UK rap

UK rap
Other names
  • British hip hop
  • British rap
  • Brit-hop
  • UK hip hop
Stylistic origins
Cultural originsEarly 1980s, United Kingdom
Derivative formsTrip hop
Subgenres
Other topics

UK rap, also known as British hip hop or UK hip hop, is a music genre and culture that covers a variety of styles of hip hop music made in the United Kingdom.[2][3] It is generally classified as one of a number of styles of R&B/hip-hop.[4][5][6][7] British hip hop can also be referred to as Brit-hop, a term coined and popularised mainly by British Vogue magazine and the BBC.[8][9][10] British hip hop was originally influenced by the dub/toasting introduced to the United Kingdom by Jamaican migrants in the 1950s–70s,[11] who eventually developed uniquely influenced rapping (or speed-toasting) in order to match the rhythm of the ever-increasing pace and aggression of Jamaican-influenced dub in the UK. Toasting and soundsystem cultures were also influential in genres outside of hip hop that still included rapping – such as grime, jungle, and UK garage.[12][13]

In 2003, The Times described British hip hop's broad-ranging approach:

..."UK hip-hop" is a broad sonic church, encompassing anything made in Britain by musicians informed or inspired by hip-hop's possibilities, whose music is a response to the same stimuli that gave birth to rap in New York in the mid-Seventies.[3]

Although the underground scene was well established by the late 1980s, UK rap music saw little commercial success for several decades. Outside of a few exceptions such as Derek B and later the birth of trip-hop, from the 1980s until the early 2010s UK rap made up a small percentage of album sales in the domestic market.[14][15] Performers saw much wider success in the 2020s, including Stormzy headlining Glastonbury Festival, Dave releasing back-to-back UK number one albums with Psychodrama followed by We're All Alone in This Together, and Little Simz winning the Mercury Prize.[16][14]

  1. ^ Chester, Nick (2 June 2014). "The UK's Forgotten Rap Scene Deserves Your Attention". Archived from the original on 4 August 2019. Retrieved 4 August 2019.
  2. ^ Youngs, Ian (21 November 2005). "BBC News website: Is UK on Verge of Brithop boom". Archived from the original on 27 August 2006. Retrieved 1 November 2006.
  3. ^ a b Batey, Angus (26 July 2003). "Home grown – profile – British hip-hop – music". The Times.
  4. ^ "BBC Website – Music: Urban". Archived from the original on 3 November 2006. Retrieved 1 November 2006.
  5. ^ "Vogue Meets The Brit-Hop Generation – British Vogue". Archived from the original on 17 September 2017. Retrieved 15 September 2017.
  6. ^ "Vogue Meets London's Rising Music Stars – British Vogue". 22 October 2017. Archived from the original on 23 October 2017. Retrieved 22 October 2017.
  7. ^ "The Brithop Boom – BBC". 21 November 2005. Archived from the original on 3 April 2009. Retrieved 2 March 2018.
  8. ^ "Vogue Meets The Brit-Hop Generation – British Vogue". Archived from the original on 17 September 2017. Retrieved 15 September 2017.
  9. ^ "Vogue Meets London's Rising Music Stars – British Vogue". 22 October 2017. Archived from the original on 23 October 2017. Retrieved 22 October 2017.
  10. ^ "The Brithop Boom – BBC". 21 November 2005. Archived from the original on 3 April 2009. Retrieved 2 March 2018.
  11. ^ "Sound systems". The British Library. Archived from the original on 20 April 2019. Retrieved 10 February 2020.
  12. ^ Beaumont-Thomas, Ben (1 June 2018). "'You can't escape its inspiration': inside the true history of grime". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Archived from the original on 18 October 2018. Retrieved 11 February 2020.
  13. ^ "Hear a documentary on black British music from jungle to dubstep". FACT Magazine. 6 July 2016. Archived from the original on 8 November 2019. Retrieved 11 February 2020.
  14. ^ a b "UK stars including Central Cee, Dave and Digga D help Rap claim record share of albums market". www.musicweek.com. Retrieved 26 October 2024.
  15. ^ "The History of British Hip Hop". ICMP. 19 July 2023. Retrieved 26 October 2024.
  16. ^ "Britain's rap revolution". Crack Magazine. Retrieved 26 October 2024.