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Wikipedia

Rapping

April 04, 2023

"Rap" and "Rapper" redirect here. For other uses, see Rap (disambiguation).
This article is about rapping as a technique or activity. For more information on the music genre, see Hip hop music.

Rapping (also rhyming, flowing, spitting,[1] emceeing[2] or MCing[2][3]) is known to be a musical form of vocal delivery that incorporates "rhyme, rhythmic speech, and street vernacular".[4] It is performed or chanted, usually over a backing beat or musical accompaniment.[4] The components of rap include "content" (what is being said e.g. lyrics), "flow" (rhythm, rhyme), and "delivery" (cadence, tone).[5] Rap differs from spoken-word poetry in that it is usually performed off-time to musical accompaniment.[6] Rap is a primary ingredient of hip hop music commonly associated with that genre; however, the origins of rap predate hip-hop culture by many years.

50 Cent rapping at Warfield Theatre, San Francisco, June 3, 2010

Precursors to modern rap include the West African griot tradition,[7] certain vocal styles of blues,[8] jazz,[9] an African-American insult game called playing the dozens,[10] and 1960s African-American poetry.[11] The use of rap in popular music originated in the Bronx, New York City in the 1970s, alongside the hip hop genre and cultural movement.[12] Rapping developed from the role of master of ceremonies (MC) at parties within the scene, who would encourage and entertain guests between DJ sets, which evolved into longer performances.

Rap is usually delivered over a beat, typically provided by a DJ, turntablist, or beatboxer when performing live. Much less commonly a rapper can decide to perform a cappella, meaning without accompaniment of any sort, beat(s) included. When a rap or hip-hop artist is creating a song, "track", or record, done primarily in a production studio, most frequently a producer provides the beat(s) for the MC to flow over. Stylistically, rap occupies a gray area between speech, prose, poetry, and singing.[13] The word, which predates the musical form, originally meant "to lightly strike",[14] and is now used to describe quick speech or repartee.[15] The word had been used in British English since the 16th century. It was part of the African American dialect of English in the 1960s meaning "to converse", and very soon after that came to denote the musical style.[16] The word "rap" is so closely associated with hip-hop music that many writers use the terms interchangeably.

History

See also: African-American music, Music of the United States, History of poetry, Jamaican music, and Talking blues

Etymology and usage

The English verb rap has various meanings; these include "to strike, especially with a quick, smart, or light blow",[17] as well "to utter sharply or vigorously: to rap out a command".[17] The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary gives a date of 1541 for the first recorded use of the word with the meaning "to utter (esp. an oath) sharply, vigorously, or suddenly".[18] Wentworth and Flexner's Dictionary of American Slang gives the meaning "to speak to, recognize, or acknowledge acquaintance with someone", dated 1932,[19] and a later meaning of "to converse, esp. in an open and frank manner".[20] It is these meanings from which the musical form of rapping derives, and this definition may be from a shortening of repartee.[21] A rapper refers to a performer who "raps". By the late 1960s, when Hubert G. Brown changed his name to H. Rap Brown, rap was a slang term referring to an oration or speech, such as was common among the "hip" crowd in the protest movements, but it did not come to be associated with a musical style for another decade.[22]

Rap was used to describe talking on records as early as 1970 on Isaac Hayes' album ...To Be Continued with the track name "Monologue: Ike's Rap I".[23] Hayes' "husky-voiced sexy spoken 'raps' became key components in his signature sound".[24] Del the Funky Homosapien similarly states that rap was used to refer to talking in a stylistic manner in the early 1970s: "I was born in '72 ... back then what rapping meant, basically, was you trying to convey something—you're trying to convince somebody. That's what rapping is, it's in the way you talk."[25]

Sometimes said to be an acronym for 'rhythm and poetry', this is not the origin of the word.[26]

Roots

 
The Memphis Jug Band, an early blues group, whose lyrical content and rhythmic singing predated rapping
 
Gotta Let You Go
Joe Hill Louis's song "Gotta Let You Go" is an early example of rapping in blues.
Problems playing this file? See media help.

Similarities to rapping can be observed in West African folk traditions. Centuries before hip-hop music existed, the griots of West Africa delivered stories rhythmically, over drums and sparse instrumentation. Such resemblances have been noted by many modern artists, modern day "griots", spoken word artists, mainstream news sources, and academics.[27][28][29][30] Rap lyrics and music are part of the "Black rhetorical continuum", continuing past traditions of expanding upon them through "creative use of language and rhetorical styles and strategies".[31]

Blues, rooted in the work songs and spirituals of slavery, was first played by black Americans around the time of the Emancipation Proclamation.[32][33][34][35][36] Scholars traced the style of rapping created by African-Americans to the Black church and call-and-response culture. Black preachers in the early twentieth century had a rhythmic way of preaching to engage the audience using parables and personal stories played over gospel music. This way of preaching, unique to African-Americans, called the Black sermonic tradition influenced singers and musicians such as 1940s African-American gospel group The Jubalaires.[37][38][39][40] The Jubalaire's songs The Preacher and the Bear (1941) and Noah (1946) are precursors to the genre of rap music. The Jubalaires and other African-American singing groups during the blues, jazz, and gospel era are examples of the origins and development of rap music.[41][42][43][44][45] Grammy-winning blues musician/historian Elijah Wald and others have argued that the blues were being rapped as early as the 1920s.[46][47] Wald went so far as to call hip hop "the living blues".[46] A notable recorded example of rapping in blues was the 1950 song "Gotta Let You Go" by Joe Hill Louis.[8]

Scholars also traced the origin of rap to an African-American tradition called playing the dozens. The dozens is a verbal rhyming insult game where competitors insult each other and their opponents family members. In rap and hip-hop, artists insult their opponents and relatives in their songs.[48][10]

Jazz, which developed from the blues and other African-American and European musical traditions and originated around the beginning of the 20th century, has also influenced hip hop and has been cited as a precursor of hip hop. Not just jazz music and lyrics but also jazz poetry. According to John Sobol, the jazz musician and poet who wrote Digitopia Blues, rap "bears a striking resemblance to the evolution of jazz both stylistically and formally".[9] Boxer Muhammad Ali anticipated elements of rap, often using rhyme schemes and spoken word poetry, both for when he was trash talking in boxing and as political poetry for his activism outside of boxing, paving the way for The Last Poets in 1968, Gil Scott-Heron in 1970, and the emergence of rap music in the 1970s.[49][50][51][11] An editor of the newspaper, The Fayetteville Observer interviewed Bill Curtis of the disco-funk music group the Fatback Band in 2020. Curtis noted that when he moved to the Bronx in the 1970s he heard people rapping over scratched records throughout the neighborhoods and radio DJs were rapping before the genre was released on retail recordings. The Fatback Band released the first rap recording King Tim III (Personality Jock) a few weeks before the Sugarhill Gang in 1979.[52] In another interview Curtis said: “There was rapping in the Bronx and the cats there had been doing it for a while...Fatback certainly didn’t invent rap or anything. I was just interested in it and I guess years later we were the first to record it. At the time you could already see cats rapping everywhere in the streets and doing stuff.”[53]

With the decline of disco in the early 1980s rap became a new form of expression. Rap arose from musical experimentation with rhyming, rhythmic speech. Rap was a departure from disco. Sherley Anne Williams refers to the development of rap as "anti-Disco" in style and means of reproduction. The early productions of Rap after Disco sought a more simplified manner of producing the tracks they were to sing over. Williams explains how Rap composers and DJ's opposed the heavily orchestrated and ritzy multi-tracks of Disco for "break beats" which were created from compiling different records from numerous genres and did not require the equipment from professional recording studios. Professional studios were not necessary therefore opening the production of rap to the youth who as Williams explains felt "locked out" because of the capital needed to produce Disco records.[54]

More directly related to the African-American community were items like schoolyard chants and taunts, clapping games,[55] jump-rope rhymes, some with unwritten folk histories going back hundreds of years across many nationalities. Sometimes these items contain racially offensive lyrics.[56]

Proto-rap

In his narration between the tracks on George Russell's 1958 jazz album New York, N.Y., the singer Jon Hendricks recorded something close to modern rap, since it all rhymed and was delivered in a hip, rhythm-conscious manner. Art forms such as spoken word jazz poetry and comedy records had an influence on the first rappers.[57] Coke La Rock, often credited as hip-hop's first MC[58] cites the Last Poets among his influences, as well as comedians such as Wild Man Steve and Richard Pryor.[57] Comedian Rudy Ray Moore released under the counter albums in the 1960s and 1970s such as This Pussy Belongs To Me (1970), which contained "raunchy, sexually explicit rhymes that often had to do with pimps, prostitutes, players, and hustlers",[59] and which later led to him being called "The Godfather of Rap".[60]

Gil Scott-Heron, a jazz poet/musician, has been cited as an influence on rappers such as Chuck D and KRS-One.[61] Scott-Heron himself was influenced by Melvin Van Peebles,[62][63] whose first album was 1968's Brer Soul. Van Peebles describes his vocal style as "the old Southern style", which was influenced by singers he had heard growing up in South Chicago.[64] Van Peebles also said that he was influenced by older forms of African-American music: "... people like Blind Lemon Jefferson and the field hollers. I was also influenced by spoken word song styles from Germany that I encountered when I lived in France."[65]

During the mid-20th century, the musical culture of the Caribbean was constantly influenced by the concurrent changes in American music. As early as 1956,[66] deejays were toasting (an African tradition of "rapped out" tales of heroism) over dubbed Jamaican beats. It was called "rap", expanding the word's earlier meaning in the African-American community—"to discuss or debate informally."[67]

The early rapping of hip-hop developed out of DJ and Master of Ceremonies' announcements made over the microphone at parties, and later into more complex raps.[68] Grandmaster Caz states: "The microphone was just used for making announcements, like when the next party was gonna be, or people's moms would come to the party looking for them, and you have to announce it on the mic. Different DJs started embellishing what they were saying. I would make an announcement this way, and somebody would hear that and they add a little bit to it. I'd hear it again and take it a little step further 'til it turned from lines to sentences to paragraphs to verses to rhymes."[68]

One of the first rappers at the beginning of the hip hop period, at the end of the 1970s, was also hip hop's first DJ, DJ Kool Herc. Herc, a Jamaican immigrant, started delivering simple raps at his parties, which some claim were inspired by the Jamaican tradition of toasting.[69] However, Kool Herc himself denies this link (in the 1984 book Hip Hop), saying, "Jamaican toasting? Naw, naw. No connection there. I couldn't play reggae in the Bronx. People wouldn't accept it. The inspiration for rap is James Brown and the album Hustler's Convention".[70] Herc also suggests he was too young while in Jamaica to get into sound system parties: "I couldn't get in. Couldn't get in. I was ten, eleven years old,"[71] and that while in Jamaica, he was listening to James Brown: "I was listening to American music in Jamaica and my favorite artist was James Brown. That's who inspired me. A lot of the records I played were by James Brown."[69]

However, in terms of what was identified in the 2010s as "rap" the source came from Manhattan. Pete DJ Jones said the first person he heard rap was DJ Hollywood, a Harlem (not Bronx) native[72] who was the house DJ at the Apollo Theater. Kurtis Blow also says the first person he heard rhyme was DJ Hollywood.[73] In a 2014 interview, Hollywood said: "I used to like the way Frankie Crocker would ride a track, but he wasn't syncopated to the track though. I liked [WWRL DJ] Hank Spann too, but he wasn't on the one. Guys back then weren't concerned with being musical. I wanted to flow with the record". And in 1975, he ushered in what became known as the Hip Hop style by rhyming syncopated to the beat of an existing record uninterruptedly for nearly a minute. He adapted the lyrics of Isaac Hayes "Good Love 6-9969" and rhymed it to the breakdown part of "Love is the Message".[74] His partner Kevin Smith, better known as Lovebug Starski, took this new style and introduced it to the Bronx Hip Hop set that until then was composed of DJing and B-boying (or beatboxing), with traditional "shout out" style rapping.

