COLUMBIA, S.C. — Fifty years of hip-hop and 10 years of celebrating the genre in Columbia: Love, Peace, and Hip-hop is an organization that celebrates the funk and the boogie to the beat every year.
Kango hats, Adidas shoes, and doorknocker earrings are all part of is part of a culture.
"It's a message in it. It speaks for the people who do not sometimes have a voice, and it speaks for the youth," FatRat Da Czar said. He organizes the annual hip-hop family event.
People nod their heads, waving their hands like they don't care, and bouncing from side to side to songs created 50 years ago. DJ Prince Ice is a South Carolina DJ and artist who said he was told when it started that this type of music wouldn't stand the test of time.
"I heard that when I was younger: 'That's not gonna last; go get a real job,'" he said.
But DJ Prince Ice and many others believed in it.
"It's not a fad; it's a culture, and a culture is a way of life. The key thing about hip-hop is origins," DJ Prince Ice said. "It started from the people, for the people, and, as long as it stays that way, it'll remain what it is,"
As the genre expanded, a generation of people grew up with it, like Traci Fant, one of the people who were there to see hip-hop pioneer Kurtis Blow.
"It mirrors my childhood - my upbringing - and it shows the transformation from hip-hop to rap to back to hip-hop; it shows the whole vibe," Fant said. "It shows also that legendary stuff never dies."
Though New York is often credited with establishing the roots of the music genre, it's not the only place that had it.
"I grew up with hip-hop; I'm New York City," one attendee said.
FatRat Da Czar said much of the music also happened in South Carolina.
"We're not actually last in line; we're first in line. So, we've had very rich contributions to hip-hop from Malik to Lil Ru to so many I don't want to miss anybody," he said.
And so, through this rich history, the tradition of "For the People, By the People" continues in Columbia.