Stop-time

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In music, stop-time is, according to Samuel A. Floyd Jr., "a musical device in which the forward flow of the music stops, or seems to stop, suspended in a rhythmic unison, while in some cases an improvising instrumentalist or singer continues solo with the forward flow of the meter and tempo. Such stop-time moments are sometimes repeated, creating an illusion of starting and stopping, as, for example, in Scott Joplin’s 'The Ragtime Dance' and Jelly Roll Morton’s 'King Porter Stomp'."

Joplin's 'Stoptime Rag' (1910, four years after 'The Ragtime Dance') is in stop-time almost all the way through; it even lacks his characteristic 4-bar introduction. Stop-time in Joplin's rags is characterized by directions in the music for performers to stamp their foot to the beat.

Stop-time is common in most African-American popular music including R&B, jazz, soul music, and was transformed into the break of hip hop.