether we realize it or not, the world has their own love affair with hip hop. They come to it from different places – those who have achieved some worldwide popularity like MIA from Sri Lanka, The Streets from the UK, and Die Antwoord reppin' South Africa; the voices of poverty and oppression like Youngsta from the streets of South Africa or the Khmer Rap Boyz from my beloved Cambodia. Whether just over our border, like mega-talented Canadian female rapper Eternia, or on the other side of the world like Drunken Tiger from Korea, international rappers stretch and expand our cultural experience and even shatter our ideas about self-identity. But whether they’ve achieved enough legitimacy to have Nas or Snoop rapping alongside on their videos, called the JZ of Brazil (Emicida,) or singing about the Iranian revolution (like Erfan) they always have us getting’ down!

So sit back with a great set of headphones, clear your schedule, and get ready for a trip around the world – courtesy of hip hop.