Editing Rapping (section)

==History==
{{see also|African-American music|Music of the United States|History of poetry|Talking blues}}

===Etymology and usage===
The English verb ''rap'' has various meanings; these include "to strike, especially with a quick, smart, or light blow",<ref name="dictionary.reference.com">{{cite web |url=http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/rap?s=t |title=Rap &#124; Define Rap at Dictionary.com |publisher=Dictionary.reference.com |access-date=January 27, 2014 |archive-date=March 4, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304105718/http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/rap?s=t |url-status=live }}</ref> as well "to utter sharply or vigorously: to rap out a command".<ref name="dictionary.reference.com"/> The ''[[Shorter Oxford English Dictionary]]'' gives a date of 1541 for the first recorded use of the word with the meaning "to utter (esp. an oath) sharply, vigorously, or suddenly".<ref>''Shorter Oxford English Dictionary'', 3rd edition, Revised, 1970, p. 1656.</ref> Wentworth and [[Stuart Berg Flexner|Flexner]]'s ''Dictionary of American Slang'' gives the meaning "to speak to, recognize, or acknowledge acquaintance with someone", dated 1932,<ref>Harold Wentworth and Stuart Berg Flexner, ''Dictionary of American Slang'', 2nd supplemented edition, 1975, p. 419.</ref> and a later meaning of "to converse, esp. in an open and frank manner".<ref>Harold Wentworth and Stuart Berg Flexner, ''Dictionary of American Slang'', 2nd supplemented edition, 1975, p. 735.</ref> It is these meanings from which the musical form of ''rapping'' derives, and this definition may be from a shortening of [[repartee]].<ref>''rap'' [5, noun] Webster's ''Third New International Dictionary'', Unabridged.</ref> A ''rapper'' refers to a performer who "raps". By the late 1960s, when Hubert G. Brown changed his name to [[H. Rap Brown]], ''rap'' was a slang term referring to an oration or speech, such as was common among the "hip" crowd in the protest movements, but it did not come to be associated with a musical style for another decade.<ref>{{cite web |title=rap |url=https://www.dictionary.com/browse/rap#:~:text=Slang.%20to%20talk%20or%20discuss,the%20beat%20of%20rap%20music. |website=The Dictionary |access-date=November 5, 2022 |archive-date=November 5, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221105014451/https://www.dictionary.com/browse/rap#:~:text=Slang.%20to%20talk%20or%20discuss,the%20beat%20of%20rap%20music. |url-status=live }}</ref>

''Rap'' was used to describe talking on records as early as 1970 on [[Isaac Hayes]]' album ''[[...To Be Continued (Isaac Hayes album)|...To Be Continued]]'' with the track name "Monologue: Ike's Rap I".<ref>{{Citation |title=Isaac Hayes – ...To Be Continued Album Reviews, Songs & More {{!}} AllMusic |url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/to-be-continued-mw0000653383 |language=en |access-date=October 29, 2022}}</ref> Hayes' "husky-voiced sexy spoken 'raps' became key components in his signature sound".<ref name="ReferenceB">{{cite web |author=Lindsay Planer |title=Black Moses – Isaac Hayes &#124; Songs, Reviews, Credits, Awards |url=http://www.allmusic.com/album/black-moses-mw0000654514 |access-date=January 27, 2014 |website=AllMusic |archive-date=August 17, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140817200126/http://www.allmusic.com/album/black-moses-mw0000654514 |url-status=live }}</ref> [[Del the Funky Homosapien]] similarly states that ''rap'' was used to refer to talking in a stylistic manner in the early 1970s: "I was born in '72 ... back then what rapping meant, basically, was you trying to convey something—you're trying to convince somebody. That's what rapping is, it's in the way you talk."<ref>Edwards, Paul; "Gift of Gab" (foreword) (September 2013). ''How to Rap 2: Advanced Flow and Delivery Techniques'', Chicago Review Press, p. 98.</ref>

Rap is sometimes said to be an acronym for '''R''hythm ''A''nd ''P''oetry', though this is not the origin of the word<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.musicianwave.com/does-rap-stand-for-rhythm-and-poetry/|title=Does Rap Stand For Rhythm And Poetry?|first=Berk|last=Oztuna|date=May 12, 2022}}</ref> and so may be a [[backronym]].

