Hip hop is a cultural movement built largely around the music genre of hip hop music, which developed in New York City during the 1970s primarily among African Americans and Latino Americans.[1][2] Hip hop's four main elements are rapping (or MCing, from Master of Ceremonies), DJing, graffiti writing, and breakdance. Other elements include beatboxing, hip hop fashion, and hip hop slang. Since first emerging in the Bronx and Harlem, the lifestyle of hip hop culture has spread around the world.[3]

When hip hop music began to emerge, it was based around DJs who created rhythmic beats by looping breaks (smalls portions of songs emphasizing a percussive pattern) on two turntables. This was later accompanied by "rapping" (a rhythmic style of chanting). An original form of dancing, and particular styles of dress, arose among followers of this new music. These elements experienced considerable refinement and development over the course of the history of the culture.

The relationship between graffiti and hip hop culture arises from the appearance of new and increasingly elaborate and pervasive forms of the practice in areas where other elements of hip hop were evolving as art forms, with a heavy overlap between those who wrote and those who practiced other elements of the culture. Beatboxing is a mainly percussive vocal form in which various technical effects of hip hop DJs are imitated.

J-pop is an abbreviation of Japanese pop. It refers to Japanese popular musicians, and was coined by the Japanese media to distinguish Japanese musicians from foreign musicians. Today, the Japanese music industry is the second largest in the world(behind the United States) and while extremely hard to define, it is considered by some as a style, though in essence it refers to Japanese western-influenced popular music except enka. Taro Kato, a member of Beat Crusaders, said that J-pop was not the encoded pop music but the poppusu music remembered by being aired many times.

K-pop is an abbreviation for Korean popular music, specifically from South Korea. There are many artists and groups, such as Shinhwa, BoA, Rain, Se7en, TVXQ, Girls' Generation, Wonder Girls, Super Junior, and Big Bang that have branched out of Korea and have become popular in China, Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Philippines, Thailand and others in South East Asia. The popularity of K-pop is often considered a part of the rise of the Korean Wave, the recent surge of popularity of contemporary Korean culture in Asia.

Rock music — or simply rock — is a loosely defined genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll and rockabilly, which themselves evolved from rhythm and blues, country music and other influences. In addition, rock music drew on a number of other musical influences, including folk music, jazz, and classical music.

The sound of rock often revolves around the electric guitar or acoustic guitar, and it uses a strong back beat laid down by a rhythm section of electric bass guitar, drums, and keyboard instruments such as organ, piano, or, since the 1970s, synthesizers. Along with the guitar or keyboards, saxophone and blues-style harmonica are sometimes used as soloing instruments. In its "purest form", it "has three chords, a strong, insistent back beat, and a catchy melody."[1]

In the late 1960s and early 1970s, rock music developed different subgenres. When it was blended with folk music it created folk rock, with blues to create blues-rock and with jazz, to create jazz-rock fusion. In the 1970s, rock incorporated influences from soul, funk, and latin music. Also in the 1970s, rock developed a number of subgenres, such as soft rock, glam rock, heavy metal, hard rock, progressive rock, and punk rock. Rock subgenres that emerged in the 1980s included New Wave, hardcore punk and alternative rock. In the 1990s, rock subgenres included grunge, Britpop, indie rock, and nu metal.

A group of musicians specializing in rock music is called a rock band or rock group. Many rock groups consist of an electric guitarist, lead singer, bass guitarist, and a drummer, forming a quartet. Some groups omit one or more of these roles and/or utilize a lead singer who plays an instrument while singing, sometimes forming a trio or duo; others include additional musicians such as one or two rhythm guitarists and/or a keyboardist. More rarely, groups also utilize stringed instruments such as violins or cellos, or horn sections of saxophones, trumpets or trombones.