| Typically, Hip Hop music consists of one or more | | | | as beat mixing and matching, scratching, and beat |
| rappers speaking or chanting semi autobiographic | | | | juggling to create a base that can be rapped over. |
| tales, or coded information in an intensely rhythmic | | | | Turntablism is generally focused more on turntable |
| lyrical form, making abundant use of techniques like | | | | technique and less on mixing. By the 1950s, early |
| assonance, alliteration, and rhyme. Though rap may | | | | forms of Rock n' Roll and Do Wop utilized spoken |
| be performed a cappella, it is more common for the | | | | word technique in sections of songs ("Little Darlin" |
| rapper(s) to be accompanied by a DJ or a live band | | | | written by Maurice Williams). Within the next few |
| providing an appropriate beat. The Popularity of Rap | | | | decades, popular songs such as "Alice's Restaurant" |
| Music and the Hip Hop culture has increased | | | | by Arlo Guthrie and "The Devil Went Down to |
| immensely over the past 20 years. With its roots in | | | | Georgia" by The Charlie Daniels Band, not to mention |
| the earliest forms of African influenced call and | | | | countless Country songs, had lyrics primarily in spoken |
| response vocalizing, Hip Hop and Rap utilizes the | | | | word format. In the 1970s, African American |
| advanced technology of electronic sampling and | | | | musicians coupled the spoken word format with the |
| sequencing and has become a leading force in the | | | | sounds of Funk to produce the earliest easily |
| music industry. | | | | recognizable antecedents of Rap music. |
| Hip Hop and Rap music can be traced back to two | | | | Artists such as Lou Rawls, Barry White, James |
| sources: spoken lyrics (usually rhyming) and a Rhythm | | | | Brown, The Brothers Johnson, and Isaac Hayes |
| and Blues and Funk musical base. The reasons for the | | | | helped define the earliest sounds of this musical style. |
| rise of Hip Hop are found in the changing urban | | | | In addition, Jamaican Djs in New York City began |
| culture within the United States during the 1970s. | | | | incorporating improvised rhymes over Reggae music |
| Perhaps most important was the low cost involved in | | | | and rhythms. By 1979, the style began to find a |
| getting started as the equipment was relatively | | | | wider audience through its first recordings, most |
| inexpensive, and virtually anyone could "Rap" along | | | | notably "Rapper's Delight" by the Sugar Hill Gang. At |
| with the popular beats of the day. One of the most | | | | the close of the decade, drum machines such as the |
| prominent early examples of spoken word technique | | | | Linn Drum and slightly later the TR-808 appeared and |
| (in a call and response format) in a popular song is | | | | helped create the first significant electronic grooves |
| the chant "Hi-de-hi-de-hi-de-ho" from Cab Calloway's | | | | to accompany the Rap style. The success of MTV in |
| "Minnie the Moocher" in 1931. While early Hip Hop | | | | the early 1980s exposed original forms of Rap to a |
| arose through the decline of funk and disco while still | | | | worldwide audience through artists such as |
| employing their musicianship, there was rise of artists | | | | Grandmaster Flash, Blondie (with her top ten hit |
| who employed the use of the turntable as an | | | | "Rapture," though she's not considered an essential |
| instrument in itself. | | | | Rap artist), and the immensely popular Run DMC. |
| Hip-hop Turntablist DJs use turntable techniques such | | | | |