Rap is a style of rhythmic, often rhymed speech delivered over a beat or in a strongly patterned spoken flow. In poetry, it usually refers to performance-based writing that depends on rhythm, rhyme, wordplay, and cadence as much as on meaning.
Rap is closely associated with hip-hop, but it can also be performed without music when the speaker keeps the same driving rhythm and emphasis.
Example
Night on the block, I keep time with my stride,
Words hit hard like a drumline ride.
Turn the corner, hear my line lock in-
Fast talk, sharp rhyme, let the beat begin.
Related Definitions
[n] the act of hitting vigorously; "he gave the table a whack"
[n] a reproach for some lapse or misdeed; "he took the blame for it"; "it was a bum rap"
[n] genre of African-American music of the 1980s and 1990s in which rhyming lyrics are chanted to a musical accompaniment; several forms of rap have emerged
[n] (informal) voluble conversation
[n] the sound made by a gentle blow
[n] a gentle blow
[v] talk volubly
[v] strike sharply; "rap him on the knuckles"
[v] perform rap music
[v] make light, repeated taps on a surface; "he was tapping his fingers on the table impatiently"
Synonyms
belt, blame, knap, knock, knock, pat, pink, rap music, strike, tap, tap, whack, whang