===Roots and origin===
[[File:Memphis jugband.jpg|frame|right|The [[Memphis Jug Band]], an early blues group, whose lyrical content and rhythmic singing predated rapping]]
{{Listen||type=music|header =
   |filename=Joe Hill Louis - Gotta Let You Go.ogg
   |title=Gotta Let You Go
   |description=[[Joe Hill Louis]]'s song "Gotta Let You Go" is an early example of rapping in [[blues]].
}}

Similarities to rapping can be observed in West African chanting folk traditions. Centuries before [[hip-hop music]] existed, the [[griot]]s of West Africans were delivering stories [[rhythm]]ically, over [[drum]]s and sparse instrumentation. Such resemblances have been noted by many modern artists, modern day "griots", [[spoken word]] artists, mainstream news sources, and academics.<ref>{{cite news| url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/3622406.stm| title=BBC News: Africa| access-date=December 21, 2005| date=September 2, 2004| first=Lawrence| last=Pollard| archive-date=April 16, 2019| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190416185500/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/3622406.stm| url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web| url = http://rap.about.com/mbiopage.htm| title = About.com: Rap| access-date = December 21, 2005| url-status = dead| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20060111091655/http://rap.about.com/mbiopage.htm| archive-date = January 11, 2006| df = mdy-all}}</ref><ref>{{cite web| url = https://www.pbs.org/theblues/classroom/deftradition.html| title = PBS lesson plan on the blues| website = [[PBS]]| access-date = December 21, 2005| archive-date = October 30, 2021| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20211030220803/https://www.pbs.org/theblues/classroom/deftradition.html| url-status = live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.yale.edu/ynhti/curriculum/units/2001/3/01.03.08.x.html#b| title = Yale University Teachers Association| access-date = December 21, 2005| archive-date = May 22, 2012| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120522030001/http://www.yale.edu/ynhti/curriculum/units/2001/3/01.03.08.x.html#b| url-status = live}}</ref> Rap lyrics and music are part of the "Black rhetorical continuum", continuing past traditions of expanding upon them through "creative use of language and rhetorical styles and strategies".<ref>{{Cite journal|first=Baruti N.|last=Kopano|date=December 22, 2002|title=Rap Music as an Extension of the Black Rhetorical Tradition: 'Keepin' It Real'|url=https://www.questia.com/library/journal/1G1-101173271/rap-music-as-an-extension-of-the-black-rhetorical|journal=The Western Journal of Black Studies|language=en|volume=26|issue=4|issn=0197-4327|access-date=May 16, 2017|archive-date=July 4, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190704203951/https://www.questia.com/library/journal/1G1-101173271/rap-music-as-an-extension-of-the-black-rhetorical|url-status=dead}}</ref>

