Rap primarily features rhythmically spoken lyrics performed over beat-driven music. Often the lyrics rhyme. Rap may also include other musical elements such as record scratching or sampling from other songs.
Music historians trace rap's roots back to the Beat poetry of the 1950s, as well as to West African storytelling traditions dating back hundreds of years. Rap itself developed in New York City's the Bronx in the 1970s.
The first major rap hit was the Sugarhill Gang's "Rapper's Delight" in 1979. It was also the first rap single to enter the Billboard charts. Other influential acts during rap's early years were Run-D.M.C., the Beastie Boys and Public Enemy.
Rap has produced related genres such as hip-hop and gangsta rap. Meanwhile, fusion genres, such as rap metal, combine musical styles.
Some critics say that rap lyrics are often violent, homophobic or misogynistic.