Liberal Dictionary English Dictionary
noun
- the popular subculture of big-city teenagers, which includes rap music, break dancing, and graffiti art.
- rap music.
adjective
- of, relating to, or characteristic of this subculture: the hip-hop generation.
noun
- a US pop culture movement originating in the 1980s comprising rap music, graffiti, and break dancing
also hip-hop, music style, first recorded 1982. Reduplication with vowel variation (e.g. tip-top, sing-song); OED reports use of hip hop with a sense of “successive hopping motion” dating back to 1670s. The term in its modern sense comes from its use in the early rap lyrics of the genre, notably Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five and The Sugarhill Gang in “Rapper’s Delight.”
Another name for rap music.