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- Humanities LibreTexts - Rap
- African American Registry - Rap
- CORE - Rap the Language (PDF)
- Free Speech Center at Middle Tennessee State University - Rap Music and the First Amendment
- University of Michigan - Program for Research on Black Americans - Rap Music and Rap Audiences: Controversial Themes, Psychological Effects and Political Resistance (PDF)
- Carnegiee Hall - Timeline of African American Music - History of Rap & Hip-Hop
- BlackPast - Rap/Hip Hop
- AllMusic - Rap
- National Public Radio - The Birth of Rap: A Look Back
rap
rap, musical style in which rhythmic and/or rhyming speech is chanted (“rapped”) to musical accompaniment. This backingmusic, which can include digital sampling (music and sounds extracted from other recordings), is also calledhip-hop, the name used to refer to a broader cultural movement that includes rap, deejaying (turntable manipulation),graffiti painting, andbreak dancing. Rap, which originated in African Americancommunities inNew York City, came to national prominence with the Sugar Hill Gang’s “Rapper’s Delight” (1979). Rap’s early stars includedGrandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,Run-D.M.C.,LL Cool J,Public Enemy (who espoused a radical political message), and theBeastie Boys. The late 1980s saw the advent of “gangsta rap,” with lyrics that were often misogynistic or that glamorized violence and drug dealing. Later stars includeDiddy,Snoop Dogg,Jay-Z,OutKast,Eminem,Kanye West,Lil Wayne,Drake, andNicki Minaj.