Rapping, sometimes known as emceeing, is a vocal technique that is frequently linked with or performed over (but not necessarily) hip hop music. Rapping mixes rhythmic speech with modern urban colloquialisms to convey a specific message to the audience.
Rap has three characteristics: "content" (the issue being discussed), "flow" (the quality of the rhythm and general connection of the words), and "delivery" (cadence, tone, and vocal quality). Rap varies from spoken-word poetry in that it is typically done in time to the music.
Rap and hip hop are frequently used interchangeably, but while rap only refers to the act of rapping (or a specific type of hip hop music), hip hop refers to the interconnected cultural movement of emceeing, DJing, breakdancing, and graffiti writing that emerged from the South Bronx in New York City in the 1970s.
Rap may be linked back to the West African griot culture, certain blues and jazz vocal techniques, Black Pentecostal and Baptist preaching styles, Jamaican toasting, and African American literary genres.
The contemporary style of rapping emerged concurrently with the advent of the DJ as the dominant figure in the party scene that grew in the Bronx's parks and recreation facilities in the 1970s.
Rappers served as masters of ceremonies at these gatherings, introducing the DJ and entertaining the audience. The emcee began to supersede the DJ in significance as hip-hop music grew more commercialized and more of a business as it entered the recording industry.
Rap is often spoken over a 4/4 drum beat. A DJ, a drummer, a beatboxer, or a rap delivered without music may all generate that beat.
The term, which in standard English implies a fast sequence of audible strikes, refers to an engaging and riveting persuasive monologue in the African American culture. It's no surprise that the Black Panther H. Rap Brown was given the moniker "Rap" because of his ability with language.
The term "rap" predates its use in hip hop in the Black community. It entails speaking to people and motivating and cajoling them with your patter. Rap is the direct continuation of the West African oral tradition, as preserved by ancestors of enslaved Africans.