Rap & Hip-Hop Music
Rap music originated in African American communities in New York City during the 1970s, but its popularity and global impact rapidly expanded. Rap evolved as one element of the hip-hop movement. Hip-hop was also the wellspring of several staple techniques of modern pop music, including digital drumming and sampling. Rappers such as Ice Cube, Eminem, Kanye West, Nicki Minaj, Drake, and Cardi B have achieved global prominence.
Rap & Hip-Hop Music Encyclopedia Articles
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hip-hop
Hip-hop, cultural movement that attained widespread popularity in the 1980s and ’90s and also the backing music for rap, the musical style incorporating rhythmic and/or rhyming speech that became the movement’s...
Will Smith
Will Smith is an American actor and musician whose charisma and quick wit helped him transition from rap music to a successful career in acting. Smith’s notable films include the blockbusters Bad Boys...
Kanye West
Kanye West is an American producer, rapper, and fashion designer who parlayed his production success in the late 1990s and early 2000s into a career as a popular, critically acclaimed solo artist. One...
Nas
Nas is an American rapper and songwriter who became a dominant voice in 1990s East Coast hip-hop. Nas built a reputation as an expressive chronicler of inner-city street life. Nasir Jones, the son of a...
Sean Combs
Sean Combs is an American rapper, record producer, actor, and clothing designer who founded an entertainment empire in the 1990s. Beginning in 2023, he was the subject of several lawsuits accusing him...
Queen Latifah
Queen Latifah is an American musician and actress whose success in the late 1980s launched a wave of female rappers and helped redefine the traditionally male genre. She later became a notable actress,...
PSY
PSY is a South Korean singer and rapper. Originally known in his country as a controversial and satirical hip-hop artist, he achieved international fame in 2012 with the music video to his humorous pop...
N.W.A
N.W.A, American hip-hop group from Compton, California, whose popular, controversial music included explicit references to gang life, drugs, sex, and distaste for authority, especially the police. Its...
JAY-Z
JAY-Z is an American rapper and entrepreneur, one of the most influential figures in hip-hop in the 1990s and early 21st century. Shawn Carter grew up in Brooklyn’s often dangerous Marcy Projects, where...
Nicki Minaj
Nicki Minaj is a Trinidadian-born rapper, singer, songwriter, television personality, and actress known for her flowing quick-spoken rap style and for her provocative lyrics. She complements her music...
Lil Wayne
Lil Wayne is an American rapper who became one of the top-selling artists in hip-hop in the early 21st century. Lil Wayne grew up in New Orleans’s impoverished 17th Ward. There he came to the attention...
Ice Cube
Ice Cube is an American rapper and actor whose membership in the seminal gangsta rap group N.W.A gained him acclaim and launched his controversial but successful solo career. Ice Cube is known by hip-hop...
Eminem
Eminem is an American rapper, record producer, and actor who is known as one of the most-controversial and best-selling artists of the early 21st century. He was the first recording artist to have 10 consecutive...
Drake
Drake is a Canadian rap musician who first gained fame as an actor on the acclaimed TV teenage drama series Degrassi: The Next Generation and went on to have a successful and influential music career....
The Notorious B.I.G.
The Notorious B.I.G. was an American rapper who was among the most influential artists of 1990s gangsta rap. Wallace grew up near the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York. For most of...
Snoop Dogg
Snoop Dogg is an American rapper and songwriter who became one of the best-known figures in gangsta rap in the 1990s and is for many the epitome of West Coast hip-hop culture. Snoop Dogg’s signature drawled...
Missy Elliott
Missy Elliott is an American rapper and music producer who made a mark on the male-dominated hip-hop world with her talents for writing, rapping, singing, and music production. From an early age, Elliott...
Kendrick Lamar
Kendrick Lamar is an American rapper who has achieved critical and commercial success with such albums as good kid, m.A.A.d city (2012) and To Pimp a Butterfly (2015). Notable Works Kendrick Lamar Duckworth...
Calle 13
Calle 13, Puerto Rican popular music duo known for intelligent, poetic, and sharply pointed social and political commentary—all delivered through a distinctive blend of hip-hop with a broad range of Latin...
Dr. Dre
Dr. Dre is an American rapper, hip-hop producer, and entrepreneur who helped popularize the gangsta rap subgenre. Born to teenaged parents who aspired to singing careers, André Young took the stage name...
Tupac Shakur
Tupac Shakur was an influential American rapper and actor who was one of the leading names in 1990s gangsta rap. With his raw talent and thoughtful lyrics, he frequently addressed social issues in his...
