Rap can be traced back to the 1930s, when African-Americans used the blues as raw expression. Artists such as Blind Willie McTell and Blind Willie Johnson would implement spoken quips between their sung lyrics for emphasis.
Modern-day rap is the child of hip-hop, a reaction to the socio-political turmoil of the South Bronx in the mid-1970s. Black and Latino youths threw block parties with DJs spinning, people breakdancing and MCs hyping up the crowd with shouts of "Yes, yes ya'll. And you don't stop." These chants gave birth to rapping.
In 1982, Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five released "The Message," a song that spoke about the poverty and degradation of the ghettos of New York, changing the scope of rap forever.
Artists such as Tupac Shakur, Nas and A Tribe Called Quest redefined rap music in the 1990s. These artists elevated the genre, revitalizing its message and its reach through rhetorical flexibility and unwavering charisma.
Rap's origins speak of struggle and triumph in a way that is unparalleled in its long-lasting appeal to the masses.