What’s the difference between Hip-hop and rap?
Posted by adminMar 2
I know there is many different rap styles, such a "durty south, krunk, gangsta," etc. But what is the main difference between hip-hop and rap (if any).
Mar 2
I know there is many different rap styles, such a "durty south, krunk, gangsta," etc. But what is the main difference between hip-hop and rap (if any).
11 comments
Comment by Greg R ( is learning gee-tar!) on March 2, 2010 at 5:37 pm
Student has the best answer.
Rap is the musical component STRICTLY.
Hip-hop is a sort of enforced culture that OFTEN goes with rap (but doesn’t necessarily HAVE to) like graffiti, breakdancing and street "lingo". An example where this happens in a different musical style is heavy metal.
Many heavy metal fans will have long hair, wear ripped jeans and heavy metal T-shirts, have the skull earring etc. and there are specific terms that go along with heavy metal ("that guy really shreds!" for a very good electric guitarist) but you don’t have to use the slang and dress the part to be a heavy metal listener obviously.
Comment by I Am The Truth on March 2, 2010 at 5:37 pm
Hip-Hop is something you live. Rap is a form of Hip-Hop, something you do.
Comment by nour a on March 2, 2010 at 5:37 pm
hip hop is more club beats and rapping is more truth and you have to listen to the lyrics carefully
Comment by vincent g on March 2, 2010 at 5:37 pm
Both are noise, not music.
Comment by student needing for answers on March 2, 2010 at 5:37 pm
Hip-Hop Defined:
Hip-hop is a form of popular music that’s comprised mainly of emceeing and deejaying. The other two components that complete the four elements of hip-hop are graffiti and breakdancing. As hip-hop evolves into big business, the four elements (emceeing, deejaying, graffiti, and breakdancing) are constantly being merged with others like clothing trends, slang, and general mindset.
Rap Vs. Hip-Hop:
Rap is a form of music that stemmed from hip-hop culture. Hip hop is a lifestyle with its own lingo, dress code, etc. In the words of KRS-One, "hip-hop is something you live, rap is something you do."
Hip-Hop Started in the Bronx:
A product of cross-cultural integration, rap is deeply rooted within ancient African culture and oral tradition. Hip-hop is believed to have originated in the Bronx by a Jamaican DJ named Kool Herc. Herc’s style of deejaying involved reciting rhymes over instrumentals. At house parties, Herc would rap with the microphone, using a myriad of in-house references. Duplicates of Herc’s house parties soon drifted through Brooklyn, Manhattan. Herc and other block party DJs helped spread the message of hip-hop around town and spawned tons of followers.
Comment by mistadoyle on March 2, 2010 at 5:37 pm
hip hop is a culter its not music rap is the music that is part of hip hop
Comment by buggin_out on March 2, 2010 at 5:37 pm
Rap is the music. Hip Hop is the lifestyle.
Comment by Tha Omega god Snake Returns on March 2, 2010 at 5:37 pm
What’s the difference between a Jab and a Hook?Both can knock someone out
What’s the difference between a lay up and a dunk? Both ae worth 2 points
Hope this helps
Comment by Immoral Maestro on March 2, 2010 at 5:37 pm
1st dude nailed the answer on the haed. he deserves ten points.
Hip Hop is the whol franchise of the music, Rap is a part of Hip Hop. just a section that some rappers do e.g, rap artist = Pac, RAKIM, Eminem, Nas. etc
hip hop = Krs One, Lil wayne (wack), Kanye West, Method man (dabbles in both in my opinion). Busta Rhymes etc
Comment by Armand E on March 2, 2010 at 5:37 pm
Hip Hop= Meaningful lyrics, Intelligent songs, Cultured Opinions in the form of Music, and Great listening.
Rap= Crank Dat Soulja Boy, Lollipop, Cash Flow, and quite possibly the worst song ever….. Tip Witcha Boy…
Comment by ZarahzMA on March 2, 2010 at 5:37 pm
Historically, rap music comes from hip-hop culture. The roots of rap music trace back to the Jamaican ska era of the mid-60s. MCs rapping over party music made its way to New York a decade later, thanks to DJ Kool Herc, a man many crown the "Father of Hip Hop." Kool Herc emigrated from Jamaica to New York in 1967 and helped give birth to the hip-hop culture that would continue to thrive and spread.
The Hip Hop Network notes that while the Sugar Hill Gang’s 1979 "Rapper’s Delight" was the first breakthrough rap hit, it emerged from a "an inner-city phenomenon centering on DJs and including equal proportions of break dancing, MCing, and graffiti art."
More recently, "rap" has been used to describe the aggressive, mass-market produced music of Nas or Eminem. But, as one online encyclopedia points out, "Not all music that has rapping in it, however, is actually rap music, and not all hip-hop music has rapping in it." Artists like Jurassic 5 and De La Soul typify hip-hop music, which is generally more multi-instrumented and less in-your-face.
KRS-One said, " Rap is something you do, but Hip-Hop is something you live."