UK rap, also known as British hip-hop or UK hip-hop or British rap, is a music genre and culture that covers a variety of styles of hip-hop made in the United Kingdom. The development of UK rap was shaped by a distinct set of regional influences, slang, and grassroots movements that differentiated it from American hip-hop. It is generally classified as one of a number of styles of R&B/hip-hop.
British hip-hop can also be referred to as Brit-hop, a term coined and popularised mainly by British Vogue magazine and the BBC. British hip-hop was originally influenced by the dub/toasting introduced to the United Kingdom by Jamaican migrants in the 1950s–70s, who eventually developed uniquely influenced rapping (or speed-toasting) to match the rhythm of the ever-increasing pace and aggression of Jamaican-influenced dub in the UK.
Toasting and soundsystem cultures were also influential in genres outside of hip-hop that still included rapping – such as grime, jungle, and UK garage.
In 2003, The Times described British hip-hop's broad-ranging approach:
..."UK hip-hop" is a broad sonic church, encompassing anything made in Britain by musicians informed or inspired by hip-hop's possibilities, whose music is a response to the same stimuli that gave birth to rap in New York in the mid-Seventies.Although the underground scene was well established by the late 1980s, UK rap music saw little commercial success for several decades. Outside of a few exceptions such as Derek B and later the birth of trip-hop, from the 1980s until the early 2010s UK rap made up a small percentage of album sales in the domestic market. Performers saw wider success in the 2020s, including Stormzy headlining Glastonbury Festival, Dave releasing back-to-back UK number one albums with Psychodrama followed by We're All Alone in This Together, and Little Simz winning the Mercury Prize.
History Origins As in the US, British hip-hop emerged as a scene from graffiti and breakdancing, and then through to DJing and rapping live at parties and club nights, with its supporters predominantly listening to and influenced by US hip-hop. Unlike in the US, the British hip-hop scene was cross-racial from the beginning, as diverse ethnic groups in Britain tend not to live in segregated areas, even in areas with a high percentage of non-white individuals. Such places allow youth to share culture with one another, including musical genres such as hip-hop.
Cross pollination through migrating West Indians helped develop a community interested in the music. The integration of sound systems represent a distinct British Caribbean influence. Sound systems allowed for powerful syncopated bass runs and the ability to bring this sound to other venues creating a club culture.Hesmondhalgh, DJ and Melville, C (2002) Urban Breakbeat Culture – Repercussions of Hip-Hop in the United Kingdom. In: Global Noise: Rap and Hip Hop Outside the USA. Wesleyan University Press. There were, however, British tunes starting to appear. There are an abundance of records that are often credited with being the first British hip-hop release, "Christmas Rapping" by Dizzy Heights (Polydor, 1982), is often credited as such, as well as the slightly later released "London Bridge" by Newtrament (Jive Records, 1983). Dizzy Heights was the first MC to be signed to a major label. Two singles from 1980 precede both of these however, namely Allen & Blewitt's novelty record "Chip Shop Wrapping", released in 1980, a parody of The Sugarhill Gang's "Rapper's Delight", and Bo Kool's "Money (No Love)". The instrumental for "Money (No Love)" was produced by Funk Masters member Tony Williams, and would turn out to be an influential release in its own right, going on to inspire DJ's from New York to employ influences from dub music.
In Scotland, actor and stand-up comedian Johnny Beattie released "The Glasgow Rap" in 1983, receiving some chart success at the time. He later claimed to be "Scotland's first rap star". This was one of several British novelty or comedy hip-hop singles which hit the UK charts during the 1980s, including "Wikka Wrap" by the Evasions, "Snot Rap" by Kenny Everett, "'Ullo John! Gotta New Motor?" by Alexei Sayle, "Rat Rappin'" by Roland Rat, and later in the decade, "Stutter Rap (No Sleep til Bedtime)" by Morris Minor and the Majors and "Loadsamoney" by Harry Enfield.
There were also early pop records which dabbled with rap – such as Adam and the Ants' "Ant Rap" (CBS, 1981) and Wham!'s "Wham Rap! (Enjoy What You Do)" (Inner Vision, 1982) — but these are often considered pop appropriations of US rap. Punk band the Clash had earlier dabbled with rap on the single "The Magnificent Seven" from their album Sandinista! (CBS, 1980), and a later single "This Is Radio Clash" (1981). Even earlier than this, in 1979, Ian Dury and the Blockheads released "Reasons to Be Cheerful (Part 3)", another record with influences from hip-hop.
Then Sex Pistols manager Malcolm McLaren's "Buffalo Gals" (Charisma, 1982), featuring the New York hip-hop group World's Famous Supreme Team, was the breakthrough hit that introduced the genre to the United Kingdom — McLaren's Duck Rock album as a whole experimented with many musical styles from around the world. "Buffalo Gals" and another track from the album, "World's Famous" which also featured the group, used techniques which have been established in hip-hop in the United States, such as sampling and scratching. McLaren even included a song referencing the 'Double Dutch' dance that was popular among breakdancing crews in New York at the time.
Over the next few years, more UK hip-hop and electro music was released: Street Sounds Electro UK (Street Sounds, 1984), which was produced by Greg Wilson and featured an early appearance from MC Kermit, who later went on to form the Wilson produced Ruthless Rap Assassins; the Rapologists' "Kids Rap/Party Rap" (Billy Boy, 1984) and Grandmaster Richie Rich's "Don't Be Flash" (Spin Offs, 1985). Releases were still few and far between, and the scene remained predominantly underground.
Although record labels began to take note of the underground scene throughout the 1980s and 1990s, radio play and publicity were still a difficulty in helping the fledgling scene to grow, and the scene only managed to survive through word of mouth and the patronage of pirate radio stations around the country. Mainstream radio did play British hip-hop on occasion, supported by such well-known DJs as Dave Pearce, Tim Westwood, Steve Barker and John Peel. A significant development in early UK rap was the nationwide Def Jam '87 Tour, which featured LL Cool J (billed as the headliner), Eric B. & Rakim, and a then-emerging Public Enemy. In an interview for What Do You Call It? From Grassroots to the Golden Era of UK Rap (2024), DJ, photographer, and broadcaster Normski described the experience to David Kane: "You've never heard anything so loud. We heard the records, but we've never seen it with so much ferocity in the flesh. By the end of the night, everyone was so pumped. That would have inspired everyone to go and do something badass."
British hip-hop in the 1980s was not just confined to music and break-dancing, but also involved the spread of New York City-style graffiti – another integral element of US hip hop culture — to London and other UK inner-city areas, both on walls and trains. The most direct influence was, however, on graffiti painted in London Underground trains. Teenagers from inner London and other European cities who were into electro-hip-hop and had family and other links to New York City had by the mid-1980s taken up some of the traditions of subway graffiti and exported them home, although legendary New York writers like Brim, Bio, and Futura had themselves played a significant role in establishing such links when they visited London in the early-to-mid-1980s and 'put up pieces' on or near the west London end of the Metropolitan Line. Almost as significantly, just when subway graffiti was on the decline in New York City, some British teenagers who had spent time with family in Queens and the Bronx returned to London with a "mission" to Americanise the London Underground through painting New York City-style graffiti on trains. These small groups of London 'train writers' adopted many of the styles and lifestyles of their New York City forebears, painting graffiti train pieces and in general 'bombing' the system, but favouring only a few selected underground lines seen as most suitable for train graffiti. Although on a substantially smaller scale than what had existed in New York City, graffiti on London Underground trains became seen as enough of a problem by the mid-1980s to provoke the British Transport Police to establish its own graffiti squad modelled directly on and in consultation with that of the New York City MTA. At the same time, graffiti art on London Underground trains generated some interest in the media and arts, leading to several art galleries putting on exhibitions of some of the art work (on canvas) of a few London train writers as well as TV documentaries on London hip-hop culture like the BBC's Bad Meaning Good, which included a section featuring interviews with London train writers and a few examples of their pieces.
While many early rappers from the UK, such as Derek B, imitated the styles and accents of their US heroes, there were many who realised that to merely transpose US forms would rob UK hip-hop of the ability to speak for a disenfranchised British constituency in the way that US hip-hop so successfully spoke to, and for, its audience. Attempts were made by UK rappers to develop styles more obviously rooted in British semantics, syntax and dialectical linguistic praxis and practices — Rodney P of the London Posse deliberately chose a London accent – although many succeeded only in adopting a slurred hybrid that located the rap "somewhere in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean".Hesmondhalgh, David and Caspar Melville. "Urban Breakbeat Culture: Repercussions of Hip-Hop in the United Kingdom." In Global Noise: Rap and Hip-Hop Outside the USA, 86–110. Middletown: Wesleyan University Press, 2001.
Development: Late 1980s–early 1990s The first record label devoted to releasing UK hip-hop acts was founded in 1986. Simon Harris' Music of Life label was home to rapper Derek B, the first UK rapper to achieve chart success. He even collaborated with Public Enemy on his album Bullet from a Gun and was the first British rapper to appear on Top of the Pops.
Building on Derek B's success, Music of Life went on to sign groups such as Hijack, the Demon Boyz, Hardnoise (later Son of Noise) and MC Duke. Their Hard as Hell series mixed homegrown talent like Thrashpack and the She Rockers with US artists such as Professor Griff. Music of Life was swiftly followed by other labels such as Mango Records and Kold Sweat. Another successful British hip-hop artist that emerged from Music of Life was Asher D, whose Jamaican origins showed through in his vocal style. In 1988, in collaboration with Daddy Freddy, Asher D released one of the first hip-hop dancehall fusion albums, Ragamuffin Hip-Hop.