rap music

[ rap-myoo-zik ]

noun

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.

Origin of rap music

First recorded in 1980–85

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

At a time when innocuous rap music videos incite weeklong, brain-melting culture wars between the right and the left, one can easily visualize the combative morning-after takes this event will inevitably spur on social media and in the news.
Don’t Be Fooled by Jay-Z’s Star-Studded Super Bowl Halftime Show | Kyndall Cunningham | October 8, 2021 | The Daily Beast
When it’s time for pitcher Marcus Stroman’s turn in the rotation, he runs to the mound to throw his warmup pitches, rap music blasting over the PA system to get him hyped up.
Marcus Stroman Wears A Durag Every Game He Starts. Which One Does He Pitch Best In? | Shakeia Taylor | August 17, 2021 | FiveThirtyEight
When he didn’t have money for the bus, he’d spend almost an hour walking to campus, writing rap music in his head and often arriving late.
“I Finally Got to the Mountaintop and I Failed” | by Bob Fernandez, The Philadelphia Inquirer, and Charlotte Keith, Spotlight PA | June 10, 2021 | ProPublica
For example, Ed explained to me that while a sampling a beat is a well-known device in rap music, he samples colors.
Bam! Pow! Bling! Hip-Hop's History Gets the Graphic Novel Treatment | Daniel Genis | August 25, 2014 | THE DAILY BEAST
The young men had been drinking, and an argument erupted over who was better schooled in rap music.
Bronx Gunman Shot His Friend, Didn’t Spill His Drink | Michael Daly | August 5, 2014 | THE DAILY BEAST

The commercials are going to show both sides of me, what I like to do off the court, like listen to my rap music.
Shaq, Year One | Charles P. Pierce | May 24, 2014 | THE DAILY BEAST
Medusa-emblazoned harnesses, stylish rock concert tees, and blaring rap music.
Versace, Versace, Versace | Liza Foreman | September 20, 2013 | THE DAILY BEAST
Cillizza once took a dig at Cohen for a “viral video” of the congressman “‘dancing’ to rap music” at a campaign event.
The Absurd Media Response to Steve Cohen’s Non-Scandal | Michael Moynihan | July 25, 2013 | THE DAILY BEAST
Sex, drugs, rap music, and membership in cults or gangs are part of their contradictory profile.
The Civilization of Illiteracy | Mihai Nadin

Browse