Word.ws English Dictionary

protorap

protorap is the alternative form of proto-rap.

Meaning of proto-rap

Noun

proto-rap (countable and uncountable, plural proto-raps)

  1. (uncountable) Performance art forms that served as precursors to rap, especially those that feature rhythmic spoken or half-sung lyrics.
    • They make much ado over Bob Dylan as a proto-rap pioneer, and taunt Public Enemy for being "unable to locate even one pure black source" (begging Chuck D's own question in "Fear of a Black Planet": "Who is Pure? What is pure?").1995, Russell A. Potter, Spectacular Vernaculars: Hip-Hop and the Politics of Postmodernism, →ISBN
  2. (countable) A specific piece or performance delivered in such an art form.
    • Another source of rap, this one closer to home, was George Clinton's funk; we heard a proto-rap at the beginning of “Tear the Roof Off the Sucker (Give Up the Funk).2008, Michael Campbell, Popular Music in America: And The Beat Goes On, →ISBN, page 286

Forms of protorap

pluralprotoraps

Questions about protorap

What is protorap the alternative form of?
Protorap is the alternative form of proto-rap.

Words near protorap in the dictionary

  1. protopunk
  2. protoracism
  3. protoracisms
  4. protoracist
  5. protoracists
  6. protorap
  7. protoraps
  8. protoreasteroside
  9. protoreceptor
  10. protoreceptors
  11. protoreligion

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: protorap (page history and authors); proto-rap (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “protorap.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/protorap. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.