Rap is an acronym for rhythm and poetry. More specifically, it is a “music verse composed of rhymes, figurative language, and varying syllables. It’s commonly written using the first-person, with the lyrics directed towards a real or imaginary rival.”
Rap isn’t soft Jazz or catchy pop music. Central to rap music is “the juxtaposition of hardcore rap lyrics centered around crime, drugs, and material wealth” with “smooth, R&B-style vocals.” (Duniker, 114). Rap gave musicians a chance to express poetry without having to sing it. “Like singing, rapping can be about different subjects like love, social issues, and about life as we live it. The difference lies in the way that these subjects are presented because rapping is
usually meant to enliven and excite a party so it is more pumped up and uses more profound language. It uses wordplay that can also be found in poetry. It also involves a lot of rhyming techniques because rhyming and rhythm are two of the basic components of rapping in addition to the flow or interaction between the pitch, timbre, and volume of the delivery of the rapped words.” However, unlike singing, “rapping does not involve accompanying words with any
particular [music] notes”.
Rap grew into popularity in the early 1990s. In the 1990s, most major rap artists were from poorer areas in New York City and Los Angeles. “The most successful styles of the 90s were the hardcore rap of New York and the gangsta rap and G-Funk of Los Angeles. New York’s
Wu-Tang Clan created one of the first hardcore styles when they rapped about gangster life over
swinging hip hop beats with samples from martial-arts movies. “
In Los Angeles, NWA, a young California rap group from the lower class neighborhood of Compton, Los Angeles, initiated what
many rap fans would call the golden age of hip hop. Their 1991 album sold one million copies in seven days. Their style, combining hardcore lyrics about growing up poor and gangster life, served “as the blueprint of how to make unapologetic gangsta rap,” one of the styles dominating the 1990s. Rap music originated from African music and in its American style tries to convey the struggles of African Americans. “Rap music draws heavily on African-American music…and by using music to establish and express the distinctness of black contra white culture. Rap music is also in some forms political and deals with the situation of the African-American population in America.”
● Rituals, insider phrases, language, and behaviors
The rapping subculture has several characteristics such as fashion and language. In regard to fashion, baggy pants and extra large sweat-shirts, the backward turned cap, and snickers, from brands such as Nike and Reebok. Rappers usually wear jewelry and watches, bandanas and other head-dresses, and certain brands of clothes and shoes. (The Evolution of the Hip Hop Subculture, Debbie Baker). With respect to behavior, rappers portray a certain “coolness” and laid back attitude. “The ‘coolness’ described as a certain way of behavior can be viewed as a form of ritual, especially in the different forms of handshakes and way of greeting each other.” Further, rap battles, which are a form of competition between rappers, “contain elements of a ritual because it is a symbolic fight over honor…rap-battles were an attempt to solve the gang-violence by replacing it with rap competitions.” (Hip Hop from Subculture to Pop culture, 17 ). With respect to language, typically, rapping uses Ebonics (American black English). Rap
has its own “‘jargon,’ slang, and vernacular” and they are strongly connected to the ethnic origin of the culture. Black culture is closely connected to a certain way of speaking. ‘Black’ English has its own grammatical rules, slang words and pronunciation.” Rap language is
referred to as the “spoken soul,” and “the language distinguishes itself from regular English by pronunciation” and “ intonation” (Hip Hop from Subculture to Pop culture, 18 ).
● Rap music today
Unfortunately, today’s rap music does not represent the 90s style. The 90s style tried to convey struggles and the rap songs had meaningful lyrics. Today’s raps are generally meaningless. “Rappers right now are very lazy in the way that they write lyrics…Not a lot of them write lyrics about real things or tell stories. Rappers just write rhymes that don’t mean anything with a beat that’s good, and people listen to it just for production…Now rappers think ‘just say lyrics that rhyme, and let the beat make it popular.” In contrast, “back in the 90s,
rappers thought ‘I’m telling stories about what’s going on in my life, with upbeat drums, and piano for the beat.” (What Happened to 90s Rap?) Me, as well as other fans of the 90s style agree with this assessment. My friends and I like to meet and rap. We write lyrics that are meaningful to us and then create the beats to accompany them. We try to embody the 90s style in our music.