Rapping (also known as emceeing, MCing, spitting (bars), or just rhyming) is the rhythmic spoken delivery of rhymes, wordplay, and poetry. Rapping is a primary ingredient in hip hop music, but the phenomenon predates hip hop culture by centuries. Rapping can be delivered over a beat or without accompaniment. Stylistically, rap occupies a gray area among speech, prose, poetry, and song. The use of the word to describe quick speech or repartee long predates the musical form, meaning originally "to hit". The word had been used in British English since the 16th century, and specifically meaning "to say" since the 18th. It was part of the African American dialect of English in the 1960s meaning "to converse", and very soon after that in its present usage as a term denoting the musical style. Today, the terms "rap" and "rapping" are so closely associated with hip hop music that many use the terms interchangeably. For purposes of clarity, this article focuses rapping, as a technique or activity. For more info on the music genre see Hip Hop Music.

Roots

Rapping can be traced back to its African roots. Centuries before hip hop music existed, the griots of West Africa were delivering stories rhythmically, over drums and sparse instrumentation. Such connections have been acknowledged by many modern artists, modern day "griots", spoken word artists, mainstream news sources, and academics.

Blues music, rooted in the work songs and spirituals of slavery and influenced greatly by West African musical traditions, was first played by blacks (and some whites) in the Mississippi Delta region of the United States around the time of the Emancipation Proclamation. Grammy-winning blues musician/historian Elijah Wald and others have argued that the blues were being rapped as early as the 1920s. Wald went so far as to call hip hop "the living blues." Jazz, which developed from the blues and other African-American and European musical traditions and originated around the beginning of the 20th century, has also influenced hip hop and has been cited as a precursor of hip hop. Not just jazz music and lyrics but also Jazz poetry. According to John Sobol, the jazz musician and poet who wrote Digitopia Blues, rap "bears a striking resemblance to the evolution of jazz both stylistically and formally."Sobol, John. (2002). Digitopia Blues. Banff Centre Press. ISBN 978-0920159897

The spoken word jazz poetry of the United States was a predecessor for beat poetry, as well as the rapping in hip hop music. Gil Scott-Heron, a jazz poet/musician who wrote and released such seminal songs as The Revolution Will Not Be Televised, H2OGate Blues Part 2: We Beg Your Pardon America and Johannesberg, has been cited as an influence on many rappers. His collaborational work with musician Brian Jackson (Pieces of a Man, Winter in America) have been cited as major influences on hip hop, in terms of sound and lyrical style. Similar in style, the Last Poets who formed in 1969 recited political poetry over drum beats and other instrumentation, and were another predecessor for rap music. They released their debut album in 1970 reaching the top ten on the Billboard charts.