Hip hop music, also known as rap music, is a style of music which came into existence in the United States during the mid-1970s, and became a large part of modern pop culture during the 1980s. It consists of two main components: rapping (MCing) and DJing (production and scratching). Along with hip hop dance (notably breakdancing) and urban-inspired art, or notably graffiti, these compose the four elements of hip hop culture, a cultural movement that was initiated by inner-city youth, mostly Blacks and Latinos in New York City, in the early 1970s. Though it can be referred to as an African American music, its creation and proliferation can be credited to many groups of people within the United States and around the world.

 Rapping, also known as Emceeing, MCing, Rhyme spitting, Spitting, or just Rhyming, is the rhythmic delivery of rhymes, one of the central elements of hip hop music and culture. The word "rap" has been claimed to be a backronym of the phrase "Rhythmic American Poetry", or "Rhythm and Poetry".

Modern hip hop graffiti originated in Philadelphia, PA, and it quickly spread to New York City. The book Subway Art (New York: Henry Holt & Co, 1984) and the TV program Style Wars (first shown on the PBS channel in 1984) were among the first ways the mainstream public were introduced to graffiti. Quickly, the rest of the globe imitated and adapted hip hop graffiti. Today, there are also strong scenes in Europe, South America, Australia and Japan.