Genre
Rap Rock
5 artists
What is rap rock? Rap rock is the fusion of hip-hop and rock: rapping over guitar riffs and live drums, with the energy of both.
Where it comes from. Run-DMC put a guitar solo on "Rock Box" in 1984 and remade Aerosmith's "Walk This Way" with Aerosmith in 1986, which broke rap on MTV. That same year the Beastie Boys' Licensed to Ill became the first rap album to reach number one in the US. Public Enemy and Anthrax teamed up on "Bring the Noise" (1991), Cypress Hill made a full rock half on Skull & Bones (2000), and around 2000 the nu-metal wave of Rage Against the Machine and Linkin Park took the fusion to stadiums.
The sound. Heavy guitars, live or sampled rock drums and loud, energetic rapping. It's music made for moshing as much as for nodding your head.
Key albums
- Raising Hell, Run-DMC (1986)
- Licensed to Ill, Beastie Boys (1986)
- Judgment Night soundtrack (1993)
- Skull & Bones, Cypress Hill (2000)
