There are two kinds of rap in hip hop. Gangsta rap became popular in the 1980’s. It was a form of rap meant to send messages about wealth, sex, and misogyny. Conscious rap was concerning the knowledge of self, and going against the white hegemony.

Hip hop mainly started out with raps concerning cultural expression and relying heavily on lyrics to portray the artists ideas to the audience. Hip hop now has evolved into all kinds of different means of expression. Rappers rap about how much money they have and girls. However, its important to bring up that rap music was widely uncregonized and unpopular until the beginning of the 1980’s. It has only stopped growing more and more popular since then.

One famous rap group that used to rap about the problems of society (an example of conscious rap) was the rap group NWA (Niggas Wit Attitude). They used powerful lyrics to display their dismay of establishment, mainly the police.