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

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

Abdoulaye N. started building a fan following two decades ago by sharing videos, set to rap music, on the French streaming platform Dailymotion under the social media handle Doudou Cross Bitume.

From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 23, 2025

Ye's contributions to the history of rap music are undeniable.

From Salon • Feb. 7, 2025

Although he was in his 50s, he embraced rap music because he saw similarities with the energy of bebop jazz, and because may of its stars had risen out of hardship on the streets.

From BBC • Nov. 4, 2024

I explained to him that it was called rap music and that myself, my brother, and my friends—not the ones I was with—used to listen to it and perform the songs at talent shows.

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