The style that Hollywood created and his partner introduced to the Hip Hop set quickly became the standard. Before that time most MC rhymes, based on radio DJs, consisted of short patters that were disconnected thematically; they were separate unto themselves. But by using song lyrics, Hollywood gave his rhyme an inherent flow and theme. This was quickly noticed, and the style spread. By the end of the 1970s, artists such as Kurtis Blow and The Sugarhill Gang were starting to receive radio airplay and make an impact far outside of New York City, on a national scale. Blondie's 1981 single, "Rapture", was one of the first songs featuring rap to top the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart.

Old-school hip hop

Main article: Old-school hip hop

Old school rap (1979–84)[75] was "easily identified by its relatively simple raps"[76] according to AllMusic, "the emphasis was not on lyrical technique, but simply on good times",[76] one notable exception being Melle Mel, who set the way for future rappers through his socio-political content and creative wordplay.[76]

Golden age

Main article: Golden age hip hop

Golden age hip hop (the mid-1980s to early '90s)[77] was the time period where hip-hop lyricism went through its most drastic transformation – writer William Jelani Cobb says "in these golden years, a critical mass of mic prodigies were literally creating themselves and their art form at the same time"[78] and Allmusic writes, "rhymers like PE's Chuck D, Big Daddy Kane, KRS-One, and Rakim basically invented the complex wordplay and lyrical kung-fu of later hip-hop".[79] The golden age is considered to have ended around 1993–94, marking the end of rap lyricism's most innovative period.[77][79]

Flow

"Flow" is defined as "the rhythms and rhymes"[80][81][82] of a hip-hop song's lyrics and how they interact – the book How to Rap breaks flow down into rhyme, rhyme schemes, and rhythm (also known as cadence).[83] 'Flow' is also sometimes used to refer to elements of the delivery (pitch, timbre, volume) as well,[84] though often a distinction is made between the flow and the delivery.[81][80]

Staying on the beat is central to rap's flow[85] – many MCs note the importance of staying on-beat in How to Rap including Sean Price, Mighty Casey, Zion I, Vinnie Paz, Fredro Starr, Del The Funky Homosapien, Tech N9ne, People Under The Stairs, Twista, B-Real, Mr Lif, 2Mex, and Cage.[85]

MCs stay on beat by stressing syllables in time to the four beats of the musical backdrop.[86][87] Poetry scholar Derek Attridge describes how this works in his book Poetic Rhythm – "rap lyrics are written to be performed to an accompaniment that emphasizes the metrical structure of the verse".[86] He says rap lyrics are made up of, "lines with four stressed beats, separated by other syllables that may vary in number and may include other stressed syllables. The strong beat of the accompaniment coincides with the stressed beats of the verse, and the rapper organizes the rhythms of the intervening syllables to provide variety and surprise".[86]

The same technique is also noted in the book How to Rap, where diagrams are used to show how the lyrics line up with the beat – "stressing a syllable on each of the four beats gives the lyrics the same underlying rhythmic pulse as the music and keeps them in rhythm ... other syllables in the song may still be stressed, but the ones that fall in time with the four beats of a bar are the only ones that need to be emphasized in order to keep the lyrics in time with the music".[88]

In rap terminology, 16-bars is the amount of time that rappers are generally given to perform a guest verse on another artist's song; one bar is typically equal to four beats of music.[89]

History

Old school flows were relatively basic and used only for a few syllables per bar, simple rhythmic patterns, and basic rhyming techniques and rhyme schemes.[84][90] Melle Mel is cited as an MC who epitomizes the old school flow – Kool Moe Dee says, "from 1970 to 1978 we rhymed one way [then] Melle Mel, in 1978, gave us the new cadence we would use from 1978 to 1986".[91] He's the first emcee to explode in a new rhyme cadence, and change the way every emcee rhymed forever. Rakim, The Notorious B.I.G., and Eminem have flipped the flow, but Melle Mel's downbeat on the two, four, kick to snare cadence is still the rhyme foundation all emcees are building on".[92]

Artists and critics often credit Rakim with creating the overall shift from the more simplistic old school flows to more complex flows near the beginning of hip hop's new school[93] – Kool Moe Dee says, "any emcee that came after 1986 had to study Rakim just to know what to be able to do.[94] Rakim, in 1986, gave us flow and that was the rhyme style from 1986 to 1994.[91] From that point on, anybody emceeing was forced to focus on their flow".[95] Kool Moe Dee explains that before Rakim, the term 'flow' wasn't widely used – "Rakim is basically the inventor of flow. We were not even using the word flow until Rakim came along. It was called rhyming, it was called cadence, but it wasn't called flow. Rakim created flow!"[96] He adds that while Rakim upgraded and popularized the focus on flow, "he didn't invent the word".[94]

Kool Moe Dee states that Biggie introduced a newer flow which "dominated from 1994 to 2002",[91] and also says that Method Man was "one of the emcees from the early to mid-'90s that ushered in the era of flow ... Rakim invented it, Big Daddy Kane, KRS-One, and Kool G Rap expanded it, but Biggie and Method Man made flow the single most important aspect of an emcee's game".[97] He also cites Craig Mack as an artist who contributed to developing flow in the '90s.[98]

Music scholar Adam Krims says, "the flow of MCs is one of the profoundest changes that separates out new-sounding from older-sounding music ... it is widely recognized and remarked that rhythmic styles of many commercially successful MCs since roughly the beginning of the 1990s have progressively become faster and more 'complex'".[84] He cites "members of the Wu-Tang Clan, Nas, AZ, Big Pun, and Ras Kass, just to name a few"[99] as artists who exemplify this progression.

Kool Moe Dee adds, "in 2002 Eminem created the song that got the first Oscar in Hip-Hop history [Lose Yourself] ... and I would have to say that his flow is the most dominant right now (2003)".[91]

Styles

There are many different styles of flow, with different terminology used by different people – stic.man of Dead Prez uses the following terms –

Alternatively, music scholar Adam Krims uses the following terms –

Rhyme

MCs use many different rhyming techniques, including complex rhyme schemes, as Adam Krims points out – "the complexity ... involves multiple rhymes in the same rhyme complex (i.e. section with consistently rhyming words), internal rhymes, [and] offbeat rhymes".[99] There is also widespread use of multisyllabic rhymes, by artists such as Kool G Rap,[106] Big Daddy Kane, Rakim, Big L, Nas, and Eminem.

It has been noted that rap's use of rhyme is some of the most advanced in all forms of poetry – music scholar Adam Bradley notes, "rap rhymes so much and with such variety that it is now the largest and richest contemporary archive of rhymed words. It has done more than any other art form in recent history to expand rhyme's formal range and expressive possibilities".[107]

In the book How to Rap, Masta Ace explains how Rakim and Big Daddy Kane caused a shift in the way MCs rhymed: "Up until Rakim, everybody who you heard rhyme, the last word in the sentence was the rhyming [word], the connection word. Then Rakim showed us that you could put rhymes within a rhyme ... now here comes Big Daddy Kane — instead of going three words, he's going multiple".[108] How to Rap explains that "rhyme is often thought to be the most important factor in rap writing ... rhyme is what gives rap lyrics their musicality.[2]

Rhythm

Many of the rhythmic techniques used in rapping come from percussive techniques and many rappers compare themselves to percussionists.[109] How to Rap 2 identifies all the rhythmic techniques used in rapping such as triplets, flams, 16th notes, 32nd notes, syncopation, extensive use of rests, and rhythmic techniques unique to rapping such as West Coast "lazy tails", coined by Shock G.[110] Rapping has also been done in various time signatures, such as 3/4 time.[111]

Since the 2000s, rapping has evolved into a style of rap that spills over the boundaries of the beat, closely resembling spoken English.[112] Rappers like MF Doom and Eminem have exhibited this style, and since then, rapping has been difficult to notate.[113] The American hip-hop group Crime Mob exhibited a new rap flow in songs such as "Knuck If You Buck", heavily dependent on triplets. Rappers including Drake, Kanye West, Rick Ross, Young Jeezy and more have included this influence in their music. In 2014, an American hip-hop collective from Atlanta, Migos, popularized this flow, and is commonly referred to as the "Migos Flow" (a term that is contentious within the hip-hop community).[114]

Rap notation and flow diagrams

The standard form of rap notation is the flow diagram, where rappers line-up their lyrics underneath "beat numbers".[115] Different rappers have slightly different forms of flow diagram that they use: Del the Funky Homosapien says, "I'm just writing out the rhythm of the flow, basically. Even if it's just slashes to represent the beats, that's enough to give me a visual path.",[116] Vinnie Paz states, "I've created my own sort of writing technique, like little marks and asterisks to show like a pause or emphasis on words in certain places.",[115] and Aesop Rock says, "I have a system of maybe 10 little symbols that I use on paper that tell me to do something when I'm recording."[115]

Hip-hop scholars also make use of the same flow diagrams: the books How to Rap and How to Rap 2 use the diagrams to explain rap's triplets, flams, rests, rhyme schemes, runs of rhyme, and breaking rhyme patterns, among other techniques.[111] Similar systems are used by PhD musicologists Adam Krims in his book Rap Music and the Poetics of Identity[117] and Kyle Adams in his academic work on flow.[118]

Because rap revolves around a strong 4/4 beat,[119] with certain syllables said in time to the beat, all the notational systems have a similar structure: they all have the same 4 beat numbers at the top of the diagram, so that syllables can be written in-line with the beat numbers.[119] This allows devices such as rests, "lazy tails", flams, and other rhythmic techniques to be shown, as well as illustrating where different rhyming words fall in relation to the music.[111]

Performance

 
Ekow, part of The Megaphone State rap duo, performing at the Sello Library in Espoo, Finland, in 2011

To successfully deliver a rap, a rapper must also develop vocal presence, enunciation, and breath control. Vocal presence is the distinctiveness of a rapper's voice on record. Enunciation is essential to a flowing rap; some rappers choose also to exaggerate it for comic and artistic effect. Breath control, taking in air without interrupting one's delivery, is an important skill for a rapper to master, and a must for any MC. An MC with poor breath control cannot deliver difficult verses without making unintentional pauses.

Raps are sometimes delivered with melody. West Coast rapper Egyptian Lover was the first notable MC to deliver "sing-raps".[120] Popular rappers such as 50 Cent and Ja Rule add a slight melody to their otherwise purely percussive raps whereas some rappers such as Cee-Lo Green are able to harmonize their raps with the beat. The Midwestern group Bone Thugs-n-Harmony was one of the first groups to achieve nationwide recognition for using the fast-paced, melodic and harmonic raps that are also practiced by Do or Die, another Midwestern group. Another rapper that harmonized his rhymes was Nate Dogg, a rapper part of the group 213. Rakim experimented not only with following the beat, but also with complementing the song's melody with his own voice, making his flow sound like that of an instrument (a saxophone in particular).[121]

The ability to rap quickly and clearly is sometimes regarded as an important sign of skill. In certain hip-hop subgenres such as chopped and screwed, slow-paced rapping is often considered optimal. The current record for fastest rapper is held by Spanish rapper Domingo Edjang Moreno, known by his alias Chojin, who rapped 921 syllables in one minute on December 23, 2008.[122]

Emcees

In the late 1970s, the term emcee, MC or M.C., derived from "master of ceremonies",[123] became an alternative title for a rapper, and for their role within hip-hop music and culture. An MC uses rhyming verses, pre-written or ad lib ('freestyled'), to introduce the DJ with whom they work, to keep the crowd entertained or to glorify themselves. As hip hop progressed, the title MC acquired backronyms such as 'mike chanter'[124] 'microphone controller', 'microphone checker', 'music commentator', and one who 'moves the crowd'. Some use this word interchangeably with the term rapper, while for others the term denotes a superior level of skill and connection to the wider culture.

