Styles and conventions of music genres

Hip-hop:

Hip-hop, rap music or hip-hop music is a musical genre consisting of a stylised rhythmic music that commonly accompanies rapping (a speech that is chanted). It developed as a part of hip-hop culture. The term hip-hop is sometimes used synonymously with the term rap music, though rapping is not a required component of hip-hop music. The genre may also incorporate other elements of hip-hop culture, including DJ’s, scratching, beat boxing and instrumental tracks, rapping, break dancing and graffiti writing.

Rock:

Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960’s, especially in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has it’s roots in 1940 and 50’s rock and roll, heavily influenced by RnB and country music. Rock music also drew strongly on a number of other genres such as blues and folk, and is incorporated from jazz and classical music. Rock music has centred on the electric guitar, with a bass guitar and drums. The common conventions of this genre is that the artist is normally a white male, that has been seen to be one of the key factors that shape the themes in rock music. In music videos, the rock genre normally provides the audience with live performances on a stage.

Folk music:

Folk music is an English term surrounding both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways; music transmitted by the mouth, music of the lower classes, and music with the unknown composer. Traditional folk music is also considered as ‘root music’. It usually uses simple melodies with short sentence structure in verses and with a chorus. The vocals are normally accompanied by tambourines, or more up to date using acoustic guitars. In modern music videos, folk music tends to be concept or narrative based.

RnB:

RnB is a genre of popular African American music that originated in the 1940’s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed to urban African Americans, at a time when urban, rock and jazz based music with a heavy beat was becoming more popular. After the 1950’s, this style of music contributed to the development of rock and roll, and the term R&B became used to refer to music styles developed from electric blues, gospel and soul music. The newer style is known as ‘contemporary R&B’. This genre of music is based on strong emotions, with a lot of rhythm and beats. In RnB music videos, it is usually performance based, using woman for voyeuristic reasons.