I really like the flow of rap music! Are you a fan?
Yeah! I must admit I'm an old lady and am not too familiar with newer rap artists except for Kendrick Lamar. What can you tell me about rap and its history?
The earliest precursor to rap was thought to be a West African griot tradition. Rappers were known as "oral historians" or "praise-singers"!
That makes sense! I bet it sounded really cool
I'll bet it did! A lot of people seem to think that rap and hip-hop are the same, but they're not. Rap is actually much older than hip-hop music.
What is the difference?
Believe it or not, hip hop is characterized by nine elements. I don't think rap has quite that many. Rap is much more old school!
What are the nine elements, do you know? Wow there's a lot to learn about this art form
The four key elements are MCing/rapping, break dancing, graffiti writing and DJing with turntables. I think hip hop more encompasses the whole subculture instead of just the music.
Yeah I noticed that some people call all african-americans "hip hoppers" lol