Rap Metal
tagStarted 1987Peak 1991-2001Last big hit 2003
Located in 3 routes
Rapped or rhythmically barked vocals fronting heavy, riff-based metal guitar, with funk-rooted basslines and hard-swinging grooves. Distinct from nu metal in its emphasis on genuine hip-hop cadence and political or confrontational lyricism over downtuned angst. The riff and the rhyme share the spotlight; choruses often shout-along anthems.
History
Anthrax and Public Enemy's 1991 'Bring the Noise' collaboration crystallized the fusion that thrash and hip-hop had been circling. Rage Against the Machine drove it forward in 1992 with incendiary funk-metal and rapped political fury; Body Count and later Limp Bizkit broadened it. It fed directly into nu metal's late-90s mainstream explosion.
Defining artists
Essential listening
Sources
- Louder (Anthrax/Public Enemy Bring the Noise)
- Wikipedia (Rap metal)
- AllMusic
- Rolling Stone