MC can often be used as a term of distinction; referring to an artist with good performance skills.[125] As Kool G Rap notes, "masters of ceremony, where the word 'M.C.' comes from, means just keeping the party alive" [sic].[126][127] Many people in hip hop including DJ Premier and KRS-One feel that James Brown was the first MC. James Brown had the lyrics, moves, and soul that greatly influenced a lot of rappers in hip hop, and arguably even started the first MC rhyme.[128][129]

For some rappers, there was a distinction to the term, such as for MC Hammer who acquired the nickname "MC" for being a "Master of Ceremonies" which he used when he began performing at various clubs while on the road with the Oakland As and eventually in the military (United States Navy).[130] It was within the lyrics of a rap song called "This Wall" that Hammer first identified himself as M.C. Hammer and later marketed it on his debut album Feel My Power.[131] The term MC has also been used in the genre of grime music to refer to a rapid style of rapping. Grime artist JME released an album titled Grime MC in 2019 which peaked at 29 on the UK Albums Chart.[132]

Uncertainty over the acronym's expansion may be considered evidence for its ubiquity: the full term "Master of Ceremonies" is very rarely used in the hip-hop scene. This confusion prompted the hip-hop group A Tribe Called Quest to include this statement in the liner notes to their 1993 album Midnight Marauders:

The use of the term MC when referring to a rhyming wordsmith originates from the dance halls of Jamaica. At each event, there would be a master of ceremonies who would introduce the different musical acts and would say a toast in style of a rhyme, directed at the audience and to the performers. He would also make announcements such as the schedule of other events or advertisements from local sponsors. The term MC continued to be used by the children of women who moved to New York City to work as maids in the 1970s. These MCs eventually created a new style of music called hip-hop based on the rhyming they used to do in Jamaica and the breakbeats used in records. MC has also recently been accepted to refer to all who engineer music.[133]

Subject matter

"Party rhymes", meant to pump up the crowd at a party, were nearly the exclusive focus of old school hip hop, and they remain a staple of hip-hop music to this day. In addition to party raps, rappers also tend to make references to love and sex. Love raps were first popularized by Spoonie Gee of the Treacherous Three, and later, in the golden age of hip hop, Big Daddy Kane, Heavy D, and LL Cool J would continue this tradition. Hip-hop artists such as KRS-One, Hopsin, Public Enemy, Lupe Fiasco, Mos Def, Talib Kweli, Jay-Z, Nas, The Notorious B.I.G. (Biggie), and dead prez are known for their sociopolitical subject matter. Their West Coast counterparts include The Coup, Paris, and Michael Franti. Tupac Shakur was also known for rapping about social issues such as police brutality, teenage pregnancy, and racism.

Other rappers take a less critical approach to urbanity, sometimes even embracing such aspects as crime. Schoolly D was the first notable MC to rap about crime.[120] Early on KRS-One was accused of celebrating crime and a hedonistic lifestyle, but after the death of his DJ, Scott La Rock, KRS-One went on to speak out against violence in hip hop and has spent the majority of his career condemning violence and writing on issues of race and class. Ice-T was one of the first rappers to call himself a "playa" and discuss guns on record, but his theme tune to the 1988 film Colors contained warnings against joining gangs. Gangsta rap, made popular largely because of N.W.A, brought rapping about crime and the gangster lifestyle into the musical mainstream.

Materialism has also been a popular topic in hip-hop since at least the early 1990s, with rappers boasting about their own wealth and possessions, and name-dropping specific brands: liquor brands Cristal and Rémy Martin, car manufacturers Bentley and Mercedes-Benz and clothing brands Gucci and Versace have all been popular subjects for rappers.

Various politicians, journalists, and religious leaders have accused rappers of fostering a culture of violence and hedonism among hip-hop listeners through their lyrics.[134][135][136] However, there are also rappers whose messages may not be in line with these views, for example Christian hip hop. Others have praised the "political critique, innuendo and sarcasm" of hip-hop music.[137]

In contrast to the more hedonistic approach of gangsta rappers, some rappers have a spiritual or religious focus. Christian rap is currently the most commercially successful form of religious rap. With Christian rappers like Lecrae, Thi'sl and Hostyle Gospel winning national awards and making regular appearances on television, Christian hip hop seem to have found its way in the hip-hop family.[138][139] Aside from Christianity, the Five Percent Nation, an Islamic esotericist religious/spiritual group, has been represented more than any religious group in popular hip hop. Artists such as Rakim, the members of the Wu-Tang Clan, Brand Nubian, X-Clan and Busta Rhymes have had success in spreading the theology of the Five Percenters.

Literary technique

Rappers use the literary techniques of double entendres, alliteration, and forms of wordplay that are found in classical poetry. Similes and metaphors are used extensively in rap lyrics; rappers such as Fabolous and Lloyd Banks have written entire songs in which every line contains similes, whereas MCs like Rakim, GZA, and Jay-Z are known for the metaphorical content of their raps. Rappers such as Lupe Fiasco are known for the complexity of their songs that contain metaphors within extended metaphors.

Diction and dialect

Many hip-hop listeners believe that a rapper's lyrics are enhanced by a complex vocabulary. Kool Moe Dee claims that he appealed to older audiences by using a complex vocabulary in his raps.[93] Rap is famous, however, for having its own vocabulary—from international hip-hop slang to regional slang. Some artists, like the Wu-Tang Clan, develop an entire lexicon among their clique. African-American English has always had a significant effect on hip-hop slang and vice versa. Certain regions have introduced their unique regional slang to hip-hop culture, such as the Bay Area (Mac Dre, E-40), Houston (Chamillionaire, Paul Wall), Atlanta (Ludacris, Lil Jon, T.I.), and Kentucky (Cunninlynguists, Nappy Roots). The Nation of Gods and Earths, aka The Five Percenters, has influenced mainstream hip-hop slang with the introduction of phrases such as "word is bond" that have since lost much of their original spiritual meaning. Preference toward one or the other has much to do with the individual; GZA, for example, prides himself on being very visual and metaphorical but also succinct, whereas underground rapper MF DOOM is known for heaping similes upon similes. In still another variation, 2Pac was known for saying exactly what he meant, literally and clearly.

Rap music's development into popular culture began in the 1990s. The 1990's marked the beginning of an era of popular culture guided by the musical influences of hip-hop and rap itself, moving away from the influences of rock music.[140] As rap continued to develop and further disseminate, it went on to influence clothing brands, movies, sports, and dancing through popular culture. As rap has developed to become more of a presence in popular culture, it has focused itself on a particular demographic, adolescent and young adults.[141] As such, it has had a significant impact on the modern vernacular of this portion of the population, which has diffused throughout society.

The effects of rap music on modern vernacular can be explored through the study of semiotics. Semiotics is the study of signs and symbols, or the study of language as a system.[142] French literary theorist Roland Barthes furthers this study with this own theory of myth.[143] He maintains that the first order of signification is language and that the second is "myth", arguing that a word has both its literal meaning, and its mythical meaning, which is heavily dependent on socio-cultural context.[143] To illustrate, Barthes uses the example of a rat: it has a literal meaning (a physical, objective description) and it has a greater socio-cultural understanding.[143] This contextual meaning is subjective and is dynamic within society.

Through Barthes' semiotic theory of language and myth, it can be shown that rap music has culturally influenced the language of its listeners, as they influence the connotative message to words that already exist. As more people listen to rap, the words that are used in the lyrics become culturally bound to the song, and then are disseminated through the conversations that people have using these words.

Most often, the terms that rappers use are pre-established words that have been prescribed new meaning through their music, that are eventually disseminated through social spheres.[144] This newly contextualized word is called a neosemanticism. Neosemanticisms are forgotten words that are often brought forward from subcultures that attract the attention of members of the reigning culture of their time, then they are brought forward by the influential voices in society – in this case, these figures are rappers.[144] To illustrate, the acronym YOLO was popularized by rapper, actor and RNB singer Drake in 2012 when he featured it in his own song, The Motto.[145] That year the term YOLO was so popular that it was printed on t-shirts, became a trending hashtag on Twitter, and was even considered as the inspiration for several tattoos.[145] However, although the rapper may have come up with the acronym, the motto itself was in no way first established by Drake. Similar messages can be seen in many well-known sayings, or as early as 1896, in the English translation of La Comédie Humaine, by Honoré de Balzac where one of his free-spirited characters tells another, "You Only Live Once!".[146] Another example of a neosemanticism is the word "broccoli". Rapper E-40 initially uses the word "broccoli" to refer to marijuana, on his hit track Broccoli in 1993.[147] In contemporary society, artists D.R.A.M. and Lil Yachty are often accredited for this slang on for their hit song, also titled Broccoli.[147]

With the rise in technology and mass media, the dissemination of subcultural terms has only become easier. Dick Hebdige, author of Subculture: The Meaning of Style, merits that subcultures often use music to vocalize the struggles of their experiences.[148] As rap is also the culmination of a prevalent sub-culture in African-American social spheres, often their own personal cultures are disseminated through rap lyrics.[141]

It is here that lyrics can be categorized as either historically influenced or (more commonly) considered as slang.[141] Vernon Andrews, the professor of the course American Studies 111: Hip-Hop Culture, suggests that many words, such as "hood", "homie", and "dope", are historically influenced.[141] Most importantly, this also brings forward the anarchistic culture of rap music. Common themes from rap are anti-establishment and instead, promote black excellence and diversity.[141] It is here that rap can be seen to reclaim words, namely, "nigga", a historical term used to subjugate and oppress Black people in America.[141] This word has been reclaimed by Black Americans and is heavily used in rap music. Niggaz With Attitude embodies this notion by using it as the first word of their influential rap group name.[141]

Freestyle and battle

 
Russian rapper Oxxxymiron is one of the most viewed battle rappers in the world.[149]

There are two kinds of freestyle rap: one is scripted (recitation), but having no particular overriding subject matter, and has yet evolved since the late 2000s to become the most commonly referred to style when the term "freestyle" is being used. It's primary focus has morphed from making up a rap on the spot, to being able to recite memorized or "written" lyrics over an "undisclosed" beat, not revealed until the performance actually begins. A variation is when a DJ or host will use multiple beats and will rotate them dynamically; it's the freestyler's job to keep his flow and not appear to trip up when the beat switches. Alternatively, keeping the rhythm or flow going can be substituted by "switching styles". This involves the rapper doing a variation of changing one's voice or tone, and/or the rhythm or flow, and potentially much more.  However, this must be done smoothly, else any notoriety or respect gained can very quickly be lost all together. Some rappers have multiple characters, egos, or styles in their repertoire.