[[Blues]], [[Origins of the blues|rooted]] in the [[work songs]] and [[spiritual (music)|spirituals]] of [[Slavery in the United States|slavery]], was first played by black Americans around the time of the [[Emancipation Proclamation]]. This way of preaching, unique to African-Americans, called the [[Black sermonic tradition]] influenced singers and musicians such as 1940s African-American gospel group [[The Jubalaires]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Dyson |first1=Michael |title=Reflecting Black African-American Cultural Criticism |date=1993 |publisher=University of Minnesota Press |isbn=9781452900810 |page=xxi, 12–16, 33, 275 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=a6VXXCrZ_FkC&q=Black%20preaching |access-date=March 19, 2023 |archive-date=April 14, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230414175747/https://books.google.com/books?id=a6VXXCrZ_FkC&q=Black%20preaching |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Jackson |first1=Joyce |title=Black Preaching Styles: Teaching, Exhorting, and Whooping |url=https://www.louisianafolklife.org/lt/articles_essays/brpreaching.html |website=Louisiana Folklife Program |publisher=Louisiana Division of the Arts, Office of Cultural Development, Dept. of Culture, Recreation & Tourism |access-date=February 16, 2023 |archive-date=February 16, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230216180007/https://www.louisianafolklife.org/lt/articles_essays/brpreaching.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Keegan |title=CALL-AND-RESPONS E An Ancient Linguistic Device Surfaces in Usher's "Love in This Club" |journal=Elements |date=2009 |url=https://ejournals.bc.edu/index.php/elements/article/download/8895/8022/ |access-date=February 16, 2023 |archive-date=February 16, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230216154432/https://ejournals.bc.edu/index.php/elements/article/download/8895/8022/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Jackon |first1=Joyce M. |title=Songs of Spirit and Continuity of Consciousness: African American Gospel Music in Louisiana |url=https://www.louisianafolklife.org/LT/Articles_Essays/songsspirit.html |website=Louisiana Folklife Program |publisher=Louisiana Division of the Arts, Office of Cultural Development, Dept. of Culture, Recreation & Tourism |access-date=February 16, 2023 |archive-date=April 12, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230412043501/https://www.louisianafolklife.org/lt/articles_essays/songsspirit.html |url-status=live }}</ref> The Jubalaire's songs "The Preacher and the Bear" (1941) and "Noah" (1946) are precursors to the genre of rap music. The Jubalaires and other African-American singing groups during the blues, jazz, and gospel era are examples of the origins and development of rap music.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Warner |first1=Jay |title=American singing groups : a history from 1940s to today |date=2006 |publisher=Hal Leonard Corp |isbn=9780634099786 |page=169 |url=https://archive.org/details/americansingingg00warn/page/169/mode/2up?q=jubalaires |access-date=November 9, 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Savant |title=Becoming an Emsee The 7 Principles of Rap |date=2020 |publisher=Diasporic Africa Press |isbn=9781937306694 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2ileEAAAQBAJ&dq=jubalaires+rap&pg=PT38 |access-date=March 19, 2023 |archive-date=April 14, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230414175749/https://books.google.com/books?id=2ileEAAAQBAJ&dq=jubalaires+rap&pg=PT38 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=The Jubalaires 'Noah' | website=[[YouTube]] | date=November 26, 2020 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IpUsQq4Kv90 |access-date=November 1, 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=The Jubalaires – The Preacher and The Bear |website=[[YouTube]] |date=February 11, 2022 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cLYsCVy4T3E |access-date=November 1, 2022 |archive-date=November 1, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221101174716/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cLYsCVy4T3E |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Rosalsky |title=Encyclopedia of Rhythm & Blues and Doo-Wop Vocal Groups |date=2002 |publisher=Scarecrow Press |isbn=9780810845923 |pages=340, 391 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=L4ghJfL5iBIC&dq=jubalaires&pg=PA340}}</ref> Grammy-winning blues musician/historian [[Elijah Wald]] and others have argued that the blues were being rapped as early as the 1920s.<ref name="r12">{{cite web| url = http://www.elijahwald.com/hipblues.html| title = Hip Hop and Blues| access-date = December 21, 2005| archive-date = October 31, 2021| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20211031013331/https://elijahwald.com/hipblues.html| url-status = live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.yazoorecords.com/2018.htm| title = The Roots of Rap| access-date = December 21, 2005| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20060324181308/http://www.yazoorecords.com/2018.htm| archive-date = March 24, 2006| url-status = dead| df = mdy-all}}</ref> Wald went so far as to call [[hip hop]] "the living blues".<ref name="r12" /> A notable recorded example of rapping in blues was the 1950 song "Gotta Let You Go" by [[Joe Hill Louis]].<ref name="tony" />

