List of Rap/Hip Hop Microgenres

  

G-Funk

Subgenre most associated with the West Coast Hip Hop scene heavily influenced by 1970s funk and specifically Parliament-Funkadelic’s P-Funk music.  The term is shortened for Gangsta-Funk and the music combines the P-Funk sound with gangsta rap content.  It incorporates multi-layered and melodic synthesizers, slow hypnotic grooves, deep bass, often background female vocals, a high pitched portamento saw wave synthesizer lead.  The flows often have a lazy or smooth way of rapping that emphasize rhythmic cadence.  As opposed to direct sampling, G-Funk often has musicians replay samples with alterations to fit into the song.

 

Bounce Music

Energetic Style of Hip Hop formed in New Orleans in the late 1980s.  Bounce is characterized by call-and-response-style party and Mardi Gras Indian chants and dance call-outs that are frequently hypersexual. These chants and call-outs are typically sung over the “Triggerman beat” which is sampled from the songs “Drag Rap” by the Showboys and “Brown Beat” by Cameron Paul.  The sound of bounce has primarily been shaped by the recycling and imitation of the “Drag Rap” sample: its opening chromatic tics, the intermittent shouting of the word “break”, the use of whistling as an instrumental element (as occurs in the bridge), the vocoded “drag rap” vocal and its brief and repetitive melody and quick beat (which were produced with use of synthesizers and drum machines and are easily sampled or reproduced using like-sounding elements).  Typical of bounce music is the “shouting out” of or acknowledgment of geographical areas, neighborhoods and housing projects, particularly of the New Orleans area.  Although hit songs with bounce elements have charted it remains primarily a localized underground subgenre.  

Crunk

Snap

Mobb

Hyphy

Drill

Christian Rap

Cloud Rap

Conscious Rap

Chopped & Screwed

Horrorcore

Mafioso Rap

Melodic Rap

Nerdcore

Pop Rap

Sometimes considered Hip Pop, this fusion genre combines rap verses with melodious vocals on the hook and catchy tunes traditionally found in Pop music.  The lyrics are usually more lighthearted, simple, and targeted at casual music fans and the radio.  Pop rap hit its peak in the early 80s and early 90s but has maintained a presence  throughout all Hip Hop history.