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Rapping
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===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 | 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 | 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]].
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