Hip-hop

Hip-hop
Stylistic origins	Disco, Funk, Jazz, Rhythm and blues, Scat singing, Soul, Spoken word, Talking blues, Performance poetry
Cultural origins	Early 1970s in The Bronx, New York City, U.S.
Typical instruments	Voice (Rapping, Singing), Turntable, Mixer, Drum machine, Sampler, Sequencer, Synthesizer, Keyboard
Derivative forms	Breakbeat, Grime, Nu metal, Reggaeton, et al.
Other topics
Old-school hip-hop New-school hip-hop Golden age hip-hop
2025 in hip-hop

Hip-hop or hip hop (originally disco rap) is a popular music genre that emerged in the early 1970s from the African-American community of New York City. The style is characterized by its synthesis of a wide range of musical techniques. Hip-hop includes rapping often enough that the terms can be used synonymously. However, "hip-hop" more properly denotes an entire subculture. Other key markers of the genre are the disc jockey, turntablism, scratching, beatboxing, and instrumental tracks. Cultural interchange has always been central to the hip-hop genre. It simultaneously borrows from its social environment while commenting on it.

The hip-hop genre and culture emerged from block parties in ethnic minority neighborhoods of New York City, particularly Bronx. DJs began expanding the instrumental breaks of popular records when they noticed how excited it would make the crowds. The extended instrumental breaks provided a platform for break dancers and rappers. These breakbeats enabled the subsequent evolution of the hip-hop style. Many of the records used were disco due to its popularity at the time.

This disco-inflected music is known as old-school hip-hop. The genre became more stylistically diverse in the 1980s as electro music started to inform new-school hip-hop. The transition between the mid-1980s and 1990s became known as hip-hop's Golden age as the genre started to earn wide critical acclaim and generate massive sales.

The popularity of hip-hop music expanded throughout the late 1990s and into the 21st century, where it became a worldwide phenomenon. Most countries have local variations on the style. By 2017, hip-hop had become the bestselling genre of popular music.