Pop rap

Pop rap (also known as pop hip-hop, pop hop, hip pop, melodic hip-hop, or melodic rap) is a genre of music fusing the rhythm-based lyricism of hip-hop with pop's preference for melodic vocals, catchy hooks, and occasional rap-singing on pop-like productions and structure, as well as samples of various popular songs. This genre gained mainstream popularity during the 1990s, though the influences and roots of pop rap can trace back to late-1980s hip-hop artists such as Run-DMC, LL Cool J, and Beastie Boys.

Characteristics

AllMusic describes pop rap as "a marriage of hip-hop beats and raps with strong melodic hooks, which are usually featured as part of the chorus section in a standard pop-song structure." Pop rap also tends to have less aggressive lyrics than street-level rap music. However, some 1990s artists fused pop rap with a more aggressive attitude to defuse backlash on their own accessibility. Music journalist Wilson McBee has strongly criticized pop rap, "A pop rapper is assumed to be a sellout – someone who has compromised artistic principles in order to fit commercial expectations. Or worse, it's someone who never had any artistic principles to begin with, who's guilty of bastardizing rap's social and political traditions just to make money." McBee also then went on saying "In labeling the likes of Flo Rida, Lupae Filius and other pop rappers, we blur the distinction between a 'pop rapper' and a rapper who is just really popular. Not every rapper who has a hit is automatically a sellout or deserving of the pop rap tag." While some rappers from the 1990s with catchy hooks have been compared to pop music, McBee also said: In 1994, both Coolio's "Fantastic Voyage" and Notorious B.I.G.'s "Big Poppa" were big hits. Both featured plush, synthesizer-heavy production, catchy hooks and lyrics about partying. But the songs are not even close to being siblings. Coolio's awkward verses are nearly void of internal rhyming, interesting metaphors or lyrical variation whatsoever.