Origin

When broken down, Rap music is really nothing more than rhyming over a beat. Unlike the psychedelic folk mix that empowered the hippie movement and was created in California; rapping was actually first done by a Jamaican DJ in the seventies known as Kool Herc. Rap was not being produced in America until 1980 when Regan era economics left many inner cities in dismay without hope for improvement. Young artists did not have music classes or guitar lessons or much musical equipment at all, yet what they lacked in materials they made up with soul. With the musical passion ever prevalent, but the stereotypical tools not available,  inspiring artist looked to new methods for creation as a way to not only cope with the environment they were forced into but to make their situation known to the rest of the population. Rapping first began as a way to pass time with some friendly compitition, going back and forth with rhyms soon became very populair and even got attention from people not involved who were just happy to hear the music and have a little fun in a world where all they experiance is struggle. Out of this came some of the earliest rap groups like Dark Star (1982) who's lyrics come off as soft and even too "poppy" when compared to Gangsta Rap of the later 1980's. The first group to ever label themselves as "gangsta rap" was N.W.A (1986) who's lyrics were based off of their enviroment of poverty, drugs and violence.