Pop Rap
Pop rap — is a fusion of hip-hop beat and rap with a powerful melodic content (chorus) like in a standard pop-composition.
Pop rap has a tendency to decrease aggression and increase lyrics value as opposed to street hip-hop, although in the mid and late 90s some musicians used to mix this style with hardcore elements trying to prevent the negative public reaction related to simplicity of their music. Pop rap emerged in the late 80s when artists such as Run-D.M.C, L.L. Cool J, and Beastie Boys gained their popularity. As soon as rappers like Tone Loc, Young MC, DJ Jazzy Jeff, and Fresh Prince recorded several singles with the emphasis on good life stories, they became extremely successful in charts. Their idea was picked up by many musicians who started to record identical party tracks.
After some time musicians began to fuse rap with R&B and dance music. Pop rap got its disrepute with the emergence of MC Hammer and Vanilla Ice because of their imitation of popular hits without making any significant change. But even such cases couldn`t spoil pop rap`s reputation as many musicians still have the leading positions in the `90s charts, and some of them even created a characteristic sound (PM Dawn, Naughty by Nature, House of Pain, Arrested Development, Coolio, Salt-N-Pepa, Sir Mix-a-Lot and many others).
By the late 90s musicians influenced by gangsta and hardcore had grown dominating in old school rap alongside artists mixing rap with urban soul.
Umbrellate style: Hip-hop/Rap
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