The second, more difficult and respected style, has adapted the terms "off the dome", or "off (the) top" in addition to relatively less common older references like "spitting", "on the spot" and "unscripted". Often times these terms are followed by "freestyle" e.g. Killer "Off top Freestyle" by (Artist X)! This type of rapping requires the artist to both spit their lyrics over undisclosed and possibly rotating beats, but additionally primarily completely improvise the session's rapped lyrics. Many "off top" rappers inadvertently reuse old lines, or even "cheat" by preparing segments or entire verses in advance. Therefore, "off the dome" freestyles with proven spontaneity are valued above generic, always usable, or rehearsed lines or "bars".[150] Rappers will often reference places or objects in their immediate setting, or specific (usually demeaning) characteristics of opponents, to prove their authenticity and originality.

Battle rapping, which can be freestyled, is the competition between two or more rappers in front of an audience. The tradition of insulting one's friends or acquaintances in rhyme goes back to the dozens, and was employed famously by Muhammad Ali in his boxing matches. The winner of a battle is decided by the crowd and/or preselected judges. According to Kool Moe Dee, a successful battle rap focuses on an opponent's weaknesses, rather than one's own strengths. Television shows such as MTV's DFX and BET's 106 and Park host weekly freestyle battles live on the air. Battle rapping gained widespread public recognition outside of the African-American community with rapper Eminem's movie 8 Mile.

The strongest battle rappers will generally perform their rap fully freestyled. This is the most effective form in a battle as the rapper can comment on the other person, whether it be what they look like, or how they talk, or what they wear. It also allows the rapper to reverse a line used to "diss" him or her if they are the second rapper to battle. This is known as a "flip". Jin The Emcee was considered "World Champion" battle rapper in the mid-2000s.[citation needed]

Derivatives and influence

Throughout hip hop's history, new musical styles and genres have developed that contain rapping. Entire genres, such as rap rock and its derivatives rapcore and rap metal (rock/metal/punk with rapped vocals), or hip house have resulted from the fusion of rap and other styles. Many popular music genres with a focus on percussion have contained rapping at some point; be it disco (DJ Hollywood), jazz (Gang Starr), new wave (Blondie), funk (Fatback Band), contemporary R&B (Mary J. Blige), reggaeton (Daddy Yankee), or even Japanese dance music (Soul'd Out). UK garage music has begun to focus increasingly on rappers in a new subgenre called grime which emerged in London in the early 2000s and was pioneered and popularized by the MC Dizzee Rascal. Increased popularity with the music has shown more UK rappers going to America as well as tour there, such as Sway DaSafo possibly signing with Akon's label Konvict. Hyphy is the latest of these spin-offs. It is typified by slowed-down atonal vocals with instrumentals that borrow heavily from the hip-hop scene and lyrics centered on illegal street racing and car culture. Another Oakland, California group, Beltaine's Fire, has recently gained attention for their Celtic fusion sound which blends hip-hop beats with Celtic melodies. Unlike the majority of hip-hop artists, all their music is performed live without samples, synths, or drum machines, drawing comparisons to The Roots and Rage Against the Machine.

Bhangra, a widely popular style of music from Punjab, India has been mixed numerous times with reggae and hip-hop music. The most popular song in this genre in the United States was "Mundian to Bach Ke" or "Beware the Boys" by Panjabi MC and Jay-Z. Although "Mundian To Bach Ke" had been released previously, the mixing with Jay-Z popularized the genre further.

Although the majority of rappers are male, there have been a number of female rap stars, including Lauryn Hill, MC Lyte, Jean Grae, Lil' Kim, Missy Elliott, Queen Latifah, Da Brat, Eve, Trina, Nicki Minaj, Cardi B, Khia, M.I.A., CL from 2NE1, Foxy Brown, Iggy Azalea, and Lisa Lopes from TLC. There is also deaf rap artist Signmark.

See also

Notes

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References

Further reading

 
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Look up rapping in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

