This is mostly due to the roots of the genre of music and culture. Related Post: How To Become A Rapper With A High Chance Of Success Rapping is something that anyone can pick up and have fun with, but hip-hop artists have something like a greater resolve when it comes to their artistry. Hip-hop's roots give the genre and its artists a sense of depth and authenticity that some general rappers lack due to the generic lyrics and style that can come along with pop music and other genre crossovers. Hip Hop Artists Have Depth That Rappers Lack Many singers in other genres like to even have sections in their songs where they rap (or do a spoken-word flow), but they wouldn't dare refer to themselves as hip-hop artists.Īn example is Taylor Swift's 'Shake It Off' in the song's bridge section. Why you ain't playing Kraftwerk along with Jay-Z? That's hip-hop.' - Afrika Bambaataa 'House, rap, R&B, disco rock, they are all influenced by hip-hop culture.

The style of authentic hip-hop can rarely be blended with other genres like country, rock, or dance music, but many releases in these genres have rap influence or feature rap artists on them.Īlthough rapping is used more with other genres, the influence of hip-hop's culture, again, is the start of it all. Many rap and hip-hop fans would say that a rapper like Drake represents the rap world and not the hip-hop world because of how he genre-hops, but his early releases were often rich with hip-hop energy and over boom-bap beats. Related Post: Facts About Hip Hop - History, Record Numbers + More This is where rap started to become even more of a separate thing from hip-hop.Īs an example, rapper Nicki Minaj has had a lot of inspiration from hip-hop legends, but many of her pop releases, like 'Superbass' are more in the realm of rap and not hip-hop.īut in the same vein, Nicki Minaj can technically come out with a hip-hop release and even had more of a hip-hop feel in her earlier songs, as many rappers tend to. Not only did the subgenres of rap grow as the popularity of hip-hop spread after the 80s and into the modern era, but collaborations with rappers became rampant as well. Rap would not be the big deal that it is today if it weren't for the birth of hip-hop music and the hip-hop movement! As hip-hop's mark on the music industry grew, so did the subgenres of rap music. The element or genre of rap actually has some substyles itself, including grime, trap, cloud rap, gangsta rap, and mumble rap. This is why it can get confusing when you think about all the self-proclaimed rappers that were key people in the movement of hip-hop because they were both rap and hip-hop artists. The art of hip-hop includes rap, graffiti, breakdancing, and MCing. While the term can be used to describe a genre of music, hip-hop is also a movement and an era, while rap is a byproduct of it.

Most people pick up on this first distinction when they start to really get deep into the world of hip-hop. So let's break down three key distinctions between the two. Some music fans, theorists, and even rappers like Flava Flav think that there are distinctions in tempo and beat elements, but I, along with others who study and perform music, can see instances where rap and hip-hop can be fast or slow with the same types of instruments. What's confusing is that the biggest legends from the creation of hip-hop just so happened to be rappers. Modern music enthusiasts refer to the late ’80s and early ’90s as hip-hop’s “golden era.” To start simply, they both came from the same origin when the era of hip-hop was birthed during the 1970s and 1980s in The Bronx, NY. Rapper legends from the 80s and Ebony Magazine writers agree that all hip-hop artists can be rappers, but not all rappers can be hip-hop artists. While both of these musical styles share some key similarities and overlap a lot, there are some instances where the differences are clear. The terms 'rap' and 'hip-hop' are often used interchangeably in the music industry and on our favorite streaming apps, and that's mostly a fault. The Main Differences Between Rap And Hip Hop

Mumble rap cultural origins