the.com/rapper
A poet who clocked that rhyme pays better with a beat behind it.
means A performer who speaks rhythmic, rhyming lyrics over a musical beat, often improvised or composed as a form of storytelling and self-expression.
from From 'rap,' meaning a quick, sharp blow or knock — think knuckles rapping a door. By the 1700s it had drifted to mean 'to speak sharply or chat,' and in African American vernacular of the 20th century it sharpened further into 'to talk, especially with style and confidence.' By the 1970s in the South Bronx, that fast, rhythmic talk fused with DJ culture and breakbeats, and 'rap' hardened into the name of the genre — the rapper being the one doing the sharp, rhythmic talking.
- origin
- word predates hip-hop by decades, meant quick talker
- skill core
- rhythm and rhyme matter more than melody
- economics
- features and verses often outearn album sales
- range
- spans street poets to pop chart regulars