April 04, 2023
rapping, rapper, redirect, here, other, uses, disambiguation, this, article, about, rapping, technique, activity, more, information, music, genre, music, also, rhyming, flowing, spitting, emceeing, mcing, known, musical, form, vocal, delivery, that, incorporat. Rap and Rapper redirect here For other uses see Rap disambiguation This article is about rapping as a technique or activity For more information on the music genre see Hip hop music Rapping also rhyming flowing spitting 1 emceeing 2 or MCing 2 3 is known to be a musical form of vocal delivery that incorporates rhyme rhythmic speech and street vernacular 4 It is performed or chanted usually over a backing beat or musical accompaniment 4 The components of rap include content what is being said e g lyrics flow rhythm rhyme and delivery cadence tone 5 Rap differs from spoken word poetry in that it is usually performed off time to musical accompaniment 6 Rap is a primary ingredient of hip hop music commonly associated with that genre however the origins of rap predate hip hop culture by many years 50 Cent rapping at Warfield Theatre San Francisco June 3 2010 Precursors to modern rap include the West African griot tradition 7 certain vocal styles of blues 8 jazz 9 an African American insult game called playing the dozens 10 and 1960s African American poetry 11 The use of rap in popular music originated in the Bronx New York City in the 1970s alongside the hip hop genre and cultural movement 12 Rapping developed from the role of master of ceremonies MC at parties within the scene who would encourage and entertain guests between DJ sets which evolved into longer performances Rap is usually delivered over a beat typically provided by a DJ turntablist or beatboxer when performing live Much less commonly a rapper can decide to perform a cappella meaning without accompaniment of any sort beat s included When a rap or hip hop artist is creating a song track or record done primarily in a production studio most frequently a producer provides the beat s for the MC to flow over Stylistically rap occupies a gray area between speech prose poetry and singing 13 The word which predates the musical form originally meant to lightly strike 14 and is now used to describe quick speech or repartee 15 The word had been used in British English since the 16th century It was part of the African American dialect of English in the 1960s meaning to converse and very soon after that came to denote the musical style 16 The word rap is so closely associated with hip hop music that many writers use the terms interchangeably Contents 1 History 1 1 Etymology and usage 1 2 Roots 1 3 Proto rap 1 4 Old school hip hop 1 5 Golden age 2 Flow 2 1 History 2 2 Styles 2 3 Rhyme 2 4 Rhythm 2 5 Rap notation and flow diagrams 3 Performance 3 1 Emcees 4 Subject matter 4 1 Literary technique 4 2 Diction and dialect 5 Freestyle and battle 6 Derivatives and influence 7 See also 8 Notes 9 References 10 Further readingHistorySee also African American music Music of the United States History of poetry Jamaican music and Talking blues Etymology and usage The English verb rap has various meanings these include to strike especially with a quick smart or light blow 17 as well to utter sharply or vigorously to rap out a command 17 The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary gives a date of 1541 for the first recorded use of the word with the meaning to utter esp an oath sharply vigorously or suddenly 18 Wentworth and Flexner s Dictionary of American Slang gives the meaning to speak to recognize or acknowledge acquaintance with someone dated 1932 19 and a later meaning of to converse esp in an open and frank manner 20 It is these meanings from which the musical form of rapping derives and this definition may be from a shortening of repartee 21 A rapper refers to a performer who raps By the late 1960s when Hubert G Brown changed his name to H Rap Brown rap was a slang term referring to an oration or speech such as was common among the hip crowd in the protest movements but it did not come to be associated with a musical style for another decade 22 Rap was used to describe talking on records as early as 1970 on Isaac Hayes album To Be Continued with the track name Monologue Ike s Rap I 23 Hayes husky voiced sexy spoken raps became key components in his signature sound 24 Del the Funky Homosapien similarly states that rap was used to refer to talking in a stylistic manner in the early 1970s I was born in 72 back then what rapping meant basically was you trying to convey something you re trying to convince somebody That s what rapping is it s in the way you talk 25 Sometimes said to be an acronym for rhythm and poetry this is not the origin of the word 26 Roots The Memphis Jug Band an early blues group whose lyrical content and rhythmic singing predated rapping Gotta Let You Go source source Joe Hill Louis s song Gotta Let You Go is an early example of rapping in blues Problems playing this file See media help Similarities to rapping can be observed in West African folk traditions Centuries before hip hop music existed the griots of West Africa delivered stories rhythmically over drums and sparse instrumentation Such resemblances have been noted by many modern artists modern day griots spoken word artists mainstream news sources and academics 27 28 29 30 Rap lyrics and music are part of the Black rhetorical continuum continuing past traditions of expanding upon them through creative use of language and rhetorical styles and strategies 31 Blues rooted in the work songs and spirituals of slavery was first played by black Americans around the time of the Emancipation Proclamation 32 33 34 35 36 Scholars traced the style of rapping created by African Americans to the Black church and call and response culture Black preachers in the early twentieth century had a rhythmic way of preaching to engage the audience using parables and personal stories played over gospel music This way of preaching unique to African Americans called the Black sermonic tradition influenced singers and musicians such as 1940s African American gospel group The Jubalaires 37 38 39 40 The Jubalaire s songs The Preacher and the Bear 1941 and Noah 1946 are precursors to the genre of rap music The Jubalaires and other African American singing groups during the blues jazz and gospel era are examples of the origins and development of rap music 41 42 43 44 45 Grammy winning blues musician historian Elijah Wald and others have argued that the blues were being rapped as early as the 1920s 46 47 Wald went so far as to call hip hop the living blues 46 A notable recorded example of rapping in blues was the 1950 song Gotta Let You Go by Joe Hill Louis 8 Scholars also traced the origin of rap to an African American tradition called playing the dozens The dozens is a verbal rhyming insult game where competitors insult each other and their opponents family members In rap and hip hop artists insult their opponents and relatives in their songs 48 10 Jazz which developed from the blues and other African American and European musical traditions and originated around the beginning of the 20th century has also influenced hip hop and has been cited as a precursor of hip hop Not just jazz music and lyrics but also jazz poetry According to John Sobol the jazz musician and poet who wrote Digitopia Blues rap bears a striking resemblance to the evolution of jazz both stylistically and formally 9 Boxer Muhammad Ali anticipated elements of rap often using rhyme schemes and spoken word poetry both for when he was trash talking in boxing and as political poetry for his activism outside of boxing paving the way for The Last Poets in 1968 Gil Scott Heron in 1970 and the emergence of rap music in the 1970s 49 50 51 11 An editor of the newspaper The Fayetteville Observer interviewed Bill Curtis of the disco funk music group the Fatback Band in 2020 Curtis noted that when he moved to the Bronx in the 1970s he heard people rapping over scratched records throughout the neighborhoods and radio DJs were rapping before the genre was released on retail recordings The Fatback Band released the first rap recording King Tim III Personality Jock a few weeks before the Sugarhill Gang in 1979 52 In another interview Curtis said There was rapping in the Bronx and the cats there had been doing it for a while Fatback certainly didn t invent rap or anything I was just interested in it and I guess years later we were the first to record it At the time you could already see cats rapping everywhere in the streets and doing stuff 53 With the decline of disco in the early 1980s rap became a new form of expression Rap arose from musical experimentation with rhyming rhythmic speech Rap was a departure from disco Sherley Anne Williams refers to the development of rap as anti Disco in style and means of reproduction The early productions of Rap after Disco sought a more simplified manner of producing the tracks they were to sing over Williams explains how Rap composers and DJ s opposed the heavily orchestrated and ritzy multi tracks of Disco for break beats which were created from compiling different records from numerous genres and did not require the equipment from professional recording studios Professional studios were not necessary therefore opening the production of rap to the youth who as Williams explains felt locked out because of the capital needed to produce Disco records 54 More directly related to the African American community were items like schoolyard chants and taunts clapping games 55 jump rope rhymes some with unwritten folk histories going back hundreds of years across many nationalities Sometimes these items contain racially offensive lyrics 56 Proto rap In his narration between the tracks on George Russell s 1958 jazz album New York N Y the singer Jon Hendricks recorded something close to modern rap since it all rhymed and was delivered in a hip rhythm conscious manner Art forms such as spoken word jazz poetry and comedy records had an influence on the first rappers 57 Coke La Rock often credited as hip hop s first MC 58 cites the Last Poets among his influences as well as comedians such as Wild Man Steve and Richard Pryor 57 Comedian Rudy Ray Moore released under the counter albums in the 1960s and 1970s such as This Pussy Belongs To Me 1970 which contained raunchy sexually explicit rhymes that often had to do with pimps prostitutes players and hustlers 59 and which later led to him being called The Godfather of Rap 60 Gil Scott Heron a jazz poet musician has been cited as an influence on rappers such as Chuck D and KRS One 61 Scott Heron himself was influenced by Melvin Van Peebles 62 63 whose first album was 1968 s Brer Soul Van Peebles describes his vocal style as the old Southern style which was influenced by singers he had heard growing up in South Chicago 64 Van Peebles also said that he was influenced by older forms of African American music people like Blind Lemon Jefferson and the field hollers I was also influenced by spoken word song styles from Germany that I encountered when I lived in France 65 During the mid 20th century the musical culture of the Caribbean was constantly influenced by the concurrent changes in American music As early as 1956 66 deejays were toasting an African tradition of rapped out tales of heroism over dubbed Jamaican beats It was called rap expanding the word s earlier meaning in the African American community to discuss or debate informally 67 The early rapping of hip hop developed out of DJ and Master of Ceremonies announcements made over the microphone at parties and later into more complex raps 68 Grandmaster Caz states The microphone was just used for making announcements like when the next party was gonna be or people s moms would come to the party looking for them and you have to announce it on the mic Different DJs started embellishing what they were saying I would make an announcement this way and somebody would hear that and they add a little bit to it I d hear it again and take it a little step further til it turned from lines to sentences to paragraphs to verses to rhymes 68 One of the first rappers at the beginning of the hip hop period at the end of the 1970s was also hip hop s first DJ DJ Kool Herc Herc a Jamaican immigrant started delivering simple raps at his parties which some claim were inspired by the Jamaican tradition of toasting 69 However Kool Herc himself denies this link in the 1984 book Hip Hop saying Jamaican toasting Naw naw No connection there I couldn t play reggae in the Bronx People wouldn t accept it The inspiration for rap is James Brown and the album Hustler s Convention 70 Herc also suggests he was too young while in Jamaica to get into sound system parties I couldn t get in Couldn t get in I was ten eleven years old 71 and that while in Jamaica he was listening to James Brown I was listening to American music in Jamaica and my favorite artist was James Brown That s who inspired me A lot of the records I played were by James Brown 69 However in terms of what was identified in the 2010s as rap the source came from Manhattan Pete DJ Jones said the first person he heard rap was DJ Hollywood a Harlem not Bronx native 72 who was the house DJ at the Apollo Theater Kurtis Blow also says the first person he heard rhyme was DJ Hollywood 73 In a 2014 interview Hollywood said I used to like the way Frankie Crocker would ride a track but he wasn t syncopated to the track though I liked WWRL DJ Hank Spann too but he wasn t on the one Guys back then weren t concerned with being musical I wanted to flow with the record And in 1975 he ushered in what became known as the Hip Hop style by rhyming syncopated to the beat of an existing record uninterruptedly for nearly a minute He adapted the lyrics of Isaac Hayes Good Love 6 9969 and rhymed it to the breakdown part of Love is the Message 74 His partner Kevin Smith better known as Lovebug Starski took this new style and introduced it to the Bronx Hip Hop set that until then was composed of DJing and B boying or beatboxing with traditional shout out style rapping The style that Hollywood created and his partner introduced to the Hip Hop set quickly became the standard Before that time most MC rhymes based on radio DJs consisted of short patters that were disconnected thematically they were separate unto themselves But by using song lyrics Hollywood gave his rhyme an inherent flow and theme This was quickly noticed and the style spread By the end of the 1970s artists such as Kurtis Blow and The Sugarhill Gang were starting to receive radio airplay and make an impact far outside of New York City on a national scale Blondie s 1981 single Rapture was one of the first songs featuring rap to top the U S Billboard Hot 100 chart Old school hip hop Main article Old school hip hop Old school rap 1979 84 75 was easily identified by its relatively simple raps 76 according to AllMusic the emphasis was not on lyrical technique but