One of today s most popular music forms is the art known as rap. Rap is a type of music that dates back a couple of decades. What kind of music is it and where did it come from? Its Rap, it is a wide range of urban music and a type of music that describes the rappers past lifestyle and feelings. Not only that, there are several types of rap music for example there is Alternative Rap, G Funk, Gangsta Rap, East Coast Rap and West Coast Rap which are the two of which are the most popular type of music. Rap music had originated from Hip Hop, which became one of the most influential art forms, with Rap music becoming one of the biggest markets in terms of record sales in the United States.

The words have them thinking and the beat has them bopping there heads. Rap music, once only popular with blacks in New York City, Washington, D.C., and Philadelphia, has grown to become America's freshest form of music, giving off energy found nowhere else. It seems that there's a new rap hit out every week, boasting, lecturing, and wisecracking. While the rapper tell a story, the sic jockey provides the rhythm, operating the drum machine, scratching, and rapidly moving the record back and forth under the needle to create rap's famous swishing sounds.

The beat can be traditional funk or heavy metal and anything goes. The most important part of rap is "rapping." Fans want to hear the lyrics. During every generation, some old fashioned, ill-humored people have become frightened by the sight of kids having a good time and have attacked the source of their pleasure. In the 1950s, the target was rock 'n' roll. Some claimed that the new type of music encouraged wild behavior and evil thoughts to teens. Today, rap faces the same charges. Those who condemn this exciting entertainment have never closely examined it. If they had, they would have discovered that rap permits kids to appreciate the English language by producing comical and meaningful poems into music.

Rappers don't just walk on stage and talk off the top of their heads. They write their songs, and they put a lot of though into them. Part of rapping is quick wit, rappers like L.L. Cool J and Run-D.M.C. grew up rapping in the neighborhoods, and they learned to throw down a quick rhyme when they were challenged. But part of it is thoughtful work over many hours and hours, getting the words to sound just right so that the ideas come across with style. Many performers set a positive example for their followers. Kurtis Blow rapped in a video for the March of Dimes' fundraising drive to battle birth defects and he has campaigned against teenage drinking as a spokesperson for the National Council on Alcoholism. On the television show "Reading Rainbow," Run-D.M.C. has told viewers how books enabled them to become "kings of rock. also Fresh and Grandmaster Flash have each made records telling of the horrors of cocaine. On Grandmaster Flash's hit "White Lines," he details how the drug can ruin a life. Rap is a mixture of lots of things like the slang talk of disk jockeys, hipsters, jazz musicians, and the joy and pain of blues. I think rap is a great thing.

Rap is one of the most popular music forms of this era. So many musicians have come and gone, Rap is going to last for ever. This is one music form that can make your body move and also get an understanding of what goes through the musicians mind.