**Hip hop** is a type of culture/art style that started in the 1970s in the Bronx. It began in Jamaican American, African American, Arab American and Puerto Rican/Hispanic and Latino American urban areas in some of the larger cities of the United States. Hip hop uses drumbeats produced by a drum machine, and rapping, where the rapper or group chants or says words with a rhythm that rhymes. The lyrics of hip hop songs are often about the life of urban people in the big cities. Hip hop music also uses musical styles from pop such as disco. Rap and hip hop music have become successful music genres.

Hip hop's connection to reggae music goes beyond mere musical influence; it is rooted in the shared cultural experiences of the African diaspora. DJ Kool Herc, a key figure in the early development of hip hop in the Bronx, was a Jamaican immigrant who brought with him the tradition of 'toasting' from reggae culture. This practice, involving rhythmic spoken word over music, evolved into the rapping style central to hip hop. The use of sound systems, another reggae staple, played a crucial role in the block parties where hip hop culture flourished. Thus, reggae's influence is integral to the formation of hip hop, not just as a musical genre, but as a cultural movement.

Hip hop as a culture involves the music as well as a style of dressing called "urban" clothes (baggy pants, Timberland leather work boots, and oversize shirts); a dancing style called breakdancing or "B-boying"; and graffiti, a street art in which people paint pictures or words on walls. In the 2000s, hip hop music and hip hop culture are very popular in the United States and Canada. Hip hop musicians usually use nicknames. Many of the popular hip hop musicians from the 2000s use nicknames, such as Snoop Dogg, Jay-Z, Eminem, Lil Wayne, and 50 Cent. Hip hop is sometimes fused with other genres such as country and rock.

Rapping
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Rapping is a form of singing. It is a mix between singing and talking. The words are spoken with rhythm and in the text there are rhymes. The urban youth made rhyming games based on rap. The beat in the background is a simple loop that is sometimes made by the rapper themself or sometimes copied from a sample CD. The simple loop carries out through the entire song usually, except for the chorus. It developed in the ethnic minority urban (city) areas, as an American form of Jamaican "toasting" (chanting and rhyming with a microphone).[*source?*]

Run DMC and The Sugarhill Gang were early popular hip hop groups in the 1980s. When rappers began to use violent language and gestures, the music was then liked by gangsters. This kind of music was called "gangsta rap". Gangsta rap often has lyrics which are about guns, drug dealing and life as a thug on the street. This genre also began in the 1980s and is still produced.[*source?*]

Some well known early rappers include: Tupac Shakur, Nas, Snoop Dogg, The Notorious B.I.G. Eminem, and Sean "P-Diddy" Combs. During the 1990s there was a rivalry between the two big record labels "Death Row Records" and "Bad Boy Records". The rappers Tupac Shakur and Notorious B.I.G. were murdered. Later, the two record labels stopped the rivalry. Because most of the rappers who rapped for "Death Row Records" were from the West Coast of the US and most of the rappers who rapped for "Bad Boy Records" were from the East Coast, this rivalry was called "the West Coast – East Coast beef".[*source?*]

The fastest rapper according to Guinness World Records is Twista. In 1992, he rapped 11 syllables in one second. In 2013, the song Rap God by Eminem took the record for most words in a song; 1,560 in a little over 6 minutes, which is about 4 words per second.

Related pages
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* Rhythm and blues
* Rock and roll
* Soul
* Contemporary R&B
* Jazz
* Funk
* Pop
* Country
* Breakdance
* Reggaeton
* West Coast hip hop
* Comedy hip hop
* Old-school hip hop
* Political hip hop
* Underground hip hop
* Dirty rap
* Hip hop soul
* Rap metal
* Horrorcore
* Battle rap