Genres of Rap

Main ~*~ Genres of Rap ~*~ Famous Rappers ~*~ John

There are 4 types of rap. There's normal rap which branches off into freestyle rap, hip-hop rap, and gangsta rap. Rap branched off into Gangsta Rap and Hip-Hop later on. Rapping developed both inside and outside of hip-hop culture. First we'll talk about "rap" in general. Rap can be said with or without a beat. It originated in the 70s by a Jamaican by the name of Kool Herc and some others. It's said that the first rapper to actually call himself an MC was Melle Mel from Grandmaster Flash and The Furious Five. Rapping music can be traced back in many ways to its African roots. Centuries before the United States even existed, the West African poets of West Africa were telling stories rhythmically, over drums and sparse instrumentation. Rap had its roots from Blues music, from the work songs and spirituals of slavery, and jazz music. Rap's main element is rhyme. Rap can contain any and all forms of rhyme found in all the famous classical poetry such as consonance, assonance, half rhyme, or internal rhyme. The flow of the rap is also important. Along with the flow, the rhyme is very important. But without flow the rhyme isn't as good in my opinion. Rappers use double entendres, alliteration, and other forms of literary techniques. When you put all of them together you can get an enticing rap.

Freestyle

Freestyle was branched off original rap. Freestyle rap is an improvisational type of rapping. Freestyle rap is when you have little to none previously thought up lyrics. When rappers freestyle they re-use old lines that they have said before without even knowing it. Some of them even prepare lyrics to say before they rap to try to make them look good. Because of rappers constantly doing that, rappers now rap about their opponent (if they are rap battling) or people around them and their surroundings to prove that they are not preparing lyrics to say beforehand.

Gangsta Rap

Gangsta rap was also branched off rap. Gangsta rap is a term that was thought up by the media to describe a certain genre of rap that tells of the violent lifestyles of some inner-city people. The subject matter rapped about in gangsta rap has caused a great deal of controversy. Criticism has come from both left and right wing commentators, and religious leaders, who have accused the genre of promoting a wide variety of subjects including: homophobia, violence, profanity, promiscuity, misogyny, street gangs, drive-by shootings, vandalism, thievery, crime, drug dealing, alcohol abuse, substance abuse and materialism. When the artists get blamed for these things they often defend themselves by claiming that they are describing the reality of inner-city life, and that they are only adopting a character, like an actor playing a role, which behaves in ways that they may not necessarily want people to believe.