Hip hop is a type of culture/art style that started in the 1970s in the Bronx. It began in Jamaican American, African American, and Puerto Rican/Hispanic and Latino American urban areas in some of the larger cities of the United States. Hip hop uses drum beats produced by a drum machine, and rapping, where the rapper or group chants or says words with a rhythm that rhymes. The lyrics of hip hop songs are often about the life of urban people in the big cities. Hip hop music also uses musical styles from pop music such as disco and reggae. Rap and hip hop music have become successful music genres.
Hip hop as a culture involves the music as well as a style of dressing called "urban" clothes (baggy pants, Timberland leather work boots, and oversize shirts); a dancing style called breakdancing or "B-boying"; and graffiti, a street art in which people paint pictures or words on walls. In the 2000s, hip hop music and hip hop culture are very popular in the United States and Canada. Hip hop musicians usually use nicknames. Many of the popular hip hop musicians from the 2000s use nicknames, such as Snoop Dogg, Jay-Z, Eminem, Lil Wayne, and 50 Cent. Hip hop is sometimes fused with other genres such as country music and rock music.