how do you distinguish rap & hip-hop?

[platinumk777]

How can you tell what is rap and what is hip-hop? Everyone seems to have different opinions on this... I was having this discussion with my friends, and one of them said hip-hop is commercialized rap, and rap is whatever that's still street. Another said that hip-hop is when a rapper has something intelligent to say, and rap is more beat-oriented.
Is there an official distinction between them? If not, what is rap for you and what is hip-hop?

[The Watcher]

KRS said it best. Rap is a form of music, hiphop is a way of life. Hiphop is everything, from the beats, the culture, the clothing, beatboxing, to graffitti .. etc.

[S.G.V.]

KRS said it best. Rap is a form of music, hiphop is a way of life. Hiphop is everything, from the beats, the culture, the clothing, beatboxing, to graffitti .. etc.

spoken by the teacher

[West Coast Veteran]

KRS said it best. Rap is a form of music, hiphop is a way of life. Hiphop is everything, from the beats, the culture, the clothing, beatboxing, to graffitti .. etc.

KRS IS  HIP HOP

[Cliftone_Santiago_909]

Yeah homie, it's like this...



Rap is Hip Hop... Rap is just tha Rappin ("singing") part of Hip Hop... But you seem to have tha Idea that some songs are "Rap" and some songs are "Hip Hop".. and it's not like that cuz no matter what they're rappin. Nelly and Talib Kweli.. both rappers, both hip hop... Snoop and Nelly.. both rappers, both hip hop.


But Rap isnt tha only musical form of Hip Hop... cuz you got tha beats too.. that's why they call some R&B Hip Hop... cuz they're singing over some Hip Hop beats...

[=[Euthanasia]=]

I see it like this, Hip-hop is a culture, everything from breaking, beat-boxin', grafitti, dj-ing, and rapping/emceeing is part of the elements that make up the hip-hop culture.

[ManiD aka DaZ199]

Hip Hop - the elements - breakdancing, graf, rapping etc..
Rap - more street orientated, gangsta rap, bling bling shit etc.

[Nima - Dubcnn.com]

KRS said it best. Rap is a form of music, hiphop is a way of life. Hiphop is everything, from the beats, the culture, the clothing, beatboxing, to graffitti .. etc.

nothin to add, he said it best

[EM28]

KRS said it best. Rap is a form of music, hiphop is a way of life. Hiphop is everything, from the beats, the culture, the clothing, beatboxing, to graffitti .. etc.

nothin to add, he said it best

yeah i agree

peace

[budsmokeronly]

IMO the west coast makes Rap music, the east coast makes hip hop.

[EM28]

IMO the west coast makes Rap music, the east coast makes hip hop.

Hey yeah that sounds right.
LOL

Peace

[Jome]

KRS said it the best, but it's worth mentioning that rap means to talk fast.
That's why you can put the label "rapper" on people not even comparable to what we think a rapper should be like.

[budsmokeronly]

btw rap stands for rhythem and poetry

[platinumk777]

IMO the west coast makes Rap music, the east coast makes hip hop.

funny cause one of my friends also said that as well

Hip Hop - the elements - breakdancing, graf, rapping etc..
Rap - more street orientated, gangsta rap, bling bling shit etc.

that's pretty much how I see it too

[Jome]

btw rap stands for rhythem and poetry

* Jome pulls out Oxford Dictionary *

rap (4)

   1.  Slang A talk, conversation, or discussion.
   2.
         a. A form of popular music developed especially in African-American urban communities and characterized by spoken or chanted rhyming lyrics with a syncopated, repetitive rhythmic accompaniment.
         b. A composition or performance of such music.

" The word is probably a development ultimately of rap meaning "to hit." It shows up in the early 1900s in the extended meaning "to express orally"  (....)"

* Jome note:
The word "hit" was used in the old days as "to talk to a audience or another person(s) with authority", but dictionaries have no answer to what "rap" actually means.
Hiphop-documentaries say that the word "rap" comes from "talk rapid" and was shortened by "rap".
I cannot prove this yet, but it seems much more likely than "rhytm & poetry".