[[Jazz]], which developed from the blues and other African-American and European musical traditions and originated around the beginning of the 20th century, has also influenced hip hop and has been cited as a precursor of hip hop. Not just jazz music and lyrics but also [[jazz poetry]]. According to John Sobol, the jazz musician and poet who wrote ''Digitopia Blues'', rap "bears a striking resemblance to the evolution of jazz both stylistically and formally".<ref name="digitopia" /> Boxer [[Muhammad Ali]] anticipated elements of rap, often using [[rhyme scheme]]s and [[spoken word]] poetry, both for when he was [[trash talk]]ing in boxing and as [[political poetry]] for his activism outside of boxing, paving the way for [[The Last Poets]] in 1968, [[Gil Scott-Heron]] in 1970, and the emergence of rap music in the 1970s.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Wiggs |title=THE LAST POETS (1968– ) |url=https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/last-poets-1968/ |website=Black Past |date=September 21, 2008 |access-date=November 4, 2022 |archive-date=November 4, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221104225544/https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/last-poets-1968/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=The Last Poets – When The Revolution Comes |website=[[YouTube]] |date=May 24, 2008 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8M5W_3T2Ye4 |access-date=November 4, 2022 |archive-date=November 4, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221104225541/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8M5W_3T2Ye4 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Pelton |title=RAP/HIP HOP |url=https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/rap-hip-hop/ |website=Black Past |date=June 16, 2007 |access-date=November 4, 2022 |archive-date=November 4, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221104225541/https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/rap-hip-hop/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="ny-ali" /> An editor of the newspaper, [[The Fayetteville Observer]] interviewed Bill Curtis of the disco-funk music group the [[Fatback Band]] in 2020. Curtis noted that when he moved to the Bronx in the 1970s he heard people rapping over scratched records throughout the neighborhoods and radio DJs were rapping before the genre was released on retail recordings. The Fatback Band released the first rap recording, "[[King Tim III (Personality Jock)]]", a few weeks before the [[The Sugarhill Gang|Sugarhill Gang]] in 1979.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Futch |first1=Michael |title=The first rap record didn't come from the Sugarhill Gang. It came from Fayetteville's Bill Curtis and his Fatback Band |url=https://www.fayobserver.com/story/lifestyle/fort-bragg-life/2020/03/07/first-rap-record-didnrsquot-come-from-sugarhill-gang-it-came-from-fayettevillersquos-bill-curtis-and/112372824/ |access-date=November 5, 2022 |publisher=The Fayetteville Observer |date=2020 |archive-date=November 5, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221105003951/https://www.fayobserver.com/story/lifestyle/fort-bragg-life/2020/03/07/first-rap-record-didnrsquot-come-from-sugarhill-gang-it-came-from-fayettevillersquos-bill-curtis-and/112372824/ |url-status=live }}</ref> In another interview Curtis said: "There was rapping in the Bronx and the cats there had been doing it for a while...Fatback certainly didn't invent rap or anything. I was just interested in it and I guess years later we were the first to record it. At the time you could already see cats rapping everywhere in the streets and doing stuff."<ref>{{cite news |title=The Fatback Band: 'Everything was just raw energy' |url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2016/jul/06/the-fatback-band-disco-funk-founder-bill-curtis |access-date=November 5, 2022 |agency=The Guardian |work=The Guardian}}</ref>

With the decline of [[disco]] in the early 1980s rap became a new form of expression. Rap arose from musical experimentation with rhyming, rhythmic speech. Rap was a departure from disco. Sherley Anne Williams refers to the development of rap as "anti-Disco" in style and means of reproduction. The early productions of Rap after Disco sought a more simplified manner of producing the tracks they were to sing over. Williams explains how Rap composers and DJ's opposed the heavily orchestrated and ritzy multi-tracks of Disco for "break beats" which were created from compiling different records from numerous genres and did not require the equipment from professional [[recording studio]]s. Professional studios were not necessary therefore opening the production of rap to the youth who as Williams explains felt "locked out" because of the capital needed to produce Disco records.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Black Popular Culture|last=Wallace|first=Michele|publisher=Bay Press|year=1992|isbn=978-1-56584-459-9|location=Seattle|pages=164–167}}</ref>

