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

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

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

From Salon ● Feb. 7, 2025

Jones wanted to save Powell from being associated with the negative publicity that surrounded rap music.

From BBC ● Nov. 12, 2024

The Raleigh accent is soft and beautifully cadenced, but my brother's is a more complex hybrid, informed by his professional relationships with marble-mouthed, deep-country work crews and his abiding love of hard-core rap music.

From "Me Talk Pretty One Day" by David Sedaris

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