rap music

American

[rap myoo-zik] / ˈræp ˌmju zɪk /

Also rap

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.

Etymology

Origin of rap music

First recorded in 1980–85

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

See Examples For:

rap music

I’m one of the few still kvetching about rap music and why isn’t “Saturday Night Live” funny anymore?

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 9, 2026

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

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

Punjabi rap music plays over a video showing three men at a beachside restaurant in Mauritania's capital Nouakchott.

From BBC ● May 1, 2025

—Oh, don’t get me started about rap music . . . meaningless, mindless noise.

From "Tears of a Tiger" by Sharon M. Draper

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023