Hip hop music, also known as rap music, is a style of music which came into existence in the United States during

the mid-1970s, and became a large part of modern pop culture during the 1980s. It consists of two main

components: rapping (MCing) and DJing (production and scratching). Along with hip hop dance (notably

breakdancing) and urban inspired art, or notably graffiti, these compose the four elements of hip hop, a cultural

movement that was initiated by inner-city youth, mostly African Americans[1] in New York City, in the early

1970s.

Typically, hip hop music consists of rhythmic lyrics making use of techniques like assonance, alliteration, and

rhyme. The rapper is accompanied by an instrumental track, usually referred to as a "beat," performed by a DJ,

created by a producer, or one or more instrumentalists. Historically, this beat has often been created using a

sample of the percussion break of another song: usually funk and soul recordings have been utilized. However, in

recent years, it has become more common for the beat to be built up from individual drum samples. In addition to

the beat, other sounds are often sampled, synthesized, or performed. Sometimes a track can be instrumental, as

a showcase of the skills of the DJ or producer.

Hip hop began in The Bronx, a borough in New York City, when DJs began isolating the percussion break from funk

and disco songs. The early role of the MC was to introduce the DJ and the music and to keep the audience

excited. MCs began by speaking between songs, giving exhortations to dance, greetings to audience members,

jokes and anecdotes. Eventually this practice became more stylized and became known as rapping. By 1979, hip

hop had become a commercially popular music genre and began to enter the American mainstream. In the 1990s,

a form of hip hop called gangsta rap became a major part of American music, causing significant controversy over

lyrics which were perceived as promoting violence, terrorism,[2] promiscuity, drug use and misogyny.

Nevertheless, by the beginning of the 2000s, hip hop was a staple of popular music charts and was being

performed in many styles across the world.