History of Rap Music

50 Cent raps in a new hit single, "Hate it or love it, the underdog's on top". Whether you hate or love rap, it doesn't really matter because since 1970s, rap has had tremendous success. There is a large population which loves this genre of music. Rap and hip-hop are two similar terms; people often interchange the two terms while referring to rap music. According to one of the most famous sayings, rap is something we do, and hip-hop is something we live. All rap is considered to be hip-hop but the vice versa isn't true.

Difference between Rap and Hip-hop
Rap is a kind of music in the hip-hop culture. Hip-hop and rap differ in three main features; musical attributes, culture, and community message. Rap is a mix of poetry or poetic lyric, beats, and their rhyming. The subject of rap can vary from relationships to commercialism. Rappers like to make references to love, sex, violence, socio-political issues, crime, race, and anything that depicts their street life.

Hip-hop is a lifestyle that includes rap, graffiti art, break dancing, and DJing. An important technique in Hip-hop is beatboxing, a form of vocal percussion, which involves the art of producing drum beats and musical sounds with mouth, tongue, and lips. Singers synthesize the lyrics to fast-paced music, that is often used as a background to dance routines. Hip-hop is about soulful singing. An influential form of hip-hop was Jamaican dub music. In 1967, a Jamaican immigrant, DJ Kool Herc introduced dub in New York.

The Yesteryears
Rap music has its roots in Africa. Even before hip-hop or rap, the griots of West Africa narrated stories in a rhythmic way with drum beats. Rap came to America from the Caribbean islands (which has large African population). Their musical culture has constantly influenced the changes in American music.

Slang in rap was commonly used by the DJs of African-American origin. They would shout loud on the microphones, "Clap ya hands" or "Are ya ready to party?". People loved to respond to these questions and hence, slowly and steadily these slangs became popular.

The rap music culture did not start with the Sugarhill Gang. In fact, even before their arrival, bands like, The Last Poets were making rap music, but were not popular. The first big rap single that took America by storm was "Rapper's Delight", by Sugarhill Gang in 1979. This song revolutionized the rap music. The single was a great commercial success and producers were finally ready to produce rap records. Many new rap bands like, Run-DMC came up and found numerous fans. There were also people like, Kool Herc who would shout, "Yo this is Kool Herc in the joint-ski saying my mellow-ski Marky D is in the house." People loved his style. Rap had caught attention very quickly.

The Myth
During the seventies and eighties, there was a myth among people that, rap music was for the blacks. Bob Dylan's 'Subterranean Homesick Blues' (1965) was a try on rap too. In 1981, a new-wave white band, Blondie, tried rap in the song called 'Rapture'. In 1982, Afrika Bambaataa released 'Planet Rock', which was a huge success. He was the first Black Muslim making rap music. In 1986, rap reached top of the charts with singles like, 'Fight For Your Right' by Beastie Boys and 'Walk This Way' by Run-DMC. Soon, Run-DMC became the first rap band to feature regularly on MTV (Music Television). In mid 1980s, the first female band, Salt-n-Pepa, released their single, "The Show Stoppa", which was a success, and henceforth, there was no looking back for this band.

Present Years
During the 1990s, the rap style in the East coast was fashioned by Wu-tang Clan and Notorious B.I.G., which was loud and brash, while in the West coast, the style was smoother. The main rappers were Snoop Dogg, Dr. Dre, and Tupac. Female artists like Missy Elliott and Lil' Kim have entered the rap scene in a big way and are well-known all over.

The most influential rap star today is Eminem, alias Matthew Mathers, who won an Oscar in 2003 for his song, 'Lose yourself', from the movie '8 Mile'. Another new artist who has taken the rap industry by storm is 50 Cent. His singles have broken all the records.

Rap music is getting popular day by day, with many young artists releasing their singles. These young artists bring innovations which are appreciated by rap lovers. In parts of Europe and Asia, rap is yet to find a foothold. However, seeing their stupendous success in the last two decades, it will not be a surprise to find rap ruling the charts all over the world.