Hip-hop and rap music might be perceived as the same. However, they are not. Rap is actually one kind of hip-hop music. Rap is the combination of lyrics and fast-paced music. Hip-hop, on the other hand, is better described as culture, not just music.
They were both first used by Kool Herc, a Jamaican DJ who was inspired by West-African folk poets. This music movement started spreading all over the zone quickly.
Rap |
Hip-Hop |
|
|---|---|---|
| Origins | Rap as such originated in the U.S. Specifically speaking, it was born in the guetto areas of Midwest U.S, somewhere between the late 80s and early 90s. | Hip-Hop is original from New York. It was in the early 80s in the Bronx where some minorities such as Latins and Afro-Americans began shaping this new culture. |
| Music | Rap music is conformed of some sharp wordplay. It can also be somehow poetic. It uses rhyming stanzas and assonance. Rap music is usually serious although its tone is versatile. | Hip-Hop music involves elements such as poetry wordplay with rhyming stanzas and assonance. Its tone is more banging. There can be slow tones, fast paced tones and everything in between. |
| Social topics | It talks about social matters such as drugs, sex, promiscuity, money, luxuries, politics and others. | The social matters that Hip-Hop touches are pretty much the same as rap. |
| Features | Rhymes and poetry. A fast-paced music beat. As for dancing, there can be twerking, nae nae, yeet, and others. | DJs, specific fashion and slang. Also beatbox, graffiti and R&B. There is also breakdancing, which basically involves complicated dance routines. |
| Instruments and accesories used | Voice, microphone, turntable, drums, drum machine, bass. | Microphone, voice, bass and drums. |
| Famous representatives | Lil Wayne, 50 Cent, Eminem, Three 6 Mafia, Ludacris, Young Jeezy, Tupac, T.I, Lil Jon and others. | Kany West, Mac Miller, Kid cudi, Snoop Dogg, Notorious Big, Jay-Z, Wiz Khalifa, Nicky Minaj and others. |