What is the Difference between Rap and Hip Hop?

Music is something that is universally enjoyed and listened to. It does have a lot of different genres and sub categories that it is broken down too. Each of the genres had an origin and is specifically enjoyed by a certain group.

Hip hop is also one such genre that is popular all over the world now. It has inspired a lot of artists who have created millions of songs based on this particular genre. Though often enough people confuse hip hop and rap and it is understandable as the two are kind of inter-related.

Difference between Rap and Hip-Hop

The debate on this has gone on for years in order to really decide as to what separates hip-hop from Rap. To really understand the difference one has to understand the type of culture that the two personify. There are other factors too such as how the music is produced and the elements that are associated with the sound of that particular music. The late 70s more define hip-hop as the time when artists like Sugarhill Gang, Fab 5 Freddy, and Kurtis emerged and brought with them the beat-box style of music. They sang in an upbeat tone and gave out a happy and positive vibe through their music. The message was to get up and dance to the music that could easily get feet tapping.  The music that they produced was very vibrant and full of life.

(Image Courtesy: Old School Hip Hop Lust)

Rap, on the other hand, is way more rugged in style. It does not sugar coat things and generally talks about what is going on in the present cultural scenario.  Rappers like Tupac Shakur spoke about the political scenario of the country and even brought light on the injustice that was being done on people. Though some of the music was light hearted, it still had in your face kind of lyrics.

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Present day situation of Rap and Hip Hop

According to most people, almost anyone can rap these days; many take this up as a fad since being a rapper is cooler than a style of music that emerged from a culture. Hip hop, on the other hand, has a unique style and always creates new music that works in waves to affect culture and society. Though there are artists, who are rappers yet they made use of hip hop to create a cultural influence such as NWA and Dr DreDr Dre.

(Image Courtesy: Rap-Up)

The gist of it all is that one has to be more than just a rapper to make their mark and actually to be called a hip-hopper. It involves creating great music and resonating with people and the current culture. What are your views on the subject and do you think both rap and hip-hop are the same things. Share your opinion in the comment box below.

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