simply on good times 76 one notable exception being Melle Mel who set the way for future rappers through his socio political content and creative wordplay 76 Golden age Main article Golden age hip hop Golden age hip hop the mid 1980s to early 90s 77 was the time period where hip hop lyricism went through its most drastic transformation writer William Jelani Cobb says in these golden years a critical mass of mic prodigies were literally creating themselves and their art form at the same time 78 and Allmusic writes rhymers like PE s Chuck D Big Daddy Kane KRS One and Rakim basically invented the complex wordplay and lyrical kung fu of later hip hop 79 The golden age is considered to have ended around 1993 94 marking the end of rap lyricism s most innovative period 77 79 Flow Flow is defined as the rhythms and rhymes 80 81 82 of a hip hop song s lyrics and how they interact the book How to Rap breaks flow down into rhyme rhyme schemes and rhythm also known as cadence 83 Flow is also sometimes used to refer to elements of the delivery pitch timbre volume as well 84 though often a distinction is made between the flow and the delivery 81 80 Staying on the beat is central to rap s flow 85 many MCs note the importance of staying on beat in How to Rap including Sean Price Mighty Casey Zion I Vinnie Paz Fredro Starr Del The Funky Homosapien Tech N9ne People Under The Stairs Twista B Real Mr Lif 2Mex and Cage 85 MCs stay on beat by stressing syllables in time to the four beats of the musical backdrop 86 87 Poetry scholar Derek Attridge describes how this works in his book Poetic Rhythm rap lyrics are written to be performed to an accompaniment that emphasizes the metrical structure of the verse 86 He says rap lyrics are made up of lines with four stressed beats separated by other syllables that may vary in number and may include other stressed syllables The strong beat of the accompaniment coincides with the stressed beats of the verse and the rapper organizes the rhythms of the intervening syllables to provide variety and surprise 86 The same technique is also noted in the book How to Rap where diagrams are used to show how the lyrics line up with the beat stressing a syllable on each of the four beats gives the lyrics the same underlying rhythmic pulse as the music and keeps them in rhythm other syllables in the song may still be stressed but the ones that fall in time with the four beats of a bar are the only ones that need to be emphasized in order to keep the lyrics in time with the music 88 In rap terminology 16 bars is the amount of time that rappers are generally given to perform a guest verse on another artist s song one bar is typically equal to four beats of music 89 History Old school flows were relatively basic and used only for a few syllables per bar simple rhythmic patterns and basic rhyming techniques and rhyme schemes 84 90 Melle Mel is cited as an MC who epitomizes the old school flow Kool Moe Dee says from 1970 to 1978 we rhymed one way then Melle Mel in 1978 gave us the new cadence we would use from 1978 to 1986 91 He s the first emcee to explode in a new rhyme cadence and change the way every emcee rhymed forever Rakim The Notorious B I G and Eminem have flipped the flow but Melle Mel s downbeat on the two four kick to snare cadence is still the rhyme foundation all emcees are building on 92 Artists and critics often credit Rakim with creating the overall shift from the more simplistic old school flows to more complex flows near the beginning of hip hop s new school 93 Kool Moe Dee says any emcee that came after 1986 had to study Rakim just to know what to be able to do 94 Rakim in 1986 gave us flow and that was the rhyme style from 1986 to 1994 91 From that point on anybody emceeing was forced to focus on their flow 95 Kool Moe Dee explains that before Rakim the term flow wasn t widely used Rakim is basically the inventor of flow We were not even using the word flow until Rakim came along It was called rhyming it was called cadence but it wasn t called flow Rakim created flow 96 He adds that while Rakim upgraded and popularized the focus on flow he didn t invent the word 94 Kool Moe Dee states that Biggie introduced a newer flow which dominated from 1994 to 2002 91 and also says that Method Man was one of the emcees from the early to mid 90s that ushered in the era of flow Rakim invented it Big Daddy Kane KRS One and Kool G Rap expanded it but Biggie and Method Man made flow the single most important aspect of an emcee s game 97 He also cites Craig Mack as an artist who contributed to developing flow in the 90s 98 Music scholar Adam Krims says the flow of MCs is one of the profoundest changes that separates out new sounding from older sounding music it is widely recognized and remarked that rhythmic styles of many commercially successful MCs since roughly the beginning of the 1990s have progressively become faster and more complex 84 He cites members of the Wu Tang Clan Nas AZ Big Pun and Ras Kass just to name a few 99 as artists who exemplify this progression Kool Moe Dee adds in 2002 Eminem created the song that got the first Oscar in Hip Hop history Lose Yourself and I would have to say that his flow is the most dominant right now 2003 91 Styles There are many different styles of flow with different terminology used by different people stic man of Dead Prez uses the following terms The Chant which he says is used by Lil Jon and Project Pat 100 The Syncopated Bounce used by Twista and Bone Thugs N Harmony 100 Straight Forward used by Scarface 2Pac Melle Mel KRS One circa Boogie Down Productions era Too Short Jay Z Ice Cube Dr Dre and Snoop Dogg 101 The Rubik s Cube used by Nas Black Thought of The Roots Common Kurupt and Lauryn Hill 102 2 5 Flow a pun of Kenya s calling code 254 used by Camp Mulla 103 Alternatively music scholar Adam Krims uses the following terms sung rhythmic style used by Too Short Grandmaster Flash and The Furious Five and the Beastie Boys 104 percussion effusive style used by B Real of Cypress Hill 105 speech effusive style used by Big Pun 105 offbeat style used by E 40 OutkastRhyme MCs use many different rhyming techniques including complex rhyme schemes as Adam Krims points out the complexity involves multiple rhymes in the same rhyme complex i e section with consistently rhyming words internal rhymes and offbeat rhymes 99 There is also widespread use of multisyllabic rhymes by artists such as Kool G Rap 106 Big Daddy Kane Rakim Big L Nas and Eminem It has been noted that rap s use of rhyme is some of the most advanced in all forms of poetry music scholar Adam Bradley notes rap rhymes so much and with such variety that it is now the largest and richest contemporary archive of rhymed words It has done more than any other art form in recent history to expand rhyme s formal range and expressive possibilities 107 In the book How to Rap Masta Ace explains how Rakim and Big Daddy Kane caused a shift in the way MCs rhymed Up until Rakim everybody who you heard rhyme the last word in the sentence was the rhyming word the connection word Then Rakim showed us that you could put rhymes within a rhyme now here comes Big Daddy Kane instead of going three words he s going multiple 108 How to Rap explains that rhyme is often thought to be the most important factor in rap writing rhyme is what gives rap lyrics their musicality 2 Rhythm Many of the rhythmic techniques used in rapping come from percussive techniques and many rappers compare themselves to percussionists 109 How to Rap 2 identifies all the rhythmic techniques used in rapping such as triplets flams 16th notes 32nd notes syncopation extensive use of rests and rhythmic techniques unique to rapping such as West Coast lazy tails coined by Shock G 110 Rapping has also been done in various time signatures such as 3 4 time 111 Since the 2000s rapping has evolved into a style of rap that spills over the boundaries of the beat closely resembling spoken English 112 Rappers like MF Doom and Eminem have exhibited this style and since then rapping has been difficult to notate 113 The American hip hop group Crime Mob exhibited a new rap flow in songs such as Knuck If You Buck heavily dependent on triplets Rappers including Drake Kanye West Rick Ross Young Jeezy and more have included this influence in their music In 2014 an American hip hop collective from Atlanta Migos popularized this flow and is commonly referred to as the Migos Flow a term that is contentious within the hip hop community 114 Rap notation and flow diagrams The standard form of rap notation is the flow diagram where rappers line up their lyrics underneath beat numbers 115 Different rappers have slightly different forms of flow diagram that they use Del the Funky Homosapien says I m just writing out the rhythm of the flow basically Even if it s just slashes to represent the beats that s enough to give me a visual path 116 Vinnie Paz states I ve created my own sort of writing technique like little marks and asterisks to show like a pause or emphasis on words in certain places 115 and Aesop Rock says I have a system of maybe 10 little symbols that I use on paper that tell me to do something when I m recording 115 Hip hop scholars also make use of the same flow diagrams the books How to Rap and How to Rap 2 use the diagrams to explain rap s triplets flams rests rhyme schemes runs of rhyme and breaking rhyme patterns among other techniques 111 Similar systems are used by PhD musicologists Adam Krims in his book Rap Music and the Poetics of Identity 117 and Kyle Adams in his academic work on flow 118 Because rap revolves around a strong 4 4 beat 119 with certain syllables said in time to the beat all the notational systems have a similar structure they all have the same 4 beat numbers at the top of the diagram so that syllables can be written in line with the beat numbers 119 This allows devices such as rests lazy tails flams and other rhythmic techniques to be shown as well as illustrating where different rhyming words fall in relation to the music 111 Performance Ekow part of The Megaphone State rap duo performing at the Sello Library in Espoo Finland in 2011 To successfully deliver a rap a rapper must also develop vocal presence enunciation and breath control Vocal presence is the distinctiveness of a rapper s voice on record Enunciation is essential to a flowing rap some rappers choose also to exaggerate it for comic and artistic effect Breath control taking in air without interrupting one s delivery is an important skill for a rapper to master and a must for any MC An MC with poor breath control cannot deliver difficult verses without making unintentional pauses Raps are sometimes delivered with melody West Coast rapper Egyptian Lover was the first notable MC to deliver sing raps 120 Popular rappers such as 50 Cent and Ja Rule add a slight melody to their otherwise purely percussive raps whereas some rappers such as Cee Lo Green are able to harmonize their raps with the beat The Midwestern group Bone Thugs n Harmony was one of the first groups to achieve nationwide recognition for using the fast paced melodic and harmonic raps that are also practiced by Do or Die another Midwestern group Another rapper that harmonized his rhymes was Nate Dogg a rapper part of the group 213 Rakim experimented not only with following the beat but also with complementing the song s melody with his own voice making his flow sound like that of an instrument a saxophone in particular 121 The ability to rap quickly and clearly is sometimes regarded as an important sign of skill In certain hip hop subgenres such as chopped and screwed slow paced rapping is often considered optimal The current record for fastest rapper is held by Spanish rapper Domingo Edjang Moreno known by his alias Chojin who rapped 921 syllables in one minute on December 23 2008 122 Emcees In the late 1970s the term emcee MC or M C derived from master of ceremonies 123 became an alternative title for a rapper and for their role within hip hop music and culture An MC uses rhyming verses pre written or ad lib freestyled to introduce the DJ with whom they work to keep the crowd entertained or to glorify themselves As hip hop progressed the title MC acquired backronyms such as mike chanter 124 microphone controller microphone checker music commentator and one who moves the crowd Some use this word interchangeably with the term rapper while for others the term denotes a superior level of skill and connection to the wider culture MC can often be used as a term of distinction referring to an artist with good performance skills 125 As Kool G Rap notes masters of ceremony where the word M C comes from means just keeping the party alive sic 126 127 Many people in hip hop including DJ Premier and KRS One feel that James Brown was the first MC James Brown had the lyrics moves and soul that greatly influenced a lot of rappers in hip hop and arguably even started the first MC rhyme 128 129 For some rappers there was a distinction to the term such as for MC Hammer who acquired the nickname MC for being a Master of Ceremonies which he used when he began performing at various clubs while on the road with the Oakland As and eventually in the military United States Navy 130 It was within the lyrics of a rap song called This Wall that Hammer first identified himself as M C Hammer and later marketed it on his debut album Feel My Power 131 The term MC has also been used in the genre of grime music to refer to a rapid style of rapping Grime artist JME released an album titled Grime MC in 2019 which peaked at 29 on the UK Albums Chart 132 Uncertainty over the acronym s expansion may be considered evidence for its ubiquity the full term Master of Ceremonies is very rarely used in the hip hop scene This confusion prompted the hip hop group A Tribe Called Quest to include this statement in the liner notes to their 1993 album Midnight Marauders The use of the term MC when referring to a rhyming wordsmith originates from the dance halls of Jamaica At each event there would be a master of ceremonies who would introduce the different musical acts and would say a toast in style of a rhyme directed at the audience and to the performers He would also make announcements such as the schedule of other events or advertisements from local sponsors The term MC continued to be used by the children of women who moved to New York City to work as maids in the 1970s These MCs eventually created a new style of music called hip hop based on the rhyming they used to do in Jamaica and the breakbeats used in records MC has also recently been accepted to refer to all who engineer music 133 Subject matter Party rhymes meant to pump up the crowd at a party were nearly the exclusive focus of old school hip hop and they remain a staple of hip hop music to this day In addition to party raps rappers also tend to make references to love and sex Love raps were first popularized by Spoonie Gee of the Treacherous Three and later in the golden