More directly related to the African-American community were items like schoolyard chants and taunts, [[clapping games]],<ref>K. D. Gaunt, The games black girls play: learning the ropes from Double-dutch to Hip-hop (New York: New York University Press, 2006)</ref> [[Skipping-rope rhyme|jump-rope rhymes]], some with unwritten folk histories going back hundreds of years across many nationalities. Sometimes these items contain racially offensive lyrics.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.beachnet.com/~jeanettem/chants.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120919082100/http://www.beachnet.com/~jeanettem/chants.html|url-status=dead|title=Beachnet.com|archive-date=September 19, 2012|access-date=February 25, 2021}}</ref>

===Proto-rap===
In his narration between the tracks on [[George Russell (composer)|George Russell]]'s 1958 jazz album [[New York, N.Y. (album)|''New York, N.Y.'']], the singer [[Jon Hendricks]] recorded something close to modern rap, since it all rhymed and was delivered in a hip, rhythm-conscious manner. Art forms such as spoken word jazz poetry and comedy records had an influence on the first rappers.<ref name="thafoundation.com" /> [[Coke La Rock]], often credited as hip-hop's first MC<ref>Jenkins, Sacha (December 3, 1999). ''Ego Trip's Book of Rap Lists''. St. Martin's Griffin, p. 20. {{ISBN|978-0-312-24298-5}}.</ref> cites the [[Last Poets]] among his influences, as well as comedians such as [[Wild Man Steve]] and [[Richard Pryor]].<ref name="thafoundation.com" /> Comedian [[Rudy Ray Moore]] released under the counter albums in the 1960s and 1970s such as ''This Pussy Belongs to Me'' (1970), which contained "raunchy, sexually explicit rhymes that often had to do with pimps, prostitutes, players, and hustlers",<ref>{{cite web |author=Alex Henderson |url=http://www.allmusic.com/album/this-pussy-belongs-to-me-mw0000094218 |title=This Pussy Belongs to Me – Rudy Ray Moore &#124; Songs, Reviews, Credits, Awards |website=AllMusic |access-date=August 25, 2014 |archive-date=November 7, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211107221918/https://www.allmusic.com/album/this-pussy-belongs-to-me-mw0000094218 |url-status=live }}</ref> and which later led to him being called "The Godfather of Rap".<ref name=chicago>{{cite news |author=Soren Baker |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/2002/05/10/dolemite-star-explores-music/ |title='Dolemite' star explores music |newspaper=Chicago Tribune |date=May 10, 2002 |access-date=August 25, 2014 |archive-date=August 15, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140815142244/http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2002-05-10/entertainment/0205100386_1_rudy-ray-moore-rhyming-redd-foxx |url-status=live }}</ref>

[[Gil Scott-Heron]], a jazz poet/musician, has been cited as an influence on rappers such as [[Chuck D]] and [[KRS-One]].<ref>Jeff Chang; D.J. Kool Herc (December 2005). ''Can't Stop Won't Stop: A History of the Hip-Hop Generation''. Picador. p. 249. {{ISBN|0-312-42579-1}}.</ref> Scott-Heron himself was influenced by [[Melvin Van Peebles]],<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.philadelphiaweekly.com/news-and-opinion/cover-story/Forever_Badass-243548941.html |title=Forever badass: Melvin Van Peebles on his Philly funk gig and Sweetback memories &#124; Cover Story &#124; News and Opinion |newspaper=Philadelphia Weekly |access-date=February 21, 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://archive.today/20140221084523/http://www.philadelphiaweekly.com/news-and-opinion/cover-story/Forever_Badass-243548941.html |archive-date=February 21, 2014  }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.visionaryproject.org/vanpeeblesmelvin/ |title=Melvin Van Peebles: Oral History Video Clips and Biography: NVLP Oral History Archive |publisher=Visionaryproject.org |date=August 21, 1932 |access-date=February 21, 2014 |archive-date=November 6, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211106153518/http://www.visionaryproject.org/vanpeeblesmelvin/ |url-status=dead }}</ref> whose first album was 1968's ''[[Brer Soul]]''. Van Peebles describes his vocal style as "the old Southern style", which was influenced by singers he had heard growing up in South [[Chicago]].<ref name=VanPeebles>{{cite AV media notes |chapter=The title of this album |title=What the. ... You Mean I Can't Sing?! |others=Melvin Van Peebles |year=2003 |first=Melvin |last=Van Peebles |publisher=Water |id=water122 |type=booklet }}</ref> Van Peebles also said that he was influenced by older forms of [[African-American music]]: "... people like [[Blind Lemon Jefferson]] and the field hollers. I was also influenced by spoken word song styles from Germany that I encountered when I lived in France."<ref name=George>{{cite AV media notes |title=Ghetto Gothic |others=Melvin Van Peebles |year=1995 |first=Nelson |last=George |publisher=Capitol |id=724382961420 |type=booklet}}</ref>

