hip-hop
A cultural movement and music genre originating in 1970s New York, built on rapping, DJing, sampling, and beatmaking.
In Depth
Hip-hop emerged in the South Bronx in the 1970s, created by African-American and Latino youth. DJ Kool Herc pioneered the technique of isolating and looping the break sections of funk and soul records, creating an extended groove for MCs (rappers) to rhyme over. This innovation — the breakbeat — became the rhythmic foundation of hip-hop. Hip-hop rapidly evolved from party music into one of the most influential cultural forces of the late 20th and early 21st centuries. Grandmaster Flash developed turntable techniques, Run-DMC brought hip-hop to the mainstream, Public Enemy added political consciousness, and artists like Nas, Jay-Z, Kendrick Lamar, and Drake expanded its artistic and commercial reach. Today, hip-hop is the most-streamed genre worldwide.
The first hip-hop hit record, Rapper's Delight by the Sugarhill Gang (1979), sampled the bass line from Chic's Good Times — establishing sampling as a foundational technique of the genre.