Dirty rap

Dirty rap
Stylistic origins	Hip hop profanity adult music hardcore hip hop new jack swing Miami bass
Cultural origins	United States
Typical instruments	Rapping turntables sampler drum machine
Other topics
Baltimore club ghetto house ghettotech hardcore hip hop pornogrind dirty blues

Dirty rap, porno rap, porn rap, sex rap, or pornocore is a subgenre of hip hop music that contains lyrical content revolving mainly around sexually explicit subjects.

The lyrics are overtly explicit and graphic, often to the point of either comical or extreme offensiveness. Historically, dirty rap often contained a distinctly bass-driven sound, which arose from the popular Miami bass rap scene. However, dirty rap has recently been heavily influenced by Baltimore club, Ghetto house, and ghettotech. Many dirty rap songs have been used as soundtracks to pornographic movies in the 2000s, replacing the traditional porn groove.

Late 1980s and early 1990s dirty rap

Though the genre had been around since at least the late 1970s, with Blowfly's Rapp Dirty, it was not until the 1980s, when Oakland rapper Too Short released the 1983 album Don't Stop Rappin' containing multiple dirty sex subjects, that sex became a central focus. Although the release didn't see much attention outside of his hometown of Oakland, he would continue to use provocative and sexual lyrics throughout his career, gaining him six platinum albums and three gold. The controversial rap group 2 Live Crew brought "dirty rap" to the mainstream with their Miami bass debut 2 Live Crew Is What We Are. With the graphic sexual content of their X-rated party rhymes, 2 Live Crew garnered much negative publicity. However, it wasn't until their 1989, As Nasty As They Wanna Be, that dirty rap became a legitimate genre.^[1] After being attacked by conservative critics, censors, and attorneys, 2 Live Crew responded with the 1990 album Banned in the USA, a much more political and angry album.

2 Live Crew returned to their utterly pornographic roots with 1991's Sports Weekend: As Nasty As They Wanna Be, Pt. 2, which was lambasted by many critics as running the sexually deviant lyrics of As Nasty As They Wanna Be into the ground. From Sport's Weekend onward, the Crew continued to make dirty rap and party rap.

Various rappers followed with dirty rap in the wake of 2 Live Crew's popularity. The group Poison Clan became widely successful, as did the all-female group Bytches With Problems. Sir Mix-A-Lot's 1992 hit single "Baby Got Back" could arguably be considered within the dirty rap genre; however, the majority of Mix-A-Lot's work is not sexually explicit enough for him to be considered a true dirty rap artist. Similarly, the new jack swing hip hop group Wreckx-n-Effect scored a dirty rap hit with their 1992 single "Rump Shaker." The pimp rapper Too Short is also a notable contributor and beginner to dirty rap music since he began his first album in 1983, though his topics range from sex to the gangster lifestyle.^[2]

In the early 1990s, the Baltimore club scene first began gaining an identity separate from house music and mainstream hip hop. Baltimore club, or gutter music, often features sexually explicit lyrics, and has influenced many current dirty rappers.

Contemporary dirty rap

Dirty rap was a popular subgenre into the late 1990s and 2000s, particular in Southern hip hop.^[3] Luke Campbell of 2 Live Crew continues to produce dirty rap as a solo artist.

Kool Keith described the lyrical content of his 1997 album Sex Style as "pornocore".^[3] The album features Keith variously portraying himself as characters ranging from pimps to perverts.^[3] Keith also uses sexual metaphors to diss other rappers, many of which involve urolagnia.^[3]

In 2001, Afroman released the comical rap single "Crazy Rap," a song in which he describes sexual activities such as anal intercourse in heavy detail.^[4]

Khia's hit single My Neck My Back (from her 2002 album Thug Misses) later achieved CHR status – being played on Top 40 radio.

The genre has made a strong comeback in 2005 with the two hit singles, Ying-Yang Twins' sexually explicit "Wait (The Whisper Song)", as well as David Banner's dirty single, "Play," both produced by the "father of snap", Mr. Collipark. D4L also garnered success that year with their dirty rap single, "Laffy Taffy," a song dedicated to the female labia. Plies has released several dirty rap singles. Most of Plies' work focuses on drugs and violence and he is not a full-time dirty artist, although almost all the singles released contained dirty rap. Other southern-based artists, such as Ludacris, Three 6 Mafia, Petey Pablo, Pitbull, Rick Ross, 2 Chainz, UGK, Lil Wayne, Gucci Mane, Webbie, Gorilla Zoe, Trick Daddy, T.I., Lil Jon, & Mo B. Dick, often include lyrics focusing on sexual exploits in their music. Some examples of dirty rap by eastcoast rap artists include Akinyele's "Put It in Your Mouth", The Notorious B.I.G.'s "Nasty Girl", Lil' Kim's "How Many Licks?", Bravehearts' "Oochie Wally", 50 Cent's "Magic Stick", "Candy Shop", and "Ayo Technology", featuring Justin Timberlake, which contains references to looking at porn and urges to perform in bisexual activities. Also notable is "Tush" by Ghostface Killah and Missy Elliott. The genre did made a bit of a comeback in YG's 2014 song named "Do It To Ya" featuring TeeFlii from his album, My Krazy Life, produced by DJ Mustard.^[5] DJ Mustard also has the production credit of some of the other more recent dirty rap songs, too, including a single called "24 Hours" by TeeFlii.

Female artists such as Missy Elliott, Mia X, Lil' Kim, Cupcakke, Foxy Brown, Gangsta Boo, Shawnna, Khia, Lil' Slow, Trina, and the Miami-based Jacki-O are prominent dirty rappers in the once male-only genre. The female rapper Nicki Minaj is also known for creating some dirty rap songs, including her sexually explicit 2014 single "Anaconda."

Many indie rappers, such as Spank Rock, Bonde Do Role, Plastic Little, Peaches, Amanda Blank, and Yo Majesty, created an underground, electro funk or electroclash and dance-influenced version of dirty rap in the mid to late 2000s, dubbed "electro-smut" by Spin Magazine.^[6] These rappers are heavily influenced by the Baltimore Club and ghettotech scenes.

CupcakKe rose to fame in late 2015 with her single, "Deepthroat". The dirty music video amassed millions of views on YouTube as well as millions more through other video sharing sites such as WorldStarHipHop and Facebook. All three of her albums have a main theme of dirty rap and suggestive lyrics.