During the mid-20th century, the musical culture of the Caribbean was constantly influenced by the concurrent changes in [[Music of the United States|American music]]. As early as 1956,<ref name=":1" /> [[Disc jockey#Dancehall/reggae deejays|deejays]] were [[Toasting (Jamaican music)|toasting]] over [[dub music|dubbed]] [[Jamaica]]n beats. It was called "rap", expanding the word's earlier meaning in the African-American community—"to discuss or debate informally."<ref name="r0" />

The early rapping of hip-hop developed out of [[DJ]] and [[master of ceremonies]]' announcements made over the microphone at parties, and later into more complex raps.<ref name="Charlie Ahearn 2002" /> [[Grandmaster Caz]] stated: "The microphone was just used for making announcements, like when the next party was gonna be, or people's moms would come to the party looking for them, and you have to announce it on the mic. Different DJs started embellishing what they were saying. I would make an announcement this way, and somebody would hear that and they add a little bit to it. I'd hear it again and take it a little step further 'til it turned from lines to sentences to paragraphs to verses to rhymes."<ref name="Charlie Ahearn 2002" />

One of the first rappers at the beginning of the hip hop period, at the end of the 1970s, was also hip hop's first [[Disc jockey|DJ]], [[DJ Kool Herc]]. Herc, a Jamaican immigrant, started delivering simple raps at his parties, which some claim were inspired by the Jamaican tradition of [[Toasting (Jamaican music)|toasting]].<ref name="daveyd1">{{cite web| url = http://www.daveyd.com/interviewkoolherc89.html| title = Davey D's Hip-Hop Corner| access-date = December 20, 2005| archive-date = March 3, 2016| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160303174730/http://www.daveyd.com/interviewkoolherc89.html| url-status = live}}</ref> However, Kool Herc himself denies this link (in the 1984 book ''Hip Hop''), saying, "Jamaican toasting? Naw, naw. No connection there. I couldn't play reggae in the Bronx. People wouldn't accept it. The inspiration for rap is [[James Brown]] and the album ''[[Hustlers Convention (Lightnin' Rod album)|Hustler's Convention]]''".<ref>"Hip Hop: The Illustrated History of Break Dancing, Rap Music, and Graffiti", by Steven Hager, 1984, St Martin's Press, p. 45.</ref> Herc also suggests he was too young while in Jamaica to get into sound system parties: "I couldn't get in. Couldn't get in. I was ten, eleven years old,"<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.djhistory.com/interviews/kool-herc |title=Kool Herc |publisher=DJhistory.com |access-date=January 27, 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150601195425/http://www.djhistory.com/interviews/kool-herc |archive-date=June 1, 2015  }}</ref> and that while in Jamaica, he was listening to James Brown: "I was listening to American music in Jamaica and my favorite artist was James Brown. That's who inspired me. A lot of the records I played were by James Brown."<ref name="daveyd1"/>

