Is there a difference?
Are they interchangeable?

If you think there is a difference, please explain it and give some examples of artists/songs/albums that are Rap vs ones that are Hip hop.

I've rocked with it for most my life. I would always change the genre to Rap instead of Rap/Hip Hop on my MP3s.

Lately I've been thinking Hip Hop as a music genre could be a thing that includes R&B/Soul/Elec/Rock type artists that are obviously part of the Hip Hop culture sonically but don't rap. I've seen people say Anderson Paak is not a rapper but does he not make Rap (or Hip Hop) music? I think he does rap in some songs/parts of songs. Some of his beats are straight up Hip Hop. I think it would be a big stretch to say Badu is a rapper (even if she started as one) as she has only rapped on a handful of songs. Her music is no doubt Hip Hop though. So music that sounds like rap music but does not contain rapping could be Hip Hop. Maybe. This might only make sense to me.

I think most people that separate Rap and Hip Hop as a genre have a different definition though. I think some of them consider the "real" artists to be Rap while others consider the "real" artists to be Hip hop. This is what I'm curious to understand.

I think some of them
>consider the "real" artists to be Rap while others consider
>the "real" artists to be Hip hop. This is what I'm curious to
>understand.

Like the whole question of "real hip hop"?
The genre is fluid and changes.
It's a lazy excuse for people to talk about music they don't like.

"I only listen to that REAL Hip hop" *tightens straps* "No 50 Cent or MIMS"

at least in message boards lol

I have seen some people saying all that backpack nerd rap is wack and they only mess with REAL Hip hop/rappers like Mobb Deep, Wu-tang, Griselda, etc. All the auto-tune/mumble/trap is a different genre entirely (not Rap or Hip hop).

I'm hoping if some people do have a separation between Rap and Hip hop they have better reasoning for it.

I used to be that guy - trying to parse out "real" hip-hop vs. "rap," and it was as arbitrary and stupid then as it is now. Like Leroy said, it's fluid and everchanging and it should be.

So I stopped doing that a long time ago and like I said, hip-hop is the culture and rap is the music portion. That's it, in my mind. If I'm not feeling a particular brand or era of hip-hop, then it just ain't for me. Who am I or really any fan to say what's hip-hop and what's not.

And maybe I got that from KRS and just don't remember it like that, but either way, if that's the way he feels about it then I'm pretty comfortable with that assessment lol.

>I used to be that guy - trying to parse out "real" hip-hop
>vs. "rap," and it was as arbitrary and stupid then as it is
>now.

I was especially egregious with it during the late 90s, post-Puffy era. What it essentially boiled down to was, the shit I liked was hip-hop, and the shit I didn't like was rap. There was no clear distinction or concrete criteria with which I could defend the classifications, so I deaded it. If we're strictly talking about music, and not culture, I use the terms interchangeably.

>What it essentially boiled down to was, the
>shit I liked was hip-hop, and the shit I didn't like was rap.
>There was no clear distinction or concrete criteria with which
>I could defend the classifications, so I deaded it. If we're
>strictly talking about music, and not culture, I use the terms
>interchangeably.
>

I think this covers it but I think there are still people who make a distinction and I would like to hear from them.

I've always considered hip-hop to be an artform, not a culture. Rap is the musical arm of the the artform.

INSTRUMENTAL Pop lock, litefoot, bboy breaks etc Hip-hop or Rap music??

hope that adds some perspective.

I don't know that we have to take Rap music to mean it has to contain rapping. It could be instrumental Rap music. Is there another genre of music that gets called something else because it doesn't have vocals?

Would you say all music that contains rapping is Rap music? Only the instrumental ones you mentioned would be called Hip-hop music?