I listen to a lot of it (or them.) And to me, the two terms have been fairly synonymous. But I like a lot of different kinds of music and art so my attention is divided. Can anybody out there that loves the music more than me tell me: Is there a difference between rap and hip-hop? And if so what is it?

If anything I kind of thought rap was a part of hip-hop, along with the other elements of the culture (DJing, beatboxing, breakdancing, tagging, etc.) But some people seem to make it out like there's a difference in quality between the two, or aesthetic or purpose or something. But I'm rambling.

Rap is a vocal style, and Hip-Hop is a culture, as such thats the way I always looked at it.Rap has mixed pretty extensively with electronic and even metal music, and its pretty obvious that Rap and Hip-Hop don't have to go hand and hand all the time.

TBH I don't know how to define Hip-Hop as a music genre, or what Hip-Hop should sound like.I just listen to an artist and kind of know his/her genre.

I tend to refer to mainstream, girly, pop "rap" as hip-hop. I didn't use any logic to come to that terminology, that's just kind of the name I've adopted for it.

Turenne's got the right idea here. Interestingly enough, Jglass, back when I was in middle school, I had a similar definition of hip-hop. Now that I'm much, much more familiar with the music and the culture, I call the shit on the radio rap (or hip-pop), because I feel it lacks the substance to deserve to be called hip-hop.

"rap is something you do, hip hop is something you live"

-KRS One

but basically yeah, what Turenne said

Okay, SpoonfulOkay..thats the stupidest quote you could ever say. KRS One must not know the truth. cuz no, hip-hop is not life. or a life experience. no
Rap Is somthing you vibe to. ya know, nod ya head, listen to the lyrics, FEEL THE FLOW!
When on the other hand. HIP HOP is something you MOVE to. like solja boy shit, you can dance to that shit. who cares whut they are saying
basically.
Rap-LyricsOkay
Hip-hop-BEAT

quote:

Originally posted by Zaco_Fresh:
Okay, SpoonfulOkay..thats the stupidest quote you could ever say. KRS One must not know the truth. cuz no, hip-hop is not life. or a life experience. no
Rap Is somthing you vibe to. ya know, nod ya head, listen to the lyrics, FEEL THE FLOW!
When on the other hand. HIP HOP is something you MOVE to. like solja boy shit, you can dance to that shit. who cares whut they are saying
basically.
Rap-LyricsOkay
Hip-hop-BEAT

Post more.

Rap is when a black guy starts talking really fast and rhyming as the same time. Hip hop is when a black guy puts on some diamond jewelry and hires some big-bootied beehawtches to dance in a music video.

hip-hop artists rap. I think that's the most concise way to put it.

Wikipedia puts it straight. Rap is one of the 4 main components of the cultural movement known as Hip-hop.