In late 1980s Rap culture began creating new styles of clothing, images, and dance ("Breakdancing") to accompany this rising new musical style. By the middle of the decade, the first forms of sampling appeared, a process incorporating a previously recorded piece of music into remixed form. The huge success of the collaboration between Run DMC and Aerosmith, with their revised version of "Walk This Way" in 1986, created the new path which Rap music would follow. The popularity of other sampled songs such as ""Wild Thing" by Tone Loc (borrowed from Van Halen's "Jamie's Cryin") and "Can't Touch This" by MC Hammer (borrowed from Rick James "Superfreak") produced Rap music's first superstars. Later sensations such as Public Enemy and LL Cool J helped elevate Rap to a dominant style in the music industry.



The popularity of Rap became so great that by the end of the decade MTV established a program dedicated solely to this style entitled "Yo MTV Raps." In the early years of the 1990s, as the Hip Hop culture expanded in popularity with Rap music as a primary component, the term Hip Hop began to replace the more traditional term Rap. By this time, the music had acquired a darker edge, incorporating more political, social, and angry (and sometimes misogynistic and scatological) lyrics. Ice T and NWA are among the prominent artists associated with the style of music commonly referred to as "Gangsta Rap." This tougher, more aggressive style continued to evolve through the 1990s with artists such as Snoop Doggy Dog, Tupac Shakur, Dr. Dre, and the successful recording label Death Row Records owned by Marion "Suge" Knight.

As live musicians began to accompany Hip Hop artists on stage and in the studio, the popularity of sampling and sequencing began to diminish. The latter part of the 1990s and the early 2000s produced drummers able to recreate the electronic rhythms and sounds of Hip Hop music on acoustic drums. Artists such as The Beastie Boys, Meshell Ndegeocello, and especially R&B singer D'Angelo often use live musicians, while drummers such as Zoro, John Blackman and most especially Ahmir "?uestlove" Thompson (from The Roots) are receiving some recognition. As in other styles, it is important to play with a strong sense of time. A good suggestion is to utilize high pitched, small drums to reproduce the sound of programmed loops, samples or grooves.

As a result of the fusion between Rock and Funk grooves, the variations available in this genre are virtually endless. Consequently, there is no one standard Hip Hop and Rap rhythm or groove. However, there are common elements among all the variations. The following grooves accurately represent the more frequently played patterns in this style. Most importantly, each groove can be played with a straight or swung feel, though the swung feel has become more commonly employed. Typically, the tempo range is quarter note = sixty to one hundred and eight beats per minute for Standard Hip Hop, sixty to eighty beats per minute for slow feels, and one hundred thirty two to one hundred and seventy two for half time feels.