History of...Hip Hop music

Hip hop is a cultural movement that began amongst urban African American youth in New York and has since spread around the world. The four main elements of hip-hop are MCing, DJing, graffiti art, and breakdancing. Some consider beatboxing the fifth element of hip hop; others might add political activism, hip hop fashion, hip hop slang or other elements as important facets of hip hop.

The term has since come to be a synonym for hip hop music and rap to mainstream audiences. They are not, however, interchangeable - rapping (MCing) is the vocal expression of lyrics in sync to a rhythm beneath it; along with DJing, rapping is a part of hip hop music.