rap music

American  

[rap myoo-zik] / ˈræp ˌmyu zɪk /

Also rap

noun

1. a style of popular music, developed by disc jockeys and urban Black performers in the late 1970s, in which an insistent, recurring beat pattern provides the background and counterpoint for rapid, slangy, and often boastful rhyming patter intoned by a vocalist or vocalists.

   the hottest new talent in rap music today.

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Etymology

Origin of rap music

First recorded in 1980–85

Example Sentences

The stranger was blasting rap music, “and nobody did anything, because everyone in Britain is afraid now.”

From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 6, 2026

If crime rises at the same time as rap music becomes more popular, is the music driving behavior or responding to it?

From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 2, 2026

And while Tiffany used to mainly focus on rap music, she says her taste has "grown" and "evolved" and she is "so keen" to showcase a wider range of music in future.

From BBC • Jan. 2, 2026

The RAP Act is a freedom-of-speech bill, and whether you’re into rap music or not, that’s something you should be able to support across the aisle.

From Los Angeles Times • Sep. 18, 2025

He didn’t know what rap music was, so I did my best to explain it to him.

From "A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier" by Ishmael Beah