However, in terms of what was identified in the 2010s as "rap", the source came from Manhattan. Pete DJ Jones said the first person he heard rap was [[DJ Hollywood]], a Harlem (not Bronx) native<ref>[http://www.thafoundation.com/pete.htm Pete "DJ" Jones Interview pt. 1] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211106153518/http://www.thafoundation.com/pete.htm |date=November 6, 2021 }}, The Foundation.</ref> who was the house DJ at the [[Apollo Theater]]. Kurtis Blow also said the first person he heard rhyme was DJ Hollywood.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.wolfdorkapparel.com/props-hip-hop/.|title=An Ode to Hip-Hop: The 1970s|author=ScottK|access-date=June 30, 2015|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150626130229/http://www.wolfdorkapparel.com/props-hip-hop/|archive-date=June 26, 2015}}</ref> In a 2014 interview, Hollywood said: "I used to like the way [[Frankie Crocker]] would ride a track, but he wasn't syncopated to the track though. I liked [WWRL DJ] [[Hank Spann]] too, but he wasn't on the one. Guys back then weren't concerned with being musical. I wanted to flow with the record". And in 1975, he ushered in what became known as the "hip hop" style by rhyming syncopated to the beat of an existing record uninterruptedly for nearly a minute. He adapted the lyrics of [[Isaac Hayes]]' "Good Love 6-9969" and rhymed it to the breakdown part of "Love Is the Message".<ref>Mark Skillz, [https://medium.com/cuepoint/dj-hollywood-the-original-king-of-new-york-41b131b966ee "DJ Hollywood: The Original King of New York"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211106153517/https://medium.com/cuepoint/dj-hollywood-the-original-king-of-new-york-41b131b966ee |date=November 6, 2021 }}, Cuepoint, November 19, 2014.</ref> His partner Kevin Smith, better known as [[Lovebug Starski]], took this new style and introduced it to the Bronx hip hop set that until then was composed of DJing and [[b-boying]] (or [[beatboxing]]), with traditional "shout out" style rapping.

The style that Hollywood created and his partner introduced to the hip hop set quickly became the standard. Before that time, most MC rhymes, based on radio DJs, consisted of short patters that were disconnected thematically; they were separate unto themselves. But by using song lyrics, Hollywood gave his rhyme an inherent flow and theme. This was quickly noticed, and the style spread. By the end of the 1970s, artists such as [[Kurtis Blow]] and [[the Sugarhill Gang]] were starting to receive radio airplay and make an impact far outside of New York City, on a national scale. [[Blondie (band)|Blondie]]'s 1981 single, "[[Rapture (Blondie song)|Rapture]]", was one of the first songs featuring rap to top the U.S. [[Billboard Hot 100|''Billboard'' Hot 100]] chart.

===Old-school hip hop===
{{Main|Old-school hip hop}}
Old school rap (1979–84)<ref>David Toop, ''Rap Attack'', 3rd edn, London: Serpent's Tail, 2000 (p. 216). {{ISBN|978-1-85242-627-9}}</ref> was "easily identified by its relatively simple raps"<ref name="allmusic.com">[{{AllMusic|class=explore|id=style/d2926|pure_url=yes}} Allmusic.com]</ref> according to [[AllMusic]], "the emphasis was not on lyrical technique, but simply on good times",<ref name="allmusic.com"/> one notable exception being [[Melle Mel]], who set the way for future rappers through his socio-political content and creative wordplay.<ref name="allmusic.com"/>

===Golden age===
{{Main|Golden age hip hop}}
Golden age hip hop (the mid-1980s to early '90s)<ref name="nytimes.com">Jon Caramanica, [https://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/26/arts/music/26jon.html "Hip-Hop's Raiders of the Lost Archives"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140410093712/http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/26/arts/music/26jon.html |date=April 10, 2014 }}, ''The New York Times'', June 26, 2005.</ref> was the time period where hip-hop lyricism went through its most drastic transformation – writer William Jelani Cobb says "in these golden years, a critical mass of mic prodigies were literally creating themselves and their art form at the same time"<ref>Cobb, Jelani William, 2007, ''To the Break of Dawn'', NYU Press, p. 47.</ref> and Allmusic writes, "rhymers like [[Public Enemy (group)|PE]]'s [[Chuck D]], [[Big Daddy Kane]], [[KRS-One]], and [[Rakim]] basically invented the complex wordplay and lyrical kung-fu of later hip-hop".<ref name="ReferenceA">[{{AllMusic|class=explore|id=style/d12014|pure_url=yes}} AllMusic]</ref> The golden age is considered to have ended around 1993–94, marking the end of rap lyricism's most innovative period.<ref name="nytimes.com"/><ref name="ReferenceA"/>