1. Rap Music Genre
With its supercharged rhythms, rap music took the world by storm
in the late 1970s and led to the cultural phenomenon known as hip
hop. Rap music had its roots in Jamaican “toasting”, R&B and
funk, but rap songs are essentially the sounds of the streets, a
passionate outcry from inner city youth about their bleak lives.
Since its early days, rap songs have really exploded with
incredible sonic invention, exploring new poetic ideas and the
“gangsta” life.
Rap’s germination is sometimes attributed to the righteous street
poetry of the Last Poets and the Watts Prophets, but it didn’t
begin to take full shape — and earn its tag — until after the
Sugarhill Gang released “Rapper’s Delight” in 1979. Since then,
rap spread from its New York epicenter throughout the remainder
of the U.S. (with each region taking on its own specific flavor) and
then to countless countries.
Rap is music that consists of topical rhyme verses recited over a
recorded or live instrumental background. Developed by urban
American blacks, its format originally consisted of a disk jockey
(D.J.) alternating and mixing small excerpts of recorded music and
adding rhythmical scratching sounds, while a “rapper” sings or
recites rhymed lyrics, that were often similar to poems. Rap first
appeared in the mid-1970s. Rap musicians sample a wide range of
street sounds, historical music, and spoken-word recordings in a
very powerful, musical format. The first rap came into existence in
the Bronx, a ghetto of NYC. African-American poets had started
using drum beats and instrumental music as a background for
their lyrics. Later, a guy named J. Saddler developed a more
accurate way of mixing music from two turntables and also had
the idea of adding scratching to the three components of rap. The
rap music we know today was born. Rap music soon became a
subject of criticism and controversy because of sexually explicit
lyrics and texts that glorified violence or promoted controversial
political views. The music was also used to express feelings and
criticize the government, life standards and society. Gangs in the
ghettos of big American cities stopped fighting with weapons and
started fighting with rhymes.
Styles of Rap
Urban, Christian Rap, Gangsta Rap, New Jack Swing, G-Funk, Go-
Go, Alternative Rap, Bass Music, East Coast Rap, Hardcore Rap,
Jazz-Rap, Old-School Rap, Quiet Storm, Southern Rap, West

2. Coast Rap, Latin Rap, Pop-Rap, British Rap, Comedy Rap,
Contemporary R&B, Dirty Rap, Party Rap, Underground Rap,
Turntablism, Dirty South, Political Rap, Golden Age, Reggaeton,
Post-Disco, Midwest Rap, Left-Field Hip-Hop
Gangsta Rap
Before entering the discussion on gangsta rap, a certain question
must be raised: what is the difference between hardcore and plain
old gangsta rap music? Not much. While, gangsta rap music is
almost always classified as hardcore hip hop, not all hardcore can
be classified as gangsta. The term “hardcore gangsta rap” is
basically used to convey the fact that gangsta rap music can be
considered a subdivision of hardcore rap.
Fans frequently drop the word “hardcore ” and refer to this
genre strictly as gangsta rap. When fans do use the term
hardcore gangsta rap music, they are usually referring to the most
intense brand of this type of music. If you were to classify rap
according to the fans, hardcore gangsta rap music is gangsta to
the max. With its ultra aggressive themes, explicit lyrics, and non-
stop hard hitting beats, hardcore gangsta rap music is extreme
hip hop uncensored.
Although gangsta rap music pushes the envelope beyond the
point of what some critics may consider socially acceptable, it has
still managed to become the most commercial form of rap
throughout the late 1980’s, and into the early 1990’s. Hardcore
gangsta rap music fans rejoiced during this period as some of the
most deliciously loathsome songs were recorded.
Thanks to gangsta rap downloads, you can get free music songs
that are over a decade old – perhaps some of these free rap
songs may lend a clue to where top rappers of today may have
found some of their inspiration.
If you’re looking for free gangsta rap songs from the original
stars, like Ice-T, Dr. Dre, and Snoop Dogg, or maybe some of the
more current ones like 50 Cent, DMX, or Young Buck, you’ll find
what you’re looking for among our gangsta rap downloads.
Here’s your opportunity to download gangsta rap music mp3 to
your heart’s content.
Some free gangsta rap songs that you should definitely listen to
are “What up Gangsta” and “Wanksta” from 50 Cent; if you
don’t already have these downloads on your computer, go get
them. Gangsta rap downloads from 50 Cent are must haves
because he is such a huge innovator of this music. If you’re

3. looking for a rapper that may be a little more old school than 50
Cent, check out Dr. Dre and his G-Funk brand of gangsta rap
which is a little more laid back.
Pop-Rap
In order to understand what pop-rap is all about, it’s best to start
with a pop rap music definition. Pop-rap, in a nutshell, can come
from any genre, so long as it becomes popular enough to be
considered mainstream. Although pop-rap is frequently less
aggressive than most rap genres, gangsta rappers could also be
classified as pop rap music if they’re popular enough; Eminem,
Dr. Dre, and Snoop Dog are good examples.
To get a clearer picture of the pop rap music definition, it helps to
know who some of the biggest stars in pop rap music are. LL Cool
J, The Beastie Boys, P. Diddy, and Will Smith are four artists
whose names are synonymous with pop rap music. Some past
pop-rap artists who have enjoyed mainstream success are Coolio,
MC Hammer, and Vanilla Ice. Though Snoop Dogg, Dr. Dre, and
Eminem could fit into the pop-rap music genre, it’s only because
of their mainstream success that they are classifiable as pop-rap.
Keeping the pop rap music definition in mind, it becomes easy to
see how any rap, regardless of the genre, can be considered
pop-rap. What classifies one genre of hip hop as pop-rap, over
another, are the number of record sales – however, in order for
something to become that successful, it has to be accessible to a
wide group of people.
“Accessibility” is a big part of the pop rap music definition
because the number of record sales is frequently in direct
proportion to its accessibility. With the number of record sales
being a deciding factor in what makes something pop rap music, it
almost seems that free pop rap songs would be antithetical to pop
rap music’s entire existence. However, this is not the case.
To get a better idea of how free pop rap songs help promote pop-
rap, we must look back to the pop rap music definition. If the pop
rap music definition states that more record sales are one of the
things crucial to the success of this genre, then free pop rap
songs serve as an excellent promotional tool. In fact, some of
today’s biggest pop-rap stars like P. Diddy offer free pop rap
songs on his own record label’s website.
While artists’ websites might be a good place to find free pop rap
songs, other sites like EZ-Tracks have a huge variety of free pop

4. rap songs. On EZ-Tracks, there are free pop rap songs available
from a variety of famous pop-rap artists, regardless of their label.
So, summing up the pop rap music definition, we find that pop-rap
music is not only defined by its amount of record sales, but how
accessible the music is to its fans.