age of hip hop Big Daddy Kane Heavy D and LL Cool J would continue this tradition Hip hop artists such as KRS One Hopsin Public Enemy Lupe Fiasco Mos Def Talib Kweli Jay Z Nas The Notorious B I G Biggie and dead prez are known for their sociopolitical subject matter Their West Coast counterparts include The Coup Paris and Michael Franti Tupac Shakur was also known for rapping about social issues such as police brutality teenage pregnancy and racism Other rappers take a less critical approach to urbanity sometimes even embracing such aspects as crime Schoolly D was the first notable MC to rap about crime 120 Early on KRS One was accused of celebrating crime and a hedonistic lifestyle but after the death of his DJ Scott La Rock KRS One went on to speak out against violence in hip hop and has spent the majority of his career condemning violence and writing on issues of race and class Ice T was one of the first rappers to call himself a playa and discuss guns on record but his theme tune to the 1988 film Colors contained warnings against joining gangs Gangsta rap made popular largely because of N W A brought rapping about crime and the gangster lifestyle into the musical mainstream Materialism has also been a popular topic in hip hop since at least the early 1990s with rappers boasting about their own wealth and possessions and name dropping specific brands liquor brands Cristal and Remy Martin car manufacturers Bentley and Mercedes Benz and clothing brands Gucci and Versace have all been popular subjects for rappers Various politicians journalists and religious leaders have accused rappers of fostering a culture of violence and hedonism among hip hop listeners through their lyrics 134 135 136 However there are also rappers whose messages may not be in line with these views for example Christian hip hop Others have praised the political critique innuendo and sarcasm of hip hop music 137 In contrast to the more hedonistic approach of gangsta rappers some rappers have a spiritual or religious focus Christian rap is currently the most commercially successful form of religious rap With Christian rappers like Lecrae Thi sl and Hostyle Gospel winning national awards and making regular appearances on television Christian hip hop seem to have found its way in the hip hop family 138 139 Aside from Christianity the Five Percent Nation an Islamic esotericist religious spiritual group has been represented more than any religious group in popular hip hop Artists such as Rakim the members of the Wu Tang Clan Brand Nubian X Clan and Busta Rhymes have had success in spreading the theology of the Five Percenters Literary technique Rappers use the literary techniques of double entendres alliteration and forms of wordplay that are found in classical poetry Similes and metaphors are used extensively in rap lyrics rappers such as Fabolous and Lloyd Banks have written entire songs in which every line contains similes whereas MCs like Rakim GZA and Jay Z are known for the metaphorical content of their raps Rappers such as Lupe Fiasco are known for the complexity of their songs that contain metaphors within extended metaphors Diction and dialect This section possibly contains original research Please improve it by verifying the claims made and adding inline citations Statements consisting only of original research should be removed November 2018 Learn how and when to remove this template message This section relies largely or entirely on a single source Relevant discussion may be found on the talk page Please help improve this article by introducing citations to additional sources Find sources Rapping news newspapers books scholar JSTOR January 2016 Many hip hop listeners believe that a rapper s lyrics are enhanced by a complex vocabulary Kool Moe Dee claims that he appealed to older audiences by using a complex vocabulary in his raps 93 Rap is famous however for having its own vocabulary from international hip hop slang to regional slang Some artists like the Wu Tang Clan develop an entire lexicon among their clique African American English has always had a significant effect on hip hop slang and vice versa Certain regions have introduced their unique regional slang to hip hop culture such as the Bay Area Mac Dre E 40 Houston Chamillionaire Paul Wall Atlanta Ludacris Lil Jon T I and Kentucky Cunninlynguists Nappy Roots The Nation of Gods and Earths aka The Five Percenters has influenced mainstream hip hop slang with the introduction of phrases such as word is bond that have since lost much of their original spiritual meaning Preference toward one or the other has much to do with the individual GZA for example prides himself on being very visual and metaphorical but also succinct whereas underground rapper MF DOOM is known for heaping similes upon similes In still another variation 2Pac was known for saying exactly what he meant literally and clearly Rap music s development into popular culture began in the 1990s The 1990 s marked the beginning of an era of popular culture guided by the musical influences of hip hop and rap itself moving away from the influences of rock music 140 As rap continued to develop and further disseminate it went on to influence clothing brands movies sports and dancing through popular culture As rap has developed to become more of a presence in popular culture it has focused itself on a particular demographic adolescent and young adults 141 As such it has had a significant impact on the modern vernacular of this portion of the population which has diffused throughout society The effects of rap music on modern vernacular can be explored through the study of semiotics Semiotics is the study of signs and symbols or the study of language as a system 142 French literary theorist Roland Barthes furthers this study with this own theory of myth 143 He maintains that the first order of signification is language and that the second is myth arguing that a word has both its literal meaning and its mythical meaning which is heavily dependent on socio cultural context 143 To illustrate Barthes uses the example of a rat it has a literal meaning a physical objective description and it has a greater socio cultural understanding 143 This contextual meaning is subjective and is dynamic within society Through Barthes semiotic theory of language and myth it can be shown that rap music has culturally influenced the language of its listeners as they influence the connotative message to words that already exist As more people listen to rap the words that are used in the lyrics become culturally bound to the song and then are disseminated through the conversations that people have using these words Most often the terms that rappers use are pre established words that have been prescribed new meaning through their music that are eventually disseminated through social spheres 144 This newly contextualized word is called a neosemanticism Neosemanticisms are forgotten words that are often brought forward from subcultures that attract the attention of members of the reigning culture of their time then they are brought forward by the influential voices in society in this case these figures are rappers 144 To illustrate the acronym YOLO was popularized by rapper actor and RNB singer Drake in 2012 when he featured it in his own song The Motto 145 That year the term YOLO was so popular that it was printed on t shirts became a trending hashtag on Twitter and was even considered as the inspiration for several tattoos 145 However although the rapper may have come up with the acronym the motto itself was in no way first established by Drake Similar messages can be seen in many well known sayings or as early as 1896 in the English translation of La Comedie Humaine by Honore de Balzac where one of his free spirited characters tells another You Only Live Once 146 Another example of a neosemanticism is the word broccoli Rapper E 40 initially uses the word broccoli to refer to marijuana on his hit track Broccoli in 1993 147 In contemporary society artists D R A M and Lil Yachty are often accredited for this slang on for their hit song also titled Broccoli 147 With the rise in technology and mass media the dissemination of subcultural terms has only become easier Dick Hebdige author of Subculture The Meaning of Style merits that subcultures often use music to vocalize the struggles of their experiences 148 As rap is also the culmination of a prevalent sub culture in African American social spheres often their own personal cultures are disseminated through rap lyrics 141 It is here that lyrics can be categorized as either historically influenced or more commonly considered as slang 141 Vernon Andrews the professor of the course American Studies 111 Hip Hop Culture suggests that many words such as hood homie and dope are historically influenced 141 Most importantly this also brings forward the anarchistic culture of rap music Common themes from rap are anti establishment and instead promote black excellence and diversity 141 It is here that rap can be seen to reclaim words namely nigga a historical term used to subjugate and oppress Black people in America 141 This word has been reclaimed by Black Americans and is heavily used in rap music Niggaz With Attitude embodies this notion by using it as the first word of their influential rap group name 141 Freestyle and battleThis section relies largely or entirely on a single source Relevant discussion may be found on the talk page Please help improve this article by introducing citations to additional sources Find sources Rapping news newspapers books scholar JSTOR January 2016 Russian rapper Oxxxymiron is one of the most viewed battle rappers in the world 149 There are two kinds of freestyle rap one is scripted recitation but having no particular overriding subject matter and has yet evolved since the late 2000s to become the most commonly referred to style when the term freestyle is being used It s primary focus has morphed from making up a rap on the spot to being able to recite memorized or written lyrics over an undisclosed beat not revealed until the performance actually begins A variation is when a DJ or host will use multiple beats and will rotate them dynamically it s the freestyler s job to keep his flow and not appear to trip up when the beat switches Alternatively keeping the rhythm or flow going can be substituted by switching styles This involves the rapper doing a variation of changing one s voice or tone and or the rhythm or flow and potentially much more However this must be done smoothly else any notoriety or respect gained can very quickly be lost all together Some rappers have multiple characters egos or styles in their repertoire The second more difficult and respected style has adapted the terms off the dome or off the top in addition to relatively less common older references like spitting on the spot and unscripted Often times these terms are followed by freestyle e g Killer Off top Freestyle by Artist X This type of rapping requires the artist to both spit their lyrics over undisclosed and possibly rotating beats but additionally primarily completely improvise the session s rapped lyrics Many off top rappers inadvertently reuse old lines or even cheat by preparing segments or entire verses in advance Therefore off the dome freestyles with proven spontaneity are valued above generic always usable or rehearsed lines or bars 150 Rappers will often reference places or objects in their immediate setting or specific usually demeaning characteristics of opponents to prove their authenticity and originality Battle rapping which can be freestyled is the competition between two or more rappers in front of an audience The tradition of insulting one s friends or acquaintances in rhyme goes back to the dozens and was employed famously by Muhammad Ali in his boxing matches The winner of a battle is decided by the crowd and or preselected judges According to Kool Moe Dee a successful battle rap focuses on an opponent s weaknesses rather than one s own strengths Television shows such as MTV s DFX and BET s 106 and Park host weekly freestyle battles live on the air Battle rapping gained widespread public recognition outside of the African American community with rapper Eminem s movie 8 Mile The strongest battle rappers will generally perform their rap fully freestyled This is the most effective form in a battle as the rapper can comment on the other person whether it be what they look like or how they talk or what they wear It also allows the rapper to reverse a line used to diss him or her if they are the second rapper to battle This is known as a flip Jin The Emcee was considered World Champion battle rapper in the mid 2000s citation needed Derivatives and influenceThis section does not cite any sources Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources Unsourced material may be challenged and removed January 2016 Learn how and when to remove this template message Throughout hip hop s history new musical styles and genres have developed that contain rapping Entire genres such as rap rock and its derivatives rapcore and rap metal rock metal punk with rapped vocals or hip house have resulted from the fusion of rap and other styles Many popular music genres with a focus on percussion have contained rapping at some point be it disco DJ Hollywood jazz Gang Starr new wave Blondie funk Fatback Band contemporary R amp B Mary J Blige reggaeton Daddy Yankee or even Japanese dance music Soul d Out UK garage music has begun to focus increasingly on rappers in a new subgenre called grime which emerged in London in the early 2000s and was pioneered and popularized by the MC Dizzee Rascal Increased popularity with the music has shown more UK rappers going to America as well as tour there such as Sway DaSafo possibly signing with Akon s label Konvict Hyphy is the latest of these spin offs It is typified by slowed down atonal vocals with instrumentals that borrow heavily from the hip hop scene and lyrics centered on illegal street racing and car culture Another Oakland California group Beltaine s Fire has recently gained attention for their Celtic fusion sound which blends hip hop beats with Celtic melodies Unlike the majority of hip hop artists all their music is performed live without samples synths or drum machines drawing comparisons to The Roots and Rage Against the Machine Bhangra a widely popular style of music from Punjab India has been mixed numerous times with reggae and hip hop music The most popular song in this genre in the United States was Mundian to Bach Ke or Beware the Boys by Panjabi MC and Jay Z Although Mundian To Bach Ke had been released previously the mixing with Jay Z popularized the genre further Although the majority of rappers are male there have been a number of female rap stars including Lauryn Hill MC Lyte Jean Grae Lil Kim Missy Elliott Queen Latifah Da Brat Eve Trina Nicki Minaj Cardi B Khia M I A CL from 2NE1 Foxy Brown Iggy Azalea and Lisa Lopes from TLC There is also deaf rap artist Signmark See also United States portalAmoebaean singing Flyting contests consisting of the exchange of insults often in poetry The Rapper 1970 song addressed to women warning them about men rappers who seduce them with lies rapping Rap squat Rec music hip hop SprechgesangNotes Duneier Kasinitz Murphy 2014 The Urban Ethnography Reader Oxford University Press ISBN 978 0 19 974357 5 a href Template Cite book html title Template Cite book cite book a CS1 maint multiple names authors list link a b c Edwards 2009 p xii sfn error no target CITEREFEdwards2009 help Edwards 2009 p 81 sfn error no target CITEREFEdwards2009 help a b Lynette Keyes Cheryl 2004 Rap Music and Street Consciousness University of Illinois Press p 1 Edwards 2009 p x sfn error no target CITEREFEdwards2009 help Golus Carrie 2012 From Def Jam to Super Rich Twenty First Century Books p 22 ISBN 978 0 7613 8157 0 Charry Eric 2012 Hip Hop Africa New African Music in a Globalizing World Indiana University Press pp 79 80 ISBN 978 0 253 00575 5 a b Jay Ruttenberg The Roots of Hip Hop From Church to Gangsta Time Out New York December 22 2008 a b Sobol John 2002 Digitopia Blues Banff Centre Press ISBN 978 0 920159 89 7 a b Smith Not just Yo Mama but Rap s Mama The Dozens African American Culture and the Origins of Battle Rap U S STUDIES ONLINE PGR amp ECR NETWORK FOR THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION FOR AMERICAN STUDIES British Association of American Studies Retrieved March 4 2023 a b Muhammad Ali the Political Poet The New York Times June 9 2016 Hoffmann Frank 2007 Rhythm and Blues Rap and Hip Hop American Popular Music Checkmark Books pp 63 ISBN 978 0 8160 7341 2 Kovacs Karl 2014 From Grassroots to Comercialization Hip Hop and Rap Music in the USA Anchor Academic Publishing p 4 ISBN 9783954892518 Dictionary com Retrieved February 2 2008 Oxford English Dictionary Safire William 1992 On language The rap on hip hop The New York Times Magazine a b Rap Define Rap at Dictionary com Dictionary reference com Retrieved January 27 2014 Shorter Oxford English Dictionary 3rd edition Revised 1970 p 1656 Harold Wentworth and Stuart Berg Flexner Dictionary of American Slang 2nd supplemented edition 1975 p 419 Harold Wentworth and Stuart Berg Flexner Dictionary of American Slang 2nd supplemented edition 1975 p 735 rap 5 noun Webster s Third New International Dictionary Unabridged rap The Dictionary Retrieved November 5 2022 Isaac Hayes To Be Continued Album Reviews Songs amp More AllMusic retrieved October 29 2022 Lindsay Planer Black Moses Isaac Hayes Songs Reviews Credits Awards AllMusic Retrieved January 27 2014 Edwards Paul Gift of Gab foreword September 2013 How to Rap 2 Advanced Flow and Delivery Techniques Chicago Review Press p 98 Oztuna Berk May 12 2022 Does Rap Stand For Rhythm And Poetry Pollard Lawrence September 2 2004 BBC News Africa Retrieved December 21 2005 About com Rap Archived from the original on January 11 2006 Retrieved December 21 2005 PBS lesson plan on the blues PBS Retrieved December 21 2005 Yale University Teachers Association Retrieved December 21 2005 N Kopano Baruti December 22 2002 Rap Music as an Extension of the Black Rhetorical Tradition Keepin It Real The Western Journal of Black Studies 26 4 ISSN 0197 4327 Roots of African American Music Smithsonian Music Smithsonian Institution Retrieved November 1 2022 Tamberrino Responses to African American Music During the Civil War Virginia Lucas Poetry Scrapbook Department of English at Virginia Tech Retrieved June 25 2022 Smithsonian Staff Slave Shout Songs from the Coast of Georgia The McIntosh County Shouters Smithsonian Folkways Recordings Smithsonian Institution Retrieved May 23 2021 Music Galleries National Museum of African American Music Retrieved November 4 2022 African American Spirituals Library of Congress Retrieved November 4 2022 Dyson Michael 1993 Reflecting Black African American Cultural Criticism University of Minnesota Press p xxi 12 16 33 275 ISBN 9781452900810 Jackson Joyce Black Preaching Styles Teaching Exhorting and Whooping Louisiana Folklife Program Louisiana Division of the Arts Office of Cultural Development Dept of Culture Recreation amp Tourism Retrieved February 16 2023 Keegan 2009 CALL AND RESPONS E An Ancient Linguistic Device Surfaces in Usher s Love in This Club Elements Retrieved February 16 2023 Jackon Joyce M Songs of Spirit and Continuity of Consciousness African American Gospel Music in Louisiana Louisiana Folklife Program Louisiana Division of the Arts Office of Cultural Development Dept of Culture Recreation amp Tourism Retrieved February 16 2023 Warner Jay 2006 American singing groups a history from 1940s to today Hal Leonard Corp p 169 ISBN 9780634099786 Retrieved November 9 2022 Savant 2020 Becoming an Emsee The 7 Principles of Rap Diasporic Africa Press ISBN 9781937306694 The Jubalaires Noah YouTube Retrieved November 1 2022 The Jubalaires The Preacher and The Bear YouTube Retrieved November 1 2022 Rosalsky 2002 Encyclopedia of Rhythm amp Blues and Doo Wop Vocal Groups Scarecrow Press pp 340 391 ISBN 9780810845923 a b Hip Hop and Blues Retrieved December 21 2005 The Roots of Rap Archived from the original on March 24 2006 Retrieved December 21 2005 Wald Elijah 2012 Talking Bout Your Mama The Dozens Snaps and the Deep Roots of Rap Oxford University Press Wiggs THE LAST POETS 1968 Black Past Retrieved November 4 2022 The Last Poets When The Revolution Comes YouTube Retrieved November 4 2022 Pelton RAP HIP HOP Black Past Retrieved November 4 2022 Futch Michael 2020 The first rap record didn t come from the Sugarhill Gang It came from Fayetteville s Bill Curtis and his Fatback Band The Fayetteville Observer The Fayetteville Observer Retrieved November 5 2022 The Fatback Band Everything was just raw energy The Guardian The Guardian Retrieved November 5 2022 Wallace Michele 1992 Black Popular Culture Seattle Bay Press pp 164 167 ISBN 978 1 56584 459 9 K D Gaunt The games black girls play learning the ropes from Double dutch to Hip hop New York New York University Press 2006 Beachnet com Archived from the original on September 19 2012 Retrieved February 25 2021 a b Coke La Rock September Thafoundation com Retrieved January 27 2014 Jenkins Sacha December 3 1999 Ego Trip s Book of Rap Lists St Martin s Griffin p 20 ISBN 978 0 312 24298 5 Alex Henderson This Pussy Belongs to Me Rudy Ray Moore Songs Reviews Credits Awards AllMusic Retrieved August 25 2014 Soren Baker May 10 2002 Dolemite star explores music Chicago Tribune Retrieved August 25 2014 Jeff Chang D J Kool Herc December 2005 Can t Stop Won t Stop A History of the Hip Hop Generation Picador p 249 ISBN 0 312 42579 1 Forever badass Melvin Van Peebles on his Philly funk gig and Sweetback memories Cover Story News and Opinion Philadelphia Weekly Archived from the original on February 21 2014 Retrieved February 21 2014 Melvin Van Peebles Oral History Video Clips and Biography NVLP Oral History Archive Visionaryproject org August 21 1932 Retrieved February 21 2014 Van Peebles Melvin 2003 The title of this album What the You Mean I Can t Sing booklet Melvin Van Peebles Water water122 George Nelson 1995 Ghetto Gothic booklet Melvin Van Peebles Capitol 724382961420 Howard Johnson amp Jim Pines 1982 Reggae Deep Roots Music Proteus Books The earlier meaning being a usage well established among African Americans by the 1960s according to The American Heritage Dictionary 4th Edition a b Jim Fricke and Charlie Ahearn Yes Yes Y all The Experience Music Project Oral History Of Hip hop s First Decade New York Da Capo 2002 128 a b Davey D s Hip Hop Corner Retrieved December 20 2005 Hip Hop The Illustrated History of Break Dancing Rap Music and Graffiti by Steven Hager 1984 St Martin s Press p 45 Kool Herc DJhistory com Archived from the original on June 1 2015 Retrieved January 27 2014 Pete DJ Jones Interview pt 1 The Foundation ScottK An Ode to Hip Hop The 1970s Archived from the original on June 26 2015 Retrieved June 30 2015 Mark Skillz DJ Hollywood The Original King of New York Cuepoint November 19 2014 David Toop Rap Attack 3rd edn London Serpent s Tail 2000 p 216 ISBN 978 1 85242 627 9 a b c Allmusic com a b Jon Caramanica Hip Hop s Raiders of the Lost Archives The New York Times June 26 2005 Cobb Jelani William 2007 To the Break of Dawn NYU Press p 47 a b AllMusic a b Edwards 2009 sfn error no target CITEREFEdwards2009 help a b Kool Moe Dee 2003 p inside cover 10 17 Krims 2001 pp 48 49 Edwards 2009 p 63 130 sfn error no target CITEREFEdwards2009 help a b c Krims 2001 p 44 a b Edwards 2009 p 63 79 sfn error no target CITEREFEdwards2009 help a b c Derek Attridge September 28 1995 Poetic Rhythm An Introduction Cambridge University Press ISBN 978 0 521 42369 4 Retrieved August 25 2014 via Google ספרים Edwards 2009 p 71 72 sfn error no target CITEREFEdwards2009 help Edwards 2009 p 72 sfn error no target CITEREFEdwards2009 help Palmer Tamara 2005 Country Fried Soul Adventures in Dirty South Hip hop Hal Leonard Corporation p 188 ISBN 978 0 87930 857 5 Allmusic Retrieved December 22 2005 a b c d Kool Moe Dee 2003 p 325 Kool Moe Dee 2003 p 334 a b Kool Moe Dee 2003 p 224 a b Kool Moe Dee 2003 p 324 Kool Moe Dee 2003 p 326 Kool Moe Dee 2003 p 328 Kool Moe Dee 2003 p 206 Kool Moe Dee 2003 p 39 a b Krims 2001 p 49 a b stic man 2005 p 63 stic man 2005 p 63 64 stic man 2005 p 64 Open Mic Camp Mulla Cool Kids on the Edge of A New Frontier Willpress blogspot com April 29 2011 Retrieved August 25 2014 Krims 2001 p 50 a b Krims 2001 p 51 Shapiro Peter 2005 The Rough Guide To Hip Hop 2nd Edition Penguin p 213 Bradley Adam 2009 Book of Rhymes The Poetics of Hip Hop Basic Civitas Books pp 51 52 Edwards 2009 p 105 sfn error no target CITEREFEdwards2009 help Edwards Gift of Gab 2013 How to Rap 2 p 3 Edwards Gift of Gab 2013 How to Rap 2 pp 1 54 a b c Edwards Gift of Gab 2013 How to Rap 2 p 53 Edmondson Jacqueline October 30 2013 Music in American Life an encyclopedia of the songs styles stars and stories that shaped our culture Greenwood p 1270 ISBN 978 0 313 39347 1 Williams Justin April 6 2015 The Cambridge Companion to Hip Hop Cambridge Companions to Music Cambridge University Press ISBN 978 1 107 64386 4 Drake David Tracing the Lineage of the Migos Flow www complex com a b c Edwards 2009 p 67 sfn error no target CITEREFEdwards2009 help Edwards 2009 p 68 sfn error no target CITEREFEdwards2009 help Krims 2001 pp 59 60 Adams Kyle October 2009 MTO 15 5 Adams Flow in Rap Music Music Theory Online Mtosmt org 15 5 doi 10 30535 mto 15 5 1 Retrieved August 25 2014 a b Edwards 2009 p 69 sfn error no target CITEREFEdwards2009 help a b Blow Kurtis Kurtis Blow Presents The History of Rap Vol 1 The Genesis liner notes Kurtis Blow Presents The History Of Rap Vol 1 The Genesis Archived from the original on May 3 2006 Retrieved May 14 2006 Rakim Allah Interview Maximum Fun July 7 2006 Retrieved June 30 2015 Guinness World Records Retrieved August 27 2010 The Emcee MC Master of Ceremonies to Mic Controller by Grandmaster Caz Retrieved June 30 2015 Hebdige Dick 1987 Cut n Mix Culture Identity and Caribbean Music p 105 Edwards Paul 2009 How to Rap The Art amp Science of the Hip Hop MC Chicago Review Press p xii Edwards Paul 2009 How to Rap The Art amp Science of the Hip Hop MC Chicago Review Press p vii How To Rap Kool G Rap Foreword Rap Radar December 3 2009 Retrieved June 10 2010 The MC Why We Do It 50 Cent Common Ghostface Killah Talib Kweli Method Man Mekhi Phifer Raekwon Rakim Twista Kanye West Peter Spirer Movies amp TV Amazon Retrieved June 20 2012 J Rizzle August 12 2009 DJ Premier Salutes James Brown The Foundation of Hip Hop The Underground Hip Hop Authority Hip Hop Music Videos amp Reviews KevinNottingham com Archived from the original on December 3 2011 Retrieved July 6 2012 It s Hammer time M C Hammer upbeat performer with high voltage stage show broadens rap s appeal Ebony 1990 Archived from the original on July 8 2012 Love Education Jon Gibson Music Amazon 1997 Retrieved June 20 2012 JME teases new album Grime MC with YouTube video FACT Magazine November 14 2019 Archived from the original on November 15 2019 Retrieved November 15 2019 Rap MCing Hiphoparea com Retrieved February 25 2021 Kirby Jill July 16 2006 The hoodie needs a daddy not a hug The Times London Retrieved July 22 2006 O Reilly Bill August 28 2002 Challenging Pepsi Fox News Retrieved July 22 2006 Lynskey Dorian July 21 2006 We need heroes The Guardian London Retrieved July 22 2006 Demers Joanna Sampling the 1970s in Hip Hop Cambridge University Press 2003 pp 41 42 Lecrae Wins Best Contemporary Christian Music Performance Song Grammy com Grammy Retrieved March 14 2015 Cummings Tony Hostyle Gospel The Illinois militants called to be servants not hip hop stars Crossrhythms Retrieved March 14 2015 Thompson Derek May 8 2015 1991 The Most Important Year in Pop Music History The Atlantic Retrieved November 13 2018 a b c d e f g ANDREWS VERNON 2006 American Studies 111 Hip Hop Culture Coming Soon to a Classroom Near You Australasian Journal of American Studies 25 1 103 114 JSTOR 41054014 Laughey Dan 2007 Key Themes in Media Theory England Open University Press pp 54 ISBN 978 0 335 21813 4 a b c Laughey Dan 2007 Key Themes in Media Theory England Open University Press pp 56 59 ISBN 978 0 335 21813 4 a b Maurer David W High Ellesa Clay 1980 New Words Where Do They Come from and Where Do They Go American Speech 55 3 184 194 doi 10 2307 455083 JSTOR 455083 a b Drake Wants Royalties for YOLO XXL XXL Mag Retrieved November 15 2018 You Only Live Once YOLO Quote Investigator quoteinvestigator com Retrieved November 15 2018 a b Happy 50th Birthday E 40 The King Of Slang HotNewHipHop Retrieved November 15 2018 Laughey Dan 2007 Key Theories in the Media Open University Press p 72 ISBN 978 0 335 21813 4 Is the world s biggest battle rapper now Oxxxymiron of Russia The Source February 11 2018 Freestyle The Art of Rhyme 2000 ReferencesEdwards Paul Kool G Rap foreword December 2009 How to Rap The Art amp Science of the Hip Hop MC Chicago Review Press p 340 ISBN 978 1 55652 816 3 Kool Moe Dee et al November 2003 There s A God On The Mic The True 50 Greatest MCs Thunder s Mouth Press p 224 ISBN 978 1 56025 533 8 stic man 2005 The Art Of Emceeing Boss Up Inc Krims Adam 2001 Rap Music And The Poetics Of Identity Cambridge University Press Further reading Wikimedia Commons has media related to Rap Look up rapping in Wiktionary the free dictionary Alan Light et al October 1999 The Vibe History of Hip Hop Three Rivers Press p 432 ISBN 978 0 609 80503 9 Jeff Chang D J Kool Herc December 2005 Can t Stop Won t Stop A History of the Hip Hop Generation Picador p 560 ISBN 978 0 312 42579 1 Sacha Jenkins et al December 1999 Ego Trip s Book of Rap Lists St Martin s Griffin p 352 ISBN 978 0 312 24298 5 Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Rapping amp oldid 1146605177, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, 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