Hip-Hop
Hip-hop music, like rock and jazz before it, drew from many previous musical styles to develop into a distinctive genre. The key musical features include MC-ing (emceeing) and DJ-ing (deejaying). The MC (master of ceremonies) is responsible for the vocal content, and the DJ (disc jockey) provides the musical component. Other musical instruments common to the jazz and rock music genres may be added, as well as additional vocalists, but the focus is on the lyrics of the MC and the dance beat provided by the DJ.
The distinctive vocal characteristic of hip-hop is the spoken-style delivery of the MC, known as rap. The roots of this style can be traced back to West African praise singers, although its direct influence is the Jamaican practice of toasting, in which a rhyming narrative is delivered with or without musical accompaniment. The typical musical accompaniment to toasting was either a simple rhythmic beat on a bass/snare drum combination or a recorded rhythm, often made by the performer. DJs in Jamaica modernized this tradition, toasting, shouting, and chanting verse over previously recorded ska, rock steady, and reggae songs that had been stripped of the vocals to emphasize the music's bass and rhythmic elements, a practice known as dub.