In my mind, it works like this:
Hip hop is a musical form that emerged in the seventies. It is based on
taking the instrumental "breaks" from soul and funk records and continually
repeating them using two turntables, a technique that dj's in this era began
to employ when they realized that the crowd danced the hardest during the
funky instrumental breaks...so why not keep them going longer?
Generally, hip hop has a BPM that is on the slower side, maybe less than 100,
although this doesn't have to be true in every case - there was some killer
mega-fast hip hop delivered by Ice T and Public Enemy during a period in the
late eighties. To me, the quintessential hip hop BPM would be at about 85,
maybe 90.
Rap, in my view, is hip hop where rapping itself is present: vocals spoken
rhythmically, but without obvious tonality. So, rap has to have rapping,
whereas hip hop could either have rapping or be purely instrumental. Rap is
a subset of hip hop. DJ Shadow would be hip hop, but not rap (except on
those tracks where rappers appear).
Another way to look at it: your average mainstream Joe Sixpack knows the term
"rap," but may not know the term "hip hop." Hip hop is often the terminology
used by people who know a bit about the music, and are using the term as
evidence that they are "down."
Your mileage may vary.
- fred
P.S. Anyone want a FREE kumquat cd? If so, check out:
http://nofuncharlie.com/kumquat
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