Rap the Language

ap music has become one of the favorites of the American public because it is not only a particular genre but it also represents the lives and the sociopolitical points of view of a certain social group. Rap music has recently expanded its sphere of influence outside of the United States but it is still undervalued because of the content of the songs and the language it uses. This article focuses on the use of English in rap music as a case of American slang and as a representative of the Hip Hop Nation Language. The origins and the status of rap will be analyzed through two different rap songs: “Stan” by the white, world-famous Eminem; and “In Da Club” by the African American rapper 50 Cent. The features of slang that are linguistically relevant and the phonological, lexical and grammatical characteristics of the two songs will be highlighted in order to draw conclusions and establish the main characteristics of the language used in rap.