Genre guide

Rap and hip-hop.
The defining voice of a generation.

Rap emerged in the 1970s from the block parties of the Bronx, where DJs isolated the breakbeat and MCs began rhyming over it - the musical core of the wider culture of hip-hop. Built on rhythm, wordplay, and the art of the spoken voice, it grew from a local New York scene into the dominant sound of global popular music. From old-school party records to conscious rap, Southern trap, and a Pulitzer Prize, rap has become both the most commercially powerful and the most lyrically ambitious genre of its era.

Browse featured Rap artists

From the genre's founders to the names still being discovered.

Rap articles

Cardi B Won the Argument Before She Made the Album

Cardi B's debut album Invasion of Privacy arrived in April 2018 already carrying a number one single. "Bodak Yellow" had topped the Hot 100 six months earlier, and the 13-track album went on to debut at number one on the Billboard 200, win the Grammy for Best Rap Album, and become the best-selling female rap album of the 21st century.

Isaiah Rashad Took Five Years to Say Something True

Isaiah Rashad's third album, “It's Been Awful,” arrived May 1 after a five-year absence — a 16-track confessional built with producer Keem the Cipher and Julian Sintonia that trades triumph for honesty, confronting addiction, identity, and family with an intimacy most rap albums won't go near.

JPEGMAFIA Named the Genre and Then Dared You to Argue

JPEGMAFIA released his sixth studio album, EXPERIMENTAL RAP, on May 21, 2026 — a self-produced, self-mixed 25-track record that blends rap, punk, gospel, and industrial music, with only one featured guest and no advance copies sent to critics. The album's rollout was marked by a publicized social-media spat with Earl Sweatshirt and co-writing credits shared with Billy Ray Schlag, DatPiffMafia, and Alex Goldblatt.