What is hip-hop music?

Often, hip-hop and rap are used interchangeably to describe the style of music in which the singer/performer share the lyrics through speaking rather than singing.  Hip-hop can also have no lyrics and be a collection of rhythms.  Although the term appears to have been coined in the ‘80s, rhythmic speaking has been around much longer than that. 

African music has long used rhythmic speaking and chanting, and early jazz poetry and talking blues pieces relied on similar rhythmic speaking to convey their messages.  In the 70s, in New York City, many believe today’s hip-hop (or rap) was born.  During block parties, DJs would ‘stall’ the records with their fingers and extend or repeat the percussive sections so that people could dance longer.  Eventually, they added call and response moments during the repeated sections, which led to entire pieces being performed simply with spoken words over a background of percussion.  The various techniques of record scratching and turning added to the mix.

By the time the 1980s rolled around, hip-hop was well on its way as a musical genre.  Although most popular in New York City and Philadelphia, it slowly became more well-known around the country.  Hip-hop spread to other countries and continued to be strong in the US throughout the ‘90s, as well.  Jazz still influences much of the new hip-hop production, even though it’s not as popular today as it once was.