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Roots of Rap
Rapping in hip hop music can be traced back in many ways to its African roots. Centuries before the United States existed, the griots (folk poets) of West Africa were rhythmically delivering stories over drums and sparse instrumentation. Because of the time that has passed since the griots of old, the connections between rap and the African griots are widely established, but not clear–cut. However, such connections have been acknowledged by rappers, modern day "griots", spoken-word artists, mainstream news sources, and academics.

Jazz, developed from the blues and other African-American musical traditions, originated around the beginning of the 20th century. According to John Sobol, the jazz musician and poet who wrote Digitopia Blues, rap "bears a striking resemblance to the evolution of jazz both stylistically and formally." During the mid-20th century, the musical culture of the Caribbean was constantly influenced by the concurrent changes in American music. In the 1950s through the 1970s, the descendants of Caribbean slaves in Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago were mixing their traditional folk music styles of mento and Calypso music with the jazz, soul, rock and blues of America.. In Jamaica this influenced the creation of Reggae music (and later Dancehall), while in Trinidad, this influenced the creation of Soca. As early as 1969, Deejays were toasting (an African tradition of "rapped out" tales of heroism) over dubbed Jamaican beats. It was called rap, expanding the word's earlier meaning in the African-American community— "to discuss or debate informally." Blues music, rooted in the work songs and spirituals of slavery and influenced greatly by West African musical traditions, was first played by blacks (and some whites) in the Mississippi Delta region of the United States around the time of the Emancipation Proclamation. Grammy-winning blues musician/historian Elijah Wald and others have argued that the blues were being rapped as early as the 1920s. Wald went so far as to call hip hop "the living blues."

1970s The dubbed dancehall toasts of Jamaica, as well as the disco-rapping and jazz-based spoken word beat poetry of the United States set the template for the rapping in hip hop music. Gil Scott-Heron, a Jazz Poet and Bluesman who wrote and released such seminal songs as The Revolution Will Not Be Televised, H2OGate Blues Part 2: We Beg Your Pardon America and Johannesberg, has been cited as an influence on many rappers. One of the first rappers in hip hop was also hip hop's first DJ— Kool Herc. Herc, a Jamaican immigrant, started delivering simple raps at his parties in the early 1970s. As Herc would explain in a 1989 interview, "the whole chemistry came from Jamaica. I was listening to American music in Jamaica, and my favorite artist was James Brown. When I came over here I just had to put it in the American style." Although rapping in hip hop began with the DJs, most rappers today don't DJ or produce on a regular basis; Coke La Rock is cited by Kool Herc as the first example of such a rapper. By the end of the 1970s, hip hop had spread throughout New York, and was getting some radio play. Rappers were increasingly writing songs that fit pop music structures and featured continuous rhymes. Melle Mel (of The Furious Five) stands out as one of the earliest rap innovators.

1980s
From the 1970s to the early 1980s, Melle Mel set the way for future rappers through his sociopolitical content as well as his creative wordplay. Hip hop lyricism saw its biggest change with the popularity of Run-DMC's Raising Hell in the mid-1980s, known especially for the rap/rock collaboration with rock band Aerosmith in the song "Walk This Way". This album helped set the tone of toughness and lyrical prowess in hip hop; Run-DMC were almost yelling their aggressive lyrics. The 1980s saw a huge wave of commercialized rap music, that with it brought success and international popularity. Rap music transcended its original demographic and passed in to the suburbs. Rap music in this time kept its original fan base in the 'ghetto' while attracting interest from mainstream consumers. This decade also saw the emergence of what we now know as old school hip hop talented artists such as Run DMC, LL Cool J, Public Enemy and the first white rap band the Beastie Boys. This decade is also referred to as the Golden age hip hop by modern music historians. Rap in the early 1980s centered mostly around self promotion e.g. the amount of gold worn or one's prowess with females, however in 1987 Public Enemy introduced a more socio-political edge with their debut album Yo! Bum Rush the Show. Other artists such as The Jungle Brothers looked to Africa for inspiration. In 1987 the rap group N.W.A. released their first album entitled N.W.A. and the Posse, and included rap stars Dr. Dre, Ice Cube, Eazy E, and MC Ren. This release marked the first shift from the golden age to the ensuing ages of Gansta rap and G-Funk.

1990s
Rap in the 1990s saw a substantial change in direction in the style of rapping. Where the 1980s were characterized by verses mostly constrained to straightforward structures and rhyme schemes, rappers in the 1990s explored deviations from those basic forms, freeing up the lyrical flow and switching up the patterns to create a much more fluid and complex style. The style on the East coast became more aggressive, a style pioneered by Ghostface Killah and Notorious B.I.G., while West coast hip-hop became more laid-back, funky, and smooth, as made popular by Dr. Dre and 2pac. In terms of subject matter, the 1990s saw a shift from personal promotion and glorification to narratives of street experience and darker social observation, although this shift was more pronounced on the East coast than it was on the West. Rappers like the Guru of Gang Starr and Raekwon the Chef of the Wu-Tang Clan wove a new hip-hop lexicon out of Five Percenter terminology and personal experience that continues to dominate the lyrics of many MCs to this day. The 1990s were marked by a tense rivalry between MCs of the East and West coast, including a feud between Sean "Puffy" Combs' Bad Boy Records in the East, including the Notorious B.I.G., and Dr. Dre and Suge Knight's Death Row Records (including 2pac and Snoop Dogg). Freestyling became a skill that demonstrates an MC's versatility and creativity, but also as a verbal "duel" or "spar". The mid 1990s were marked by the violent deaths of Tupac Shakur, Notorious B.I.G., Freaky Tah, and Big L (among others). By the end of the 1990s, hip-hop became widely accepted in mainstream music.