It's Monday following the Elements of Hip Hop 2012. Pics and videos from Saturday are still being posted on Facebook, and I am looking at my new friend requests from the people I met while thinking about playing a couple of the CD's I was handed throughout the day. My car still houses the t-shirts I copped from vendors and my windshield is colorfully decorated with about 8 flyers. As I said its Monday AFTER the Elements festival.

There were so many highlights this year, so many " did you see that" moments and from a couple of perspectives (artist manager, Poor Vida affiliate and culture aficionado) I can't say there were any flaws (big ups to Christina and J Lo) .. it literally appeared to be perfect. And that is from ME, a definite scene critic.

I considered for a couple of days prior to the event which Hip Hop Element I was gonna cover on The Breakdown: the Emcee, The DJ/Producer/ The Graffiti, or the B-Boys... but I chose instead to cover something each of us in the culture can relate to being. The common denominator of us all. The FAN.

An element is a pure substance which cannot